Grammy Viewership Slumps Another 6.4% to 14.4M Viewers

Photo Credit: Recording Academy

In its final telecast on CBS, the Grammy Awards saw a drop in viewership of more than 6% from the 15 million-plus who watched the show in 2025.

Sunday night’s broadcast of the 68th Grammy Awards on CBS, the final Grammy Awards show to air on the network before it heads to Disney in 2027, saw a drop in ratings compared to the previous year.

According to Nielsen’s same-day ratings data, the event averaged 14.41 million viewers, down more than 6% from the 15.4 million viewers who tuned in for the 2025 edition. That’s the second consecutive year in which the audience dropped since 2024’s post-COVID peak of over 17 million viewers.

But even that was a far cry from the program’s former glory; back in 2012 it had nearly 40 million viewers, taking place just a day after the announcement of the death of Whitney Houston.

However, the Grammys enjoyed a noticeably impressive social media presence on Sunday night, generating 302.5 million video views across social platforms and over 78 million interactions, according to CBS. It ranks as the most social program of the past six months—including sports.

Besides being CBS’ final run of the Grammys, Trevor Noah also served as its host for the sixth and final time. The biggest winners of the night included Bad Bunny with Album of the Year, the first time a Spanish-language album has won the category; Kendrick Lamar (Record of the Year), breaking the record for most wins by a hip-hop artist; Billie Eilish (Song of the Year); and Olivia Dean (Best New Artist).

CBS aired the Grammys for over 50 consecutive years, starting in 1973. In 2025 and 2026, the network aired three of the four EGOT awards shows, beginning with the Emmys in September. ABC will finish the awards season with the Oscars on March 15.

Next year, the Grammys will move to Disney as part of a 10-year deal with the Recording Academy. The 2027 edition is set for a simultaneous broadcast on ABC, Disney+, and Hulu.