Short Drama Daily Top 10 — May 23, 2026

The Hongguo 热播榜 for May 22 shows a chart in mid-cycle churn: two titles crossed the 10-billion cumulative play threshold on the same day, a 135-万-reservation newcomer drops tonight, and ENEMY — the indie darling that held the top 10 for nearly two weeks — is finally running out of algorithmic road. Here is the full ranked digest.

Heat scores from Hongguo 热播榜 as of May 22, 2026. 1 2

Genre: Urban romance / female reawakening · Leads: Meng Na, Chen Si · Premiered: May 16

On day 7 the heat score sat at 8808 万; cross-platform effective plays (Yunhe/云合 data) reached 7857 万 and confirmed 2.64 亿 cumulative as of May 19. 3 On May 22, Hongguo's official account confirmed the title crossed 10 billion plays in 7 days — one of the fastest 10-billion timelines in the platform's history. 4

Meng Na and Chen Si's third pairing. The premise — a full-time wife who cold-documents 109 pages of her husband's asset transfers and presents them in court — taps into a wave of "清醒女主" (clear-headed heroine) demand that has run hot on the chart since late April. The drama never tips into victim melodrama; the emotional arc is about reclaiming professional identity, not punishing the ex.

The formula is durable and not easily displaced. Career-revival romance with female lead, no second-lead scheming, no villain women — this structural profile consistently holds the top position longer than the chart average.

Genre: Urban sweet / contract cohabitation · Leads: Li Keyi (李柯以), Zhang Chi (张翅) · Premiered: May 13 · Episodes: 63

Also confirmed a 10-billion cumulative play milestone on May 22 — day 10 of its run — making this the second title to cross that threshold within a week. 4 Opening-day heat was 8478 万, placing it first on both the new-drama chart and the trending chart simultaneously on May 13.

The show's structural trick is that the female lead He Yueliang (Li Keyi) is explicitly motivated by money, not romance — she signs a cohabitation contract because the salary is high, and the show plays the contract logic for comedy rather than angst. Li Keyi and Zhang Chi's prior pairing came in 太奶奶驾到 S4, which topped the chart in mid-May; this second pairing retained that chemistry and added a lighter register. At 63 episodes, it is also significantly shorter than most competing titles, which lets the show avoid the mid-arc pacing drag that kills many sweet dramas.

Genre: Historical xianxia / system comedy · Leads: Shen Haonan (申浩男), Meng Na · Premiered: ~May 13 · Pre-orders: 251 万

The second Meng Na title in the top 3. The premise fuses two reliable mechanisms:穿书 (transmigration-into-novel) and 系统 (life-support system requiring physical proximity to the villain). The "强嫁太监" hook — female lead forcibly weds someone introduced as a eunuch who turns out not to be — is one of the most pre-ordered setups in Hongguo's Q2 catalog. 6

Heat score has held in the 6000 万-range since the week of May 16, surviving the entry of 将军请自重 and 错嫁有喜 without significant displacement. This is a longer run than expected for the title's position.

Genre: Historical forbidden romance · Leads: Liang Wenjing (梁雯晶), Cai Xinyang (蔡欣洋) · Premiered: May 16 · Pre-orders: 120 万+

Adapted from Zhihu Yanyan Story 《郎怀有玉》. The premise — a war general returning victorious and insisting on marrying his late older brother's widowed wife, Xue Yu — is structurally similar to the "叔嫂禁忌" (in-law forbidden love) trope, with the power dynamic inverted: the woman is socially vulnerable, not the man. 7

It jumped from #9 on May 18 to #4 by May 22 — a 5-position climb in four days driven largely by word-of-mouth. The Yunhe cross-platform effective plays chart shows it at #2 nationally as of May 18 with 1.08 亿 daily plays, behind only 爱在久别重逢时. The drama avoids obvious villain characters and never forces a misunderstanding arc; audience comments specifically call out the "restraint" of both leads as the distinguishing factor. Cai Xinyang hold simultaneous credits in 错嫁有喜 (#6), which is a rare double-chart presence from a single actor.

Genre: AI-animated (漫剧) / supernatural comedy · Premiered: ~May 11 · Episodes: ~70

The top AI-animated title on the merged live-action/漫剧 leaderboard. Premise: a modern temp worker gets hired to watch a museum overnight and discovers the exhibits are alive. Audience reviews call it "短剧版《博物馆奇妙夜》." Heat reached 6166 万 on its first day on the new-drama chart (May 21 data), then stabilized near 6070 万 in the top 5. 8

This is the chart's clearest proof that a zero-celebrity 漫剧 can hold mid-table against well-cast live-action titles: no disclosed cast names, no traditional PR campaign, organic social pass-around as the primary distribution mechanism.

