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Grammy Awards get biggest audience since 2004

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Beyonce isn’t the only one with something to smile about today.

CBS’ coverage of the Grammy Awards on Sunday night was way up compared with last year. The show, which featured Beyonce, Pink, Lady Gaga (with Elton John ... why, oh why?), and Bon Jovi (gotta have something for the geezers), drew 25.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

That’s a 35% jump from last year’s telecast. The Grammys easily won the night in viewers and all key demographics. Among adults 18-49, who -- rightly or wrongly -- are the currency of the television business, the show had 12.7 million viewers, a 32% gain from the 2009 broadcast.

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If the ratings hold, CBS would have its best numbers for the show in viewers and demographics in six years.

The ratings boom for the Grammy Awards comes just a few weeks after NBC’s coverage of the Golden Globes drew almost 17 million viewers, a 14% increase. The Globes were also up 10% among adults 18-49.

[Updated at 10:11 a.m.: ESPN’s coverage of the Pro Bowl, which is the NFL’s version of an all-star game, also was very strong. For the first time, the game, which usually is played after the Super Bowl, took place a week before the big game, and the gamble paid off. Early Nielsen numbers have the game averaging 12.3 million viewers, up 40% from what the Pro Bowl did on NBC last year.]

-- Joe Flint

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