LOS ANGELES - The seventh and latest season of hit TV series Game Of Thrones was pirated more than a record 1 billion times.

According to a Variety report, which cited figures from anti-piracy firm Muso, the majority of the pirated viewing instances were done via illegal streaming (84.55 per cent), while the rest were made up of torrents (9.12 per cent) and downloads (5.59 per cent).

Legally, the seven-part season saw record ratings, with the finale drawing 16.5 million viewers in the US, making it the most-watched episode in the series' history.

Illegally, however, the finale was downloaded or streamed more than 120 million times within just the first 72 hours of its release.

Game Of Thrones, which is based on George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire books, is a fantasy epic drama that involves dragons, sex, violence, and power struggles. The HBO TV series has become a huge hit year-on-year, and regularly tops the 'most pirated TV shows' list.