Grammys viewership drops sharply, but still draws second largest audience since 1994
30 percent from last year
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Viewership for Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony on CBS dropped nearly 30 percent from last year, but was still the second-largest audience since 1994, according to figures released today by Nielsen.
Despite the 28.9 percent decline, the 28.37 million viewers who tuned in for the Staples Center ceremony was the largest audience for an entertainment program this prime-time television season, topping the previous high of 22.86 million for the Jan. 15 episode of the CBS drama “NCIS,” time zone-adjusted fast national ratings show.
The 2012 Grammy ceremony, which came one day after the death of singing star Whitney Houston, averaged 39.91 million viewers, the second largest audience in its history.
The Grammy record is 51.67 million viewers for the 1984 ceremony, when Michael Jackson, at the height of his popularity, won a record eight Grammys.
That telecast came when there were just three major broadcast networks and less competition for viewers from cable television, home video and video games.
Final national figures are scheduled to be released Tuesday, but are not expected to change substantially from the preliminary figures.
The Grammy Awards set a social television record for an awards show with more than 18.7 million social media comments, topping the record previously held by the 2012 Grammys by 44 percent, according to the analytics firm Bluefin Labs.
The number of social media comments was the second most for a U.S. television program, trailing only Super Bowl XLVII the previous Sunday.
Whitney Houston’s family is free to collect her body from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office and make funeral arrangements, a coroner’s lieutenant said Monday morning.
Houston’s mother has arranged to have the body flown back to Atlanta as early as Tuesday, TMZ reported. While police have placed a security hold on autopsy results, no such hold has been placed on the body, Winter said.
Don Cortez Cornelius, the always immaculately dressed impresario of television’s long-running dance show, “Soul Train,” didn’t just happen to mirror and influence African American culture. He both lived and led it as he followed through on a dance-party concept he had birthed years before.
Every few years or so an artist emerges in the tradition of musicians who have revolutionized the sound and style of the world. Each generation has laid claim to its own iconic artist, from Ray Charles and Dionne Warwick to James Brown and Diana Ross.
The 1980s and early 1990s provided us with five artists who reshaped the music world and introduced a level of superstardom that has yet to be matched.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A top AEG executive referred to Michael Jackson as “a freak” and another called him “creepy” just hours before their company signed the pop icon to a huge concert deal.
The revelation brought an audible gasp in the Los Angeles courtroom at the wrongful death trial Wednesday and left fans crying.
Jackson’s mother and children are suing AEG Live for the negligent hiring, retention or supervision of Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the singer’s death.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Every issue in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial is so disputed that even giving candy to jurors caused an argument.
AEG lawyers gave a bag of peppermint candy to the bailiff to hand out to the jury this week. Even Katherine Jackson — the pop icon’s mother — enjoyed the treat.
But Jackson’s lawyer raised an objection Tuesday afternoon, suggesting jurors might be influenced if they realized the source of the sweets.
