Beyonce & Lady Gaga Led ‘Stevie Wonder Tribute’ A Moderate Ratings Draw Despite All-Star Lineup

Not even the combined powers of music super divas Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Jennifer Hudson were enough to shift killer ratings for the second installment of the ‘Grammy tribute’ series – this time paying homage the academy’s most decorated artist Stevie Wonder.

Airing February 15th on CBS, the showing – a critics top pick – did manage to draw a respectable viewing audience, but still nearly less than half of last year’s episode in honor of the Beatles (which drew a whopping 13.95 million viewers). The numbers are all the more disappointing as, unlike the Beatles tribute, Wonder’s installment had little competition elsewhere on television.

But, as reports below reveal, all was not lost. For, after the likes of Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande, Janelle Monae, John Legend, and Ed Sheeran put their ever modern twists on Wonder’s classic hits, interest in the 70s & 80s numbers found itself skyrocketing on top sites Spotify and Shazam.

Get the full reports on the TV and streaming numbers below:

Via THR:

“…Spotify streams of Wonder’s music increased 78 percent. The relatively neglected tracks that got the biggest bump were “Ribbon In The Sky — 1982 Musiquarium Version” with a 290 percent boost… Coming in second was “All in Love Is Fair” with 269 percent after Jennifer Hudson‘s cover, followed by “Contusion” with 221 percent, “As” with 172 percent thanks to Jill Scott, Janelle Monae and India Arie, and “Fingertips” with 148 percent following Beyonce‘s rendition.”

On Shazam, the powerhouse duet between Pharrell Williams and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder of “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” collected the most queries, followed by Andrea Bocelli‘s cover of “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” Wonder’s “Overjoyed” performance, John Legend‘s take on “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” and Ed Sheeran‘s live loop of “I Was Made to Love Her.”

On the ratings tip:

“Unlike the Beatles tribute, the Stevie celebration did not run on a heavily watched Sunday, which many be part of the reason the 9-11 PM special was down 33% from the 8-10:30 PM show on February 9 last year.

Viewershipwise, the Stevie special drew 7.49 million viewers compared to the 13.95 million the Beatles tribute pulled in on a night that included Olympics competition and the Season 4 winter premiere of The Walking Dead.”