• By Nick Patel
  • 25 Oct, 2026
  • Drama Series

Vertical 52 Recap, Oct 22: Forbidden Fling Holds #1 as ReelShort Reshuffles

By Nirav Patel, Founder

The Vertical 52 we published on Thursday, October 22, is the first full weekly refresh since we rebuilt the chart on October 3, and the top of the board barely moved. Forbidden Fling With My Bestie’s Dad held #1 and actually widened its lead. Below the top ten, though, ReelShort’s lineup changed sharply: 11 shows entered, 11 dropped out, and a few longtime hits fell more than 20 places. Here’s what changed, and why.

A quick note on how we rank: every show gets a VertiScore from 0 to 100, built from four public signals on the official platform pages. Those are view velocity (views per day since launch), total reach, placement on the app’s own featured lists, and save rate. No single signal counts for more than 30%. The full formula is on our methodology page, and the live table is on the charts page.

The top ten: DramaBox still owns it

Nine of the top ten are DramaBox titles, the same split as on October 3. Forbidden Fling went from a score of 91.1 to 94.6. Its view count on DramaBox climbed from about 96.5 million to 137.5 million in under three weeks, a 43% jump, and it still sits at #1 on DramaBox’s Trending list. He Broke the Heart That Saved Him (91.1) stays at #2, and Deny Me, Dragon King (89.5) holds #3.

The biggest mover in the top ten is Love Is A Dangerous Game, up from #9 to #6. Its views roughly tripled, from 26.0 million to 78.0 million, while it held the #1 banner slot on DramaBox’s home page. Poisoned by His Love holds #4 after adding about 31 million views (up 23%).

One honest caveat: DramaBox’s public featured lists were in exactly the same order on October 22 as on October 3. So every DramaBox move this week came from real view and save growth, not from list shuffles. That makes the DramaBox side of the chart more stable than ReelShort’s, and it’s worth keeping in mind before reading too much into the platform split.

ReelShort’s lone top-ten entry

The Lost Quarterback Returns climbed from #14 to #10 (78.4), making it the only ReelShort show in the top ten. It’s an older title, live for well over a year with about 250.8 million views, so its rise came from placement rather than new viewers: it now sits at #10 on ReelShort’s TOP shelf.

That pattern runs through ReelShort’s side of the chart this week. Only 9 of the 30 shows on ReelShort’s TOP shelf on October 3 were still there on October 22, and that reshuffle drove most of the big moves in both directions.

Biggest climbers

  • Cooking My Way Back to Love, up 24 places (#40 to #16). ReelShort moved it to #2 on its TOP shelf. Its views barely changed (about 132.5 million), so this is a promotion story, but a promotion from the platform itself tells you what ReelShort wants viewers to watch next.
  • Runaway Single Mom, Safe in His Arms, up 15 (#36 to #21). It’s back at #12 on the TOP shelf, with about 155.7 million views.
  • Rejecting My Five Female Mates, up 8 (#26 to #18). It’s one of the steadier ReelShort performers on the chart.

Just One Kiss and the Wattpad pipeline

Just One Kiss was the #1 show on ReelShort’s TOP shelf when we pulled data. Its views nearly doubled, from 18.7 million to 35.0 million. It’s an adaptation of Emily Jean’s Wattpad web novel, and on October 15 Wattpad announced it as the first of three ReelShort adaptations, saying it passed 30 million views after its September 27 premiere. Our count lines up with that.

So why only #19 (71.6)? Its save rate is low compared with other ReelShort shows. Lots of people are sampling it, but fewer are bookmarking it to finish later. If the saves catch up with the views, it has room to climb. Wattpad says the next adaptation, Worth the Chase, launches on ReelShort on October 27, so we’ll be watching whether the web-novel crowd shows up for it too.

New on the chart

Eleven shows made their debut this week, eight from ReelShort and three from DramaBox. Here are the ones worth knowing:

The big drops

The steepest falls all came from ReelShort shows that left its TOP shelf. The Reckoning Takes Flight fell from #6 to #32. Found A Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas slid from #12 to #34, even though, at about 702.6 million views, it has the most views of any show on the chart. You’ve Been Replaced, First Love fell from #17 to #36, and Mistaken as His Mate: The Luna’s Regret fell from #23 to #44.

None of these shows lost viewers. They just stopped getting featured, and that’s what placement is meant to capture: what the platform is pushing right now, not what was big last year. Eleven titles left the chart entirely, including Altarboy, Carter Reed and The Hockey Captain That Hates Me. Their pages stay up with their final ranks noted.

What to watch next week

Three things. First, whether Love Is A Dangerous Game keeps tripling its views and challenges the top five. Second, whether Dream On and Just One Kiss turn their TOP-shelf spots into saves. Third, whether DramaBox finally reshuffles its featured lists, which could shake up a top ten that has barely changed in three weeks. The Great and Powerful Genie, at #20 with about 581 million views but no spot on any featured list, is the wildcard if ReelShort features it again.

The next Vertical 52 update lands Thursday. Until then, you can browse every ranked show on the full chart.

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