MEDIA DECODER; Grammy Awards Show Hits a Ratings High Note

The Grammy Awards telecast on CBS crushed each new ratings record Sunday night, not usually for a song awards uncover though for any awards broadcast, fueled by penetrating seductiveness in how a uncover would compensate reverence to Whitney Houston, who had died a day before.

For a full generation – a uncover finished out of primary time during 11:33 p.m. in a East – a Grammys captivated 39.9 million viewers, creation it a most-watched nonsports module of a radio season.

It was a second-biggest assembly for a Grammy uncover ever, surfaced usually by a 1984 edition, that enclosed a opening of ”Thriller” by Michael Jackson and reached 43.8 million viewers.

On Sunday, a British thespian and songwriter Adele dominated a night, winning 6 Grammys.

Sunday’s uncover also scored a outrageous 14.1 rating among a 18- to 49-year-old viewers who expostulate most of a promotion income in television, creation it a best nonsports uncover of a deteriorate in that difficulty as well.

Both that rating, and a sum assembly figure, represented huge increases over a show’s opening a year ago. The 18-to-49 rating represented a 41 percent boost from final year’s 10 rating; a sum series of viewers examination a Grammy Awards was adult 50 percent from final year’s 26.6 million.

In an even some-more considerable comparison, a Grammy uncover eclipsed a common awards-show leader, a Oscars. Last year on ABC, a Oscar telecast averaged an 11.8 rating among those 18-to-49 viewers, with 37.9 million viewers.

MORE GRAMMYS COVERAGE

A slideshow of a performances.

Critic’s Notebooks by Jon Pareles and Jon Caramanica.

This is a some-more finish chronicle of a story than a one that seemed in print.

PHOTO: The thespian Nicki Minaj arrived during a Grammys on Sunday in a cardinal’s robe, with a male dressed as a pope. The Catholic League was not amused. (PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON MERRITT/GETTY IMAGES)