Grammys viewership bounces up 30% from last year, drawing the biggest audience since 2020
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Lizzo Dedicates Her Grammy to Prince — and Confesses She Skipped School to See Beyoncé Perform
After winning Record of the Year for “About Damn Time,” Lizzo dedicated her Grammy to the late Prince, who she said inspired her to create positive music. The “Truth Hurts” singer also paid tribute to Queen Bey, recalling a time in grade school when she skipped school to see her concert.
The 2023 Grammys bounced up 30% from the 2022 awards show broadcast, drawing 12.4 million viewers – the most since 2020.
Sunday night’s ceremony attracted 12.4 million viewers to its live CBS broadcast and livestream on Paramount+, according to Nielsen data. The show marked a milestone for Beyoncé, who has now collected the most Grammy wins of all time with a whooping 32 awards; it also saw “Unholy” singer Kim Petras become the first transgender woman to win Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, which she shared with collaborator Sam Smith.
The ceremony marked the largest audience for music’s biggest night since 2020, when the telecast brought in 18.8 million total viewers, which was down slight from the ceremony’s 2019 viewership of 19.9 million.
Grammys viewership faltered in 2021, when the ceremony fell by nearly half from its previous low of 17 million total viewers in 2006, by receiving 9.39 million total viewers. The ceremony saw a slight uptick for its 2022 ceremony, which brought in 9.59 million total viewers.
The 65th annual awards show, which was hosted by Trevor Noah for the third year in a row, also celebrated the 50th anniversary of hip hop with a star-studded mashup performance featuring Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Ice-T, Method Man, Nelly, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Run-D.M.C. Wu Tang Clan and Salt-N-Pepa among others.
According to CBS, the ceremony also hit its largest live-streaming audience in history across Paramount+ and other CBS platforms, marking a 33% from last year’s awards, and maintained the ceremony’s status as music’s biggest night by ranking as the #1 music awards show for the past 17 years.