In 2013, we experienced several great TV shows, and quite a few of them have ended their run, sadly never to be seen again. The best way to tell when a show is popular is by the amount of time it is pirated, and that’s what we’re going to look at today by highlighting the top 10 pirated TV shows of 2013. We don’t have to tell you that Game of Thrones took the top position, that much should have been known already.

Interesting enough, as bad as pirating is, HBO CEO, Jeff Bewkes, once stated that having the top pirated TV show is “better than an Emmy”. We doubt many of his co-workers would agree with him, but in many ways he’s speaking truth. The TV show that is pirated the most shows that it is loved by fans; an Emmy award doesn’t necessarily proves this to be true.

Let’s get to the list, shall we?

At number one, we have the HBO hit series Game of Thrones with over 5.9 million downloads. Breaking Bad took second place with 4.2 million illegal downloads. That’s not the only show AMC has on the list for in third place sits the well received The Walking Dead series with 3.6 million downloads. In addition, Showtime’s Dexter sits in the 5th position with 3.1 million downloads, while the CW’s hit super hero TV series, Arrow, took the number 10 spot with 2.2 million downloads. It’s the only comic book TV series to make the top 10, proving once and for all that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is utter garbage.

The list:

1. Game of Thrones (HBO) — 5.9 million downloads
2. Breaking Bad (AMC) — 4.2
3. The Walking Dead (AMC) — 3.6
4. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) — 3.4
5. Dexter (Showtime) — 3.1
6. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) — 3.0
7. Suits (USA) — 2.6
8. Homeland (Showtime) — 2.4
9. Vikings (History) — 2.3
10. Arrow (CW) — 2.2

[via TorrentFreak, The Verge]