Grammys 2022: Ratings rise slightly from record lows amid Olivia Rodrigo, Jon Batiste wins
The Grammys returned in full force — but early ratings data shows that audiences ... didn't really care.
Sunday night's performance-heavy awards show saw ratings roughly on par with last year, with early figures indicating a slight increase in viewership of 1.4%.
According to preliminary time-zone adjusted national numbers from Nielsen, 2022's Grammys, which aired on CBS and took place in Las Vegas for the first time, drew 8.93 million viewers.
The annual award show, which featured several high-profile musical performances from BTS and Billie Eilish to Lil Nas X and Lady Gaga, followed last year's bare-bone, COVID-era show where just 8.8 million viewers tuned in, a record low.
Last year's numbers eventually adjusted higher to 9.4 million in Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data (which also includes out-of-home viewing) but was still a 50% drop from 2020's 18.7 million.
The Grammys' latest ratings arrive as viewership for last Sunday's Oscars surprised to the upside following several years of serious declines.
According to final Live + Same Day Nielsen data, 2022's Academy Awards drew 16.6 million viewers, up 58% from last year's all-time low of 10.4 million, although still the second-worst on record.
Grammy Awards' highlights
Despite the absence of A-list stars including Adele, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Drake, and more, this year's award show kept up the pace with both high-energy performances and reflective tributes.
Big winners of the night included Jon Batiste, Olivia Rodrigo and Bruno Mars' Silk Sonic.
Jon Batiste, who entered the night as the most-nominated artist with 11 total nods, took home five trophies, including the highly coveted (and highly competitive) Album of the Year award for "We Are."
R&B act Silk Sonic captured the other two major categories: Record of the Year and Song of the Year, both for "Leave the Door Open," in addition to Best R&B Performance (in a tie with Jazmine Sullivan) and Best R&B Song of the Year.
Nineteen-year-old Rodrigo, who failed to win all "big four" categories as Billie Eilish accomplished in 2020, still walked away with quite a few trophies, including best new artist, plus best pop vocal album and best pop solo performance.
The night also featured a few somber moments. First, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared in a surprise pre-recorded video, pleading, "Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story."
The video was promptly followed by an emotional presentation from John Legend who performed his song "Free." He was joined onstage by several Ukrainian artists: poet Lyuba Yakimchuk, singer Mika Newton, and musician, Siuzanna Iglidan.
Later in the show, Foo Fighter's Taylor Hawkins, who died at age 50 on March 25 while on tour in Colombia, was honored in an extended In Memoriam tribute, which was later followed by a medley of songs written by late American composer (and Broadway legend) Stephen Sondheim.
Other standout moments included host Trevor Noah's not-so-subtle dig at the Oscars.
"We’re going to be dancing, we’re going to be singing, we’re going to be keeping people’s names out of our mouths," Noah joked in his opening monologue, directly referencing Will Smith's viral slapping incident with comedian Chris Rock.
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193
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