Have you ever heard the terms "PR speak" or "Spin"?
No charts are required. Just paying attention to language.
A)
Why don't they say what show was the previous record holder?
Because it was Star Trek Prodigy.
Strange New Worlds is the second Star Trek debut on Paramount Plus.
Of course, Strange New Worlds has a bigger debut than Prodigy. Big surprise.
B)
"one of the top two"
It's not number one. They want to avoid saying "second place". Pure spin.
Halo is the number one "Paramount+ original" show in the UK.
Keep in mind, in the last 3 months Paramount Plus has released only 2 high-budget "prestige television" shows that count as "Paramount+ original": Halo and Strange New Worlds.
In the end who cares where any Star Trek series is in relation to another?
The only thing that matters to me is:
Is the show successful enough in the eyes of the Paramount suits to continue production past its second season.
The same goes for the rest of the new Star Trek series on Paramount Plus. I don't care if it's the most popular Star Trek ever made; all I know is that I enjoy watching it and as long as it's doing well enough that they decide to make more episodes, I'll be a contented Star Trek fan.
I'm sick of people like you and the various YouTubers who just do nothing but nitpick every single aspect of all the new Star Trek series, in an attempt to somehow demean the work of the various writers, actors, and production crews that are just out to make something that they feel is entertaining.
It's amazing how history repeats itself with every single new iteration of Star Trek since the original 1966 series premiered. I've been watching Star Trek first run since 1969 (at age 6); so yeah just spare me all the " this isn't 'real' Star Trek /It's not gaining new fans and nobody likes it..." bullshit.
After all these Star Trek series end their run, and Paramount decides to rest the franchise again for 4 to 5 years (FYI that's been the average time between the end of one major Star Trek project in the beginning of another); you'll have fans holding up Kurtzman Trek as the example of 'real" Star Trek and demonizing the producers of whatever version of Trek comes after.
And guess what? You don't need to like all of it. Personally I can't stand
Star Trek Voyager, and have not watched much of it past the first season (I gave it one full season to grab me in some way, but it didn't), but I don't go crusading against the fans that do and then attempt to make them agree with my position, (although I do throw some shade at it from time to time, if someone brings it up in a comparison to something I like.)
So you don't like the current version of Star Trek. That doesn't mean you can't watch the other 700 Plus hours of Star Trek made in the last 50+ years, as it's all still available for you to watch and enjoy you like.
I'll never understand people like you who seem to enjoy dismissing what other people enjoy instead of just watching what you enjoy.
Nothing's perfect, and it's okay to criticize; but when you get to the point of trying to push conspiracy theories that Paramount Plus is just propping up current Star Trek even though they know it's failing (it's not, but I'm just going with your hypothetical); and they're willing to continue to throw large sums of money away just because some execs don't want to be embarrassed publicly.
^^^
And if that hypothetical sounds crazy to someone reading this post, it should, because it is. No major corporation throws that kind of money around at a project that is a known loser.
And right now, Alex Kurtzman's version of Star Trek is quite profitable for Paramount, and is also providing a fair amount of prestige to the Paramount Plus streaming service. <--- and that's not a hypothetical as it's being reported by many independent entertainment news outlets.
So yeah, do us all a favor and just move on and go watch something you enjoy and let us enjoy what we like.