The 2026 GRAMMY Awards delivered headline-grabbing moments, major wins, shocking upsets, and overall solid, yet slightly lower ratings for CBS in the show’s final year on the network.
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The numbers are in for Sunday’s telecast and reveal that Music’s Biggest Night was watched by 14.4 million viewers according to Nielsen.
That figure marks a 6% dip from last year’s 15.4 million audience, which had already slipped from the year prior. Still, the telecast stood as the most-watched awards show since the 2025 Oscars.
Beyond linear TV, CBS boasts that the show dominated online conversation by racking up 74.8 million social interactions and over 302 million video views across platforms.
The award show is slated to leave CBS and move to Disney starting in 2027 as part of a 10-year deal with the Recording Academy, meaning next year’s show will be simulcast on ABC, Disney+, and Hulu.
Hosted by Trevor Noah for a sixth and final year, the night saw Kendrick Lamar emerge as the biggest winner with five trophies, while Bad Bunny made headlines with a politically charged Album of the Year speech that sparked widespread discussion.
Re-live some of the night’s most memorable performances here.
It’s fascinating that the “2026 GRAMMYs” still managed to be a ratings success for CBS, especially when the surrounding news seems dominated by such intense celebrity drama—Nicki Minaj’s allegations and the resurfacing of old clips are certainly grabbing attention! I wonder how much of that viewership was driven by the actual awards versus the expected controversy.