List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States

2017

The following is a list of the ten most watched TV broadcasts in the United States in 2017 according to Nielsen.^[8]

     Indicates broadcast unrelated to sports.

2016

The following is a list of the ten most watched broadcasts in the United States in 2016 according to Nielsen.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}

     Indicates broadcast unrelated to the 2016 election.

2015

The following is a list of the ten most watched TV broadcasts in the United States in 2015 according to Nielsen.^[15]

     Indicates broadcast unrelated to sports.

Most watched by year

Nielsen began compiling ratings for television beginning in 1950. Prior to that year, television ratings were compiled by a number of other sources, including C. E. Hooper (which was bought out by Nielsen in February 1950) and Variety.

American Idol holds the record for most consecutive seasons at No. 1 (also its total), with eight. Note however that American Idol usually airs two episodes a week; for the 2005-2006 season, only the Tuesday show was ranked No. 1, overall American Idol was ranked No. 2 that season. For the show taken as a whole, it was No. 1 for six consecutive seasons.^[16] All in the Family, and The Cosby Show share second place for most consecutive (and total) seasons at No. 1, with five each. Counting in for total seasons at No. 1, 60 Minutes also holds a share of a three-way second place, and is the first (and currently only) U.S. primetime television show to lead the annual Nielsen ratings in at least 3 separate decades - 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The most watched series per year was determined by the number of households viewing it from the 1950–1951 television season to the 1996–1997 television season. It has been determined by the number of persons viewing it since the 1997–1998 television season.

Notes

Most watched series finales

The number of viewers for M*A*S*H (105.9 million) and Cheers (84.4 million) are the numbers most commonly reported. M*A*S*H has also been reported at 121.6 million viewers and Cheers has been reported at 93.5 million viewers.^[92][93] For M*A*S*H and Cheers, 121.6 million and 93.5 million represent the total audience who watched at least six minutes and the 105.9 million and 84.4 million represent the viewers who watched the average minute.^[4] Regular episodes of M*A*S*H were thirty minutes long, but the final episode was a television movie of running length of two hours and thirty minutes, which reached a peak audience of 125 million by the primetime telecast conclusion of the 1983 M*A*S*H series finale.

When TV miniseries are taken into the Nielsen tallies, ABC's Roots posted the second most watched series finale in U.S. history, watched on 30 January 1977, by 100 million viewers (51.1% of American households and more than 71% of the total U.S. television viewers that year), but attracted the largest viewership for any type of primetime television series in U.S. history – a record currently standing at between 130 million and 140 million.^[94][95]

The M*A*S*H finale was notorious in that after the episode finished, water flow in New York City increased by 6.7 million gallons, representing about 1 million people using the bathroom. While contributing to the CD-ROM computer game Blast from the Past, in association with TV Land, Loretta Swit commented on the event, stating she thought it was due to the fact viewers stayed glued to the screens for the whole show, and then rushed to the facilities. The 2004 finale of Friends had overtaken the record of Seinfeld in 1998 since in its last 6 minutes were seen by almost 80 million people, but viewership remained at 65.9 million because it was the audience for most of the episode. Part one of the Friends finale had 52.47 million viewers and part 2 had 65.9 million viewers and both parts were broadcast on May 6, 2004 on NBC from 21:00 to 22:06.^[96]

Most watched series episode of the decade

This table lists the most watched overall television episode for every decade in the United States, as tallied by the Nielsen Media Research since the 1950–1951 television season. The audience share category of the Nielsen ratings only began in the 1959–1960 television season, and that all the Nielsen ratings for U.S. telecasts starting 2003 were adjusted from the 2008–09 season to incorporate both the standard live primetime and time-shifted or delayed DVR viewership figures (based on the telecast's final 5-minute standard run) in the United States only (from the dates of their original series finale runs).

Longest dominating series of the decade

This table lists the primetime television series with the most number of seasons of No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for every decade in the United States, as tallied by the Nielsen Media Research since the 1950–1951 television season. Only the Nielsen household share will be shown in the following table.

The U.S. television program with the longest ever streak at No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings is written in bold text.