EDG’s shock Worlds win sees League of Legends smash Twitch esports records

Isaac McIntyre

The 2021 League of Legends World Championship has smashed several big streaming records on Twitch and YouTube, helped on by EDward Gaming’s shock win over last year’s champs Damwon Gaming in the event’s decider.

According to EsportsCharts, the five-game clash between EDG and DWG clocked over 4m concurrent viewers in the final moments of the nail-biting series.

The must-watch League of Legends event raked in a 4,018,728-viewer high in the final, blowing past previous Dota 2’s mainstay The International, which set its own records just last month. On top of that, Worlds pushed LoL to its own Twitch high-water mark, where 3.08m fans set a new category record.

Regional Twitch channels also enjoyed major peaks during Worlds 2021’s closing battle, including the core Riot Games account (882k), LCK_Korea (634k), CBLOL (282k), and LLA (306k).

This is all without including China’s huge viewing numbers.

China is often left out of any esports viewing stats due to how they record numbers, but considering EDG’s shock triumph, their viewer counts would have been immense, especially considering their rowdy celebrations.

EDward gaming lifts Summoner's Cup after winning LoL Worlds 2021
EDward Gaming lifted their first international title since MSI 2015 in Iceland.

The EDG vs DWK series is now the most-watched League of Legends series of all-time, dethroning G2 Esports vs SKT from 2019’s year-end event.

In third is Suning vs Damwon from Worlds 2020.

Worlds 2021’s streaming success also managed to transcend esports with its huge viewing haul, with Riot Games’ main channel hitting 854,781 concurrent viewers during EDG’s game four and five comeback. This put them a narrow fifth in Twitch’s all-time peak viewers behind ELEAGUE and PlayStation.

Just this weekend, CSGO’s illustrious PGL Major Stockholm also smashed several esports records, with its 2,570,144 peak viewership the highest-ever for the game.

EDG Meiko at the Worlds 2021 final
Meiko has been with EDG for half a decade and finally has his Worlds crown.

The LoL offseason now begins in earnest, with the free agency window set to swing open on Nov. 15. There are already several rumors surrounding LCS and LEC heavyweights, including Perkz and Alphari returning to Europe, Bjergsen and Doublelift returning from retirement, and more.

Keep up with all the ongoing League of Legends rumors and moves with Dexerto’s Rostermania hub, which we’ll update right up until the 2022 season begins.

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About The Author

Isaac was formerly the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. Isaac began his writing career as a sports journalist at Fairfax Media, before falling in love with all things esports and gaming. Since then he's covered Oceanic and global League of Legends for Upcomer, Hotspawn, and Snowball Esports.