The Wire or Sopranos is what I view as the only legit options for first. Band of Brothers and Chernobyl are mini-series which I don't include as a TV show.

Game of Thrones was entertaining and caught a cultural moment as maybe the last collective watching experience before all the platforms fragmented and mass churned out content, resulting in everyone watching different things. Plus the ending was so garbage it's shocking to see it rated so highly.

That leaves Breaking Bad. It's good, don't get me wrong, however it's a numbers game. More people saw it due to being on A&E and included in most cable packages. The Wire or Sopranos were on HBO which was an extra cost at a time that cable packages reigned supreme and streaming did not exist. So simply less people saw it and then when it became more readily available via streaming, so many other viewing options existed.

The Wire is my personal choice, and it's unlike anything TV has ever produced. More akin to a novel than a show, and likely wouldn't work in current day due to our desire for instant gratification and requirement for tightly wrapped up stories.