If there’s one artist who seems to be everywhere nowadays, it has to be Adele. Fortunately for absolutely everybody, Adele is awesome and deserves to be everywhere. She’s been smashing records since the release of her latest album “25.” Following her NBC special “Adele Live In New York City,” she can add numbers for a primetime music special to her list of records broken.
Last night's Adele Live In New York City special drew in 11.2 total million viewers in the 10–11 p.m. ET time slot on NBC. The total viewers elevated it to the most-watched music special on broadcast networks in 10 years since the Eagles Farewell Tour special in 2005. Goodbye “Hotel California” and hello “Hello.” The event also swept the coveted 18 – 49 ratings demographic with a 3.0, making it the top broadcast music special since February of 2014 with CBS’s Beatles Grammy Salute, which… okay, Adele is huge, but I guess even she won’t be beating out the Beatles any time soon.
The numbers for Adele Live In New York City were yet another example of NBC sweeping ratings with a special event rather than episodes of television programs, although the biggest successes have been on Thursday nights. Adele Live ranks December 14 as NBC’s most-watched Monday 10 p.m. hour since the second season premiere of The Blacklist back in September of 2014 and highest in the 18 – 49 rating since the premiere of new hit Blindspot earlier this fall. The special was also top ranked in its time period, so good for it.
As impressive as the numbers for the special are, Adele smashing records on television right now comes as no huge surprise. The November 20 release of 25 saw Adele’s first new album in 4 years, and the lack of new material from the artist who took home the prize in all six Grammy categories in which she was nominated in 2011 has been tough on her fans. So it's nice to see that she is back and in such a striking way.
The Adele Live In New York City marked yet another victory on Adele’s comeback blitzkrieg and a huge success for NBC, but it was also a fantastic treat for fans who may never get the chance to see Adele live for themselves. NBC actually had an entire big night of musical extravaganza on the airwaves for viewers as Adele Live In New York City was preceded by Part 1 of the live finale of Season 9 of The Voice (which may have helped the special's ratings somewhat). All in all, it was a night filled with music for NBC… followed by a morning with millions everywhere almost certainly humming “Hello.”
Photo courtesy of NBC.