Genre: Historical sweet / healing romance · Leads: Cai Xinyang (蔡欣洋), Zhi Chunhe (至春禾) · Premiered: May 6 · Episodes: 85

The season's highest-peaking title. On day 3 it reached a heat score of 10681 万 — crossing the 100-million threshold — and became 2026's first historical drama to do so. 9 At day 17, scoring 5981 万, it is still within the top 10, which is unusually long for a title that peaked this high.

The slow-burn formula is structurally different from most other top-10 titles: no villains, no second-lead interference, no explosive confrontation arcs. The relationship develops through ordinary domestic scenes. Zhi Chunhe (至春禾) holds the record for concurrent actor presence on the chart in May, appearing in 错嫁有喜 (#6) and the earlier 败犬与天鹅颈 simultaneously — a feat analysts flagged as "unprecedented for a single actress in Hongguo data." 10

Genre: Urban / domineering CEO · Episodes: 75

A standard CEO-falls-first urban formula, occupying a stable mid-table position. No notable surge or drop this week; consistent enough to remain but not generating the cross-platform discussion that the titles above it have. At 5810 万 it sits above ENEMY and the two AI-animated entries, though ENEMY's social footprint is considerably larger despite the lower heat score.

Genre: Suspense / anthology · Creators: 煎饼果仔 (Jiān Bǐng Guǒzǎi), 夏天妹妹 (Xiàtiān Mèimei) · Premiered: December 2025 · Episodes: 8

The arc of ENEMY on the Hongguo chart is worth documenting. The series originally aired in December 2025, went dormant, then went viral on April 30 when the 民国篇 (Republic-era chapter, episodes 6-7) spread across Douyin. It climbed onto the top-10 热播榜 in mid-May despite having no new content, no studio backing, no celebrity cast, and a total runtime that fits inside a feature film. 8

At 5788 万 it is still on the chart on day ~23 of its re-emergence, though the heat score has been in gradual decline since the mid-May peak at ~6000 万+. The 5700 万-range is the displacement threshold given the current field; new titles from May 22–23 (沉乔未晚, 复燃) are likely to push ENEMY below the cutoff by May 24–25.

The cumulative stat: 7.5 亿 Douyin plays, 20 亿+ total platform plays, sustained top-10 chart presence for ~14 days. No professional short drama crew has matched this cost-to-reach ratio in 2026.

Genre: AI-animated (漫剧) / otherworld comedy · Episodes: 60

An older protagonist (an elderly woman navigating two parallel fantasy worlds while working as a background extra) is a deliberate mold-break in a genre saturated with young female leads. The title confirms Hongguo's AI 漫剧 charts are not exclusively xianxia: non-xianxia settings with distinctive premises appear to hold chart positions more reliably than generic cultivation-arc 漫剧. At #9 with 5710 万, this is its second consecutive week in the top 10. 9

Genre: Historical / palace comedy · Episodes: 65

At 5692 万, this title holds the #10 position by a narrow margin. Two new dramas debuted May 21-22 with opening-day heat scores above 5400 万 (志明与春娇 at 5472 万, 放羊的星星 at 5407 万), and a third — 沉乔未晚 — reported 167 万 paid views and 16.9 万 saves by 07:00 on May 22 with strong word-of-mouth on the paying-subscription end. 4 At least one of these challengers will likely displace 极品皇太子 in the May 23-24 window.

The 10-billion day. Two titles crossing the 10-billion play milestone on May 22 — one at day 7 (爱在久别重逢时), one at day 10 (今天裴总) — is not standard. Both are Tīnghuādǎo (听花岛) production company titles. The studio now holds the #1 and #2 slots simultaneously, both from May 16-week launches, both clearing the lifetime threshold in under two weeks. This is a distribution and production concentration that Hongguo's data team will be watching; it suggests listening-flower island's talent pairings and their specific brand of "no-villain sweet drama" are significantly outperforming the chart mean.

ENEMY's floor. At 5788 万 on what is now day 23 of its second chart cycle, ENEMY has proven that algorithmic carry can sustain a short film with no new content for far longer than models predicted. The practical floor appears to be the ~5700 万 band — once a title dips below that, displacement by new releases becomes near-certain. ENEMY is there now. The relevant data point for producers: ENEMY's week-over-week social footprint (Douyin pass-arounds, cover videos, commentary) remains larger than several titles above it on the heat chart. Heat score and social resonance have decoupled.

The challenger queue. Four titles debuted on or around May 22-23 with pre-order counts above 100 万: 沉乔未晚 (Guo Yuxin / Wang Daotie, 190 万 reservations, May 22 launch), 复燃 (Deng Linghang / Wang Kaimu, 135 万, May 23 midnight), plus 志明与春娇 and 放羊的星星. The bottom three chart positions (8-10) are under active displacement pressure heading into the weekend.