Ratings Chart Attack!

CBS' “60 Minutes,” which featured President-elect Barack Obama’s first post-election interview, drew 24.5 million viewers, its highest audience turnout since 1999.

“Minutes” also gathered a 6.4 rating/16 share in the adults 18- to 49-year-old demographic, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research data.

“Minutes” could conceivable boost those numbers once national data is released tomorrow, as a half-hour of NFL overrun (7.7/21, 25.3 million) has made all of CBS’ data tentative and subject to change.

The last time “60 Minutes” delivered more than 24 million viewers was on Jan. 17, 1999, when its lead-in was the NFL AFC championship game between the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets that turned out to be John Elway’s final home game.

“The Amazing Race” (3.4/8, 12.2 million), “Cold Case” (2.9/7, 12 million) and “The Unit” (2.5/6, 9.8 million) rounded out the night.

CBS placed second in adults 18-49 with a 4.4/11 and was first in viewers with 16.6 million.

NBC’s “NFL Sunday Night Football” (6.5/15) matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins scored 14% better than the preliminary numbers of last week’s Giants/Eagles game.

NBC placed first for the night with a 5.3/13.

ABC placed third with a 3.9/9, with NASCAR overrun (2.4/6) at 7 p.m. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” dipped one-tenth of a ratings point week-to-week, while “Desperate Housewives” improved 3%. “Brothers and Sisters” (3.7/9) stayed flat.

Fourth-place Fox landed steady from last week with a 3.1/7, with little movement for its animation block. The CW was fifth with a 0.2/0.

CBS led the way on Friday with a 2.2/7 average, propped up by a big “Ghost Whisperer” (2.9/10, 11.7 million), the show’s best performance in 18 months. ABC followed with a 1.7/5, then Fox with a 1.4/4, NBC with a 1.2/4 and The CW with a 0.6/2.

Fox took the Saturday crown with a 2.1/6 on the back of its crime reality block. A weak college football lineup tied ABC for third with NBC, both chalking up a 1.1/3. CBS was in second with a 1.5/5.