• Season three's "The One Where Rachel Quits" is the top-rated Friends Christmas episode, with a rating of 8.9

• Season six's "The One with the Routine" ranks second, with a rating of 8.5

• The least-liked Christmas episode is season nine's "The One with Christmas in Tulsa," which has a rating of 7.2

A new study reveals that “The One Where Rachel Quits” (season three, episode 10) is the best-rated Christmas episode of Friends. 

The study, conducted by Nieuwe Casino analyzed all of Friends’ Christmas episodes and ranked them based on their IMDb rating from the most to least rated, to crown once and for all which one is the most popular among fans.

n first place comes the third season’s tenth episode titled “The One Where Rachel Quits” with a rating of 8.9 out of 10. In the episode, Rachel quits her job at Central Perk pushed by her friends to finally pursue a career in fashion, her lifelong dream. Meanwhile, Ross breaks a little girl’s leg and sells cookies on her behalf to make amends. The episode came out on December 2nd, 1996, and is the second Christmas episode of the show. 

In second place is “The One with the Routine”, the tenth episode of season six, with a rating of 8.5 out of 10. The plot follows Monica and Ross’s attempt to show off their embarrassing high school dance on TV on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, while Joey tries to kiss Janine at midnight.  While this is a New Year’s episode, it is still a festive one, hence categorized among the Christmas ones, also as it aired on December 16th, 1999. 

Season seven, episode 10, “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” ranks third with a rating of 8.4 out of 10. Aired on December 14th, 2000, the episode sees Ross dressing up as an armadillo to teach his son Ben about Hanukkah. Moreover, Chandler joins in dressing as Santa Claus and we see Monica struggling to keep the holiday spirit alive. 

In fourth place comes season five’s “The One with the Inappropriate Sister”, with a rating of 8 out of 10. Also, in the tenth episode of the season, Rachel dates a man who has a weirdly close relationship with her sister, which disturbs her. Meanwhile, Joey gets into the Christmas spirit by helping collect donations for charity and writes a script for a play with Ross’s help. The episode was first aired on December 17th, 1998. 

Season four, episode 10 “The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie” rounds up the top five with a rating of 7.9 out of 10. Broadcast on December 18th, 1997, the episode follows Ross dating a girl from Poughkeepsie and struggling with the commute, as well as Joey working at Monica’s restaurant and Chandler setting up Rachel with one of his colleagues for Christmas.

Valentijn Bakker, editor of Nieuwe Casino commented on the findings, “Friends is and probably always will be one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. Because of its popularity, it is also a comfort show for many, and some of the reasons are the familiarity of the characters and the relatable storylines, as well as the repetition of beloved traditions, such as Christmas episodes, which aired annually for eight years.  

“This holiday season people can once again enjoy these iconic episodes, and while everyone might have their personal favorite, this ranking sheds light on which ones the public holds closest to their hearts.”  

Sources: 

• Netflix 

• IMDb 

Methodology: 

A list of every Friends’ Christmas episode was sourced from Netflix. For each episode, its rating was sourced from IMDb. The episodes were ranked from best to worst rating.