Romance at Hope Ranch is the most watched new Hallmark Channel movie of 2026 so far, with 1.64 million viewers for its February 28 premiere. Fantasy Land News checked a ratings chart now going around among Hallmark fans and filmmakers against published viewer totals, and most of it holds up. Here is every 2026 premiere ranked, along with what the chart gets right and what it leaves out.
The chart is titled 2026 Hallmark Premiere Ratings and ranks 35 movies. Snowbound for the Holidays director Christopher Giroux shared it on Instagram this week to celebrate his film landing at number eight. We reviewed Snowbound for the Holidays when it premiered during Christmas in July.
How We Checked the Numbers – We compared each figure with the weekly Saturday ratings reports from The TV Ratings Guide, which lists the viewer total for the Hallmark premiere most weeks. Of the 35 movies on the chart, 31 match those reports once the numbers are rounded to two decimals. Snowbound for the Holidays is one of them. The chart has it at 1.415 million, and The TV Ratings Guide has it at 1.42 million.
Four movies could not be confirmed that way. The reports for Lost in Paradise, Caught by Love and Missing the Boat give no total viewer figure, and the report for the night Nelly Knows Mysteries: All Manners of Murder premiered has no cable numbers at all. Those four carry the chart’s figures in our table and are marked. There is some support for them. The TV Ratings Guide ranked Caught by Love first among all cable programs in total viewers on its night, and Missing the Boat third on its night. Other counts are out there too. Composer Jerome Leroy wrote in February that Missing the Boat drew about 2.7 million viewers in its initial broadcast. That is a long way from the 1.488 million on the chart, and it is likely counted a different way.
What the Chart Leaves Out – Five 2026 premieres are not ranked. The chart notes that numbers for A Melbourne Match and Love on the Amazon were not publicly available, and we could not find them either. The same goes for Christmas Under Construction, which premiered on the Fourth of July. Love Under the Mistletoe is the one clear miss. It drew 1.21 million viewers on July 25, which puts it 23rd on our list. A Knight to Remember premiered October 3 and drew 1.29 million, tying it for 13th. Its numbers were published October 7, so the chart may have been made before they were out. The chart also lists the first Haunted Harmony movie as Key to a Castle. The title is Key to the Castle. Neither addition touches the top ten. Snowbound for the Holidays keeps its place, tied for seventh with The Greek Aisle at two decimals and eighth on the chart.
Every 2026 Hallmark Channel Movie Premiere, Ranked by Viewers
| Rank | Movie | Premiere | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romance at Hope Ranch | February 28 | 1.64 million |
| Tied 2 | Lost in Paradise | January 3 | 1.53 million* |
| Tied 2 | Caught by Love | January 24 | 1.53 million* |
| 4 | The Way to You | February 7 | 1.50 million |
| 5 | Missing the Boat | January 31 | 1.49 million* |
| 6 | Kentucky Roses | May 2 | 1.46 million |
| Tied 7 | The Greek Aisle | June 6 | 1.42 million |
| Tied 7 | Snowbound for the Holidays | July 18 | 1.42 million |
| 9 | Sugar & Vice: A Hannah Swensen Mystery | March 7 | 1.38 million |
| 10 | Aussie at Heart | August 15 | 1.34 million |
| Tied 11 | Because of Cupid | February 14 | 1.30 million |
| Tied 11 | Nelly Knows Mysteries: All Manners of Murder | March 14 | 1.30 million* |
| Tied 13 | Two for Tee | March 21 | 1.29 million |
| Tied 13 | A Royal Setting | March 28 | 1.29 million |
| Tied 13 | A Little Park Music | April 11 | 1.29 million |
| Tied 13 | A Knight to Remember | October 3 | 1.29 million |
| Tied 17 | I’ll Be Seeing You | April 25 | 1.28 million |
| Tied 17 | Absolutely Devoted to You | August 8 | 1.28 million |
| Tied 19 | The Stars Between Us | February 21 | 1.27 million |
| Tied 19 | All’s Fair in Love & Mahjong | May 9 | 1.27 million |
| 21 | Love Finds You | August 22 | 1.26 million |
| 22 | A Castle of Our Own | June 27 | 1.24 million |
| 23 | Love Under the Mistletoe | July 25 | 1.21 million |
| 24 | To Philly With Love | April 18 | 1.20 million |
| 25 | Toast to Italy | August 1 | 1.19 million |
| 26 | Texas Two-Step | June 13 | 1.18 million |
| Tied 27 | Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery | May 16 | 1.16 million |
| Tied 27 | Much About Love | August 29 | 1.16 million |
| 29 | The Love Heist | June 20 | 1.14 million |
| 30 | Pumpkin Regatta Romance | September 26 | 1.11 million |
| 31 | A Season to Blossom | April 4 | 1.09 million |
| Tied 32 | Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Key to the Castle | May 30 | 0.98 million |
| Tied 32 | O Little Christmas Market | July 11 | 0.98 million |
| 34 | Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Prelude to a Wedding | September 5 | 0.92 million |
| 35 | Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage | September 19 | 0.90 million |
| 36 | Falling Into Place | September 12 | 0.88 million |
| 37 | True Justice: An Eye for an Eye | May 23 | 0.84 million |
Viewer totals are for the premiere airing, as published by The TV Ratings Guide and rounded to two decimals. An asterisk marks a figure taken from the chart that we could not confirm against a published report.
What the Numbers Say – The 33 premieres we could confirm average about 1.22 million viewers. January and February were the strongest stretch. If the chart’s figures hold, five of the top six movies premiered in the first two months of the year.
Alison Sweeney is having a strong year. She stars in the top movie, and her Hannah Swensen mystery Sugar & Vice ranks ninth at 1.38 million. The two movies are connected, as we covered in the Hannah Swensen Easter egg in Romance at Hope Ranch.
Mysteries had a harder time outside of Hannah Swensen. Six premieres drew fewer than one million viewers, and four of them are mysteries. Those are True Justice: An Eye for an Eye, Garage Sale Mysteries: Murder Takes the Stage and both Haunted Harmony movies.
Christmas in July had a clear winner. Snowbound for the Holidays drew 1.42 million, ahead of Love Under the Mistletoe at 1.21 million and O Little Christmas Market at 0.98 million.
September was the slowest month. With college football back on Saturday nights, three of the four premieres came in under one million. Pumpkin Regatta Romance was the exception at 1.11 million.
Our take: beyond the time of year, we do not see a pattern in this list, and the top seven surprised us. They are not the movies we would have guessed based on how we think Hallmark fans watch. We are also surprised that the mysteries landed on the lower end. And we are shocked that Tyler Hynes did not rank higher. I’ll Be Seeing You tied for 17th at 1.28 million viewers.
Why This List Will Change Soon – Countdown to Christmas begins October 16, and holiday movies are where Hallmark’s biggest audiences were last year. Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2025, The TV Ratings Guide had The More the Merrier at 1.77 million viewers and A Grand Ole Opry Christmas at 1.74 million. Either one would top everything on the 2026 list so far. The one we are watching is Lacey Chabert’s Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True, which premieres November 28.
One note on what these numbers measure. They are television totals for premiere night. They do not include Hallmark+ streaming or later airings. We will update this ranking as new numbers are published. Follow all of our Hallmark news for reviews and schedules.
