Betway has unveiled the top British soap opera of all time, and despite EastEnders gracing our screens for 40 years since 1985, with a rollercoaster of explosions, fights, weddings, and tearful goodbyes on Albert Square, it didn’t grab the top spot.

As EastEnders marks its milestone anniversary , fresh research from Betway reveals that it’s not the ultimate soap – that honour goes to Coronation Street.

The popularity of Britain’s beloved soaps was calculated through a unique index score, taking into account award wins and nominations, deaths, weddings, and divorces per episode, Google searches, and overall ratings. A lower score meant a higher ranking, and Coronation Street emerged as the winner.

Despite only having six award wins and fewer Google searches (578,940,028) compared to EastEnders, Corrie boasts 17 award nominations and the highest viewer rating of any soap at 5.6/10.

The veteran show also led the pack in terms of total number of episodes (11,456) and weddings (108) since its debut episode in 1960. Emmerdale, another ITV stalwart, wasn’t far behind.

Although Emmerdale had more award nominations, totalling 18, it fell short with a lower overall rating of 4.9/10 and fewer Google searches (455,620,028).

However, the show holds the record for the second-highest number of episodes and tops the chart for the highest number of deaths (50.2) and divorces (53.87) compared to any other soap opera.

EastEnders took third place on the list, with 12 award wins and an overall rating of 4.7/10. Although the BBC soap didn’t rack up as many deaths (171), weddings (56) or divorces (35), it did lead the pack with the highest number of Google searches at 1,548,040,90.

Hollyoaks landed last on the list with a mere two award wins but boasted 20 award nominations in total. Despite only having 5,987 episodes since its debut in 1995, making it the newest soap on the block, the Channel 4 drama has certainly packed in plenty of action, taking first place for the highest death count at 261.

A special hour-long episode is scheduled to air tonight (Wednesday, February 19) to celebrate EastEnders 40th anniversary, as the fallout from the Queen Vic explosion promises to change the lives of Walford residents forever.

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