The "American Idol" results show was easily the top-rated program of Thursday night, even as the downward trend from last season continued for the Fox singing competition show, reports TVbytheNumbers.com.

The second night of “Idol’s” new season averaged a 7.8 rating in adults 18-49, off 23% from the second night of last season’s show, which had a 10.1 rating in 18-49. Last night’s show averaged 22.6 million total viewers, down from 26.4 million a year ago.

For the night overall, Fox was an easy winner in the 18-49 demo with a 5.7 average rating to CBS’s 3.1, NBC’s 2.8 and ABC’s 1.7. The margin was closer in total viewers, where Fox averaged 16.8 million to CBS’s 13.6 million while the other nets trailed by a lot: NBC and ABC each averaged 5.4 million.

At 8 p.m. "Idol" averaged a 7.8 in the 18-49 demographic, compared with CBS’s "Big Bang Theory" and "$#! My Dad Says," which had a 4.2 average and a 2.7, respectively, in the same demo. ABC’s "Wipeout" collected a 2.55 in the 18-49 demo, while NBC’s "Community" and the debut of "Perfect Couples" rated a 2.2 and a 2.1, respectively, in the same demo.

At 9 p.m. NBC’s "The Office" and "Parks & Recreation" earned a 4.5 average rating and a 3.2, respectively, in the 18-49 demo, compared with Fox’s "Bones" averaging a 3.6 in the 18-49 demo for the hour. CBS’s "CSI" logged a 3.05 in the 18-49 demo.

CBS’s "The Mentalist" narrowly won the 10 p.m. hour with a 2.8 in the 18-49 demo, while NBC’s "30 Rock" and "Outsourced" earned a 2.7 and a 1.8, respectively, in the same demo for the hour.