NBC announced updated ratings numbers for Thursday’s final installment of "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno as host, and the total audience soared to 14.637 million viewers — Leno’s largest audience since May 1998.

Leading out from "Tonight," Jimmy Fallon’s show delivered 6.0 million total viewers, the biggest number for a regularly scheduled "Late Night" airing since David Letterman’s final episode in 1993.

Leno’s total was his fourth-largest ever for "Tonight," and his largest since the night of the "Seinfeld" finale in May 1998, when Jerry Seinfeld was on as a guest and the show delivered 14.962 million viewers.

Leno also averaged a 3.8 rating in adults 18-49 Thursday night in fast-official “live plus same day” ratings from Nielsen Media Research.