Nearly 17 million watched Grammys on CBS

Almost 17 million people watched the 66th annual Grammy awards Sunday night, a notable increase from the year prior.

The average of 16.9 million who watched the prime-time awards show made up the largest television audience the event has had since 2020 and represented a more than 30 percent increase from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

The Grammys, which featured performances and tributes to music’s biggest stars and celebrities, peaked in viewership during the 9:45 PM quarter-hour with 18.25 million viewers, the network said.

That was during the “In Memoriam” segment with performances by Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox, Jon Batiste and Fantasia Barrino.

Former first lady Michelle Obama took home her second Grammy during the awards preshow in the Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording category for the audiobook of her 2022 self-help-style memoir, “The Light We Carry.”

Singer Annie Lennox used the event’s massive audience to call for a cease-fire in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the region. 

And singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced she is planning to release a new album in April, which sent her fans into a frenzy online and sparked even more buzz around one of the world’s biggest pop stars. 

It will be a big week for CBS, which is preparing to broadcast Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday and is expected to draw in tens of millions of viewers around the world for the big game.