Grammy Ratings Surpass Even Last Year's Milestone TVbytheNumbers

CBS’s telecast Sunday night of the Grammy Awards topped the high-water mark set by last year’s awards show, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen, TVbytheNumbers.com reported.

The broadcast scored a 10.0 average rating in adults 18-49, up about 1% vs. 2010. It attracted an average of about 26.55 million total viewers, an improvement of 3% over last year.

The 2010 ceremony was considered a strong performer with 25.9 million total viewers, the most at the time since 2004.

This year’s show was also the highest-rated Grammys telecast in the 18-49 demo since 2001, the website reported.

The all-time mark for the Grammys telecast--which has always aired on CBS--was in 1984, when the broadcast drew an average of 51.7 million total viewers, the website reported. That was the year that Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was a big winner.

Big winners last night included Lady Antebellum, Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Train.