Grammy Ratings Up: Estimated 19 Million Watch

NEW YORK — Music sales may be low, but interest in music isn't, at least according to ratings for the Grammy Awards.

Nielsen Media Research says that Sunday's ceremony was seen by at estimated 19.1 million people. That's about 2 million more viewers than for last year's show and higher than it's been for three of the past four years.

Among young viewers ages 18 to 34, ratings were up 23 percent. The Grammys tried to reach a mixed audience, with a duet featuring teen dreams the Jonas Brothers and Stevie Wonder. Last year's Grammy Awards, with 17.2 million viewers, was the least-watched Grammys since the awards were first televised by CBS in the mid-1970s.

Comments

[winonafranklin]

01:45 PM on 02/10/2009

Lil Wayne was the main attraction and the reason for the increased viewership. He's the most interesting thing to happen to music since I've been alive, or at least since hip hop music began.

[mediamarv]

11:30 AM on 02/10/2009

Let's see, that leaves 281,000,000 NOT watching.
What a waste of air time.
Grammies are based on sales, which does not equate to quality. I don't think the artists even vote.

[freecountry]

07:39 PM on 02/09/2009

It is sooo sad that people even pay attention to this crap! I wish these people would be this concerned with the fact that we're letting criminals get away...bush, cheney, rice, rummy, powell........

[Merckx]

10:12 AM on 02/10/2009

Some people are actually capable of doing both. Imagine that.

[Seth Roach]

07:10 PM on 02/09/2009

Give it some time, we'll have our Led Zeppelin reunion soon. So far I just find new interests by reading Classic Rock magazine and other publications, not the pop-culture slush that promote crappy "rock" acts and the unfortunate dilemma of modern-age minstrelsy.

[mexamerican]

04:19 PM on 02/09/2009

that's too bad about the ratings. it only encourages the emmys into thinking that anyone give's a ra t's arse.

[w&cheneysuck]

04:06 PM on 02/09/2009

Watched the entire thing and it was like watching a train wreck. It was so contrived and didn't flow at all. There were some nice performances but nothing to write home about. The MIA performance with JayZ, Jamie Foxx, etc. was AWFUL! It was approaching unwatchable in my opinion.

[newdreams]

05:20 PM on 02/09/2009

They could've found 5 random people in the audience to do a better job. It was hideously bad.

[winonafranklin]

01:43 PM on 02/10/2009

Jamie Foxx? What, do all black people look the same? It was MIA, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye and T.I. Jamie Foxx?! Did I miss a separate MIA & Jamie Foxx duet?

[Aaron Johnson]

03:34 PM on 02/09/2009

I think the music industry is in denial mode right now. Most of the music that is promoted today is pure anti-intellectual rubbish. I will never purchase another album as long as I live. It was so sad to hear Stevie Wonder's classic song ruined buy these sub-generic twits. In ten years no one will even know who the Jonas brothers are.

[CornSyrupAwareness]

03:41 PM on 02/09/2009

Amen

[rellybois]

04:10 PM on 02/09/2009

Ten? Try two years