We've ranked the best British soap ever - with EastEnders losing out ahead of its anniversary.
It’s been 41 years since EastEnders first appeared on our TV screens, and since 1985, we have seen it all – explosions, fights, marriages and plenty of goodbyes – take place on Albert Square.
But, according to new research from online casino Betway, the much-loved BBC One show isn’t the best soap opera of all time.
Measuring the popularity of Britain’s most popular soaps through a unique index score – collated using IMDb award wins, nominations and overall rating, the soap’s award win rate, the number of episodes and a YouGov popularity – with a lower score indicating a higher ranking, ITV’s Coronation Street came out on top.
Despite EastEnders holding the highest number of IMDb award wins at a total of 301, Coronation Street is revealed as the top soap in 2026. Bagging 286 award wins and 341 nominations overall, as well as a winning rate of 84%, the ITV show has had more than 11,000 episodes and the strongest viewer rating of any soap at 5.6/10 since its first episode in 1960.
EastEnders followed behind in second place on the list, boasting 384 award nominations and a winning rate of 78%. The soap had an overall viewer rating of 4.8/10 and more than 7,000 episodes.
Emmerdale placed third as Coronation Street’s ITV rival. The soap holds the highest YouGov popularity score of 28%, while Coronation Street and EastEnders received 27% – beating Hollyoaks at 22%. Emmerdale fell behind when it came to the number of award wins and nominations, as well as a much lower winning rate of 45%. However, the soap received a higher IMDb viewer rating than EastEnders.
Hollyoaks placed last on the list with 78 wins and 303 nominations, and an even lower winning rate of 26%. The soap has only had 5,131 episodes since first airing in 1995 as the newer soap on the scene.
Best soap in 2026, according to Betway
Soap | IMDb Award Wins | IMDb Nominations | Award Win Rate | IMDb Rating | Number of Episodes | YouGov Popularity | Score |
Coronation Street | 286 | 341 | 84% | 5.6 | 11,088 | 27% | 94.5 |
EastEnders | 301 | 384 | 78% | 4.8 | 7,293 | 27% | 85.8 |
Emmerdale | 128 | 282 | 45% | 4.9 | 10,409 | 28% | 72.9 |
Hollyoaks | 78 | 303 | 26% | 4.6 | 5,131 | 22% | 51.7 |
Methodology
The study used an index methodology, using the following metrics and sources:
Data collected from IMDb and YouGov on behalf of Betway on January 23 2026
IMDb Award Wins: The number of Award wins for that show on IMDb.
IMDb Nominations: The number of Award Nominations for that show on IMDb.
Award Win Rate: The number of Award Wins divided by the number of Award Nominations.
Number of Episodes: The number of episodes that the show has, as listed by IMDb.
YouGov Popularity: The popularity percentage of the show from YouGov.
