America loves a parade. America also loves to learn from Oprah, to rock with Ryan Seacrest on New Year’s Eve and to belt out the hits with Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden.
The list of the year’s top 25 most-watched entertainment specials is topped by NBC’s Turkey Day telecast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which hauled in 23.4 million viewers in Nielsen’s Live-plus-7 measure covering live viewing plus seven days of delayed viewing. Two Oprah Winfrey-hosted specials made the list, one for ABC (coming in at No. 19) and one for CBS (No. 24).
The Rose Parade, the annual New Year’s Day trek of floral floats through Pasadena, nabbed two slots on the list (No. 14 and No. 17). NBC’s national coverage grabbed 5.4 million viewers while ABC’s coverage of the parade leading in to the college football game at the Rose Bowl garnered 5.1 million.
A number of music-themed specials made the cut, led by ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” (No. 4). The prime 90-minute portion of the six-hour telecast brought in 18 million viewers from 11:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 31 through 1 a.m. ET on Jan. 1. In fact, the other three portions of the “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” telecast would also make the list if broken out separately: Primetime Part 1 airing from 8-10:30 p.m. averaged 7 million viewers; Primetime Part 2 airing 10:30-11:30 p.m. averaged 10.4 million and Late-Night Part 2, airing from 1:09 a.m. to 2 a.m. garnered 5.1 million viewers.
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“Nashville’s Big Bash,” CBS’ New Year’s Eve special hailing from Music City, delivered a big crowd in the 11:30 p.m. -12:30 a.m. hour that encompassed the start of 2024. That was strong enough to come in at No. 7.
Billy Joel’s milestone 100th consecutive performance in his Madison Square Garden residency (No. 10) pulled in 6.5 million fans for CBS in April. A starry tribute to the late country artist Toby Keith (No. 20) drew 4.6 million viewers for NBC in August.
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Kudocasts, of course, dominate the top 10. The “Barbenheimer” effect helped ABC’s Academy Awards telecast rebound well after several down years to rank No. 2 with 20.2 million viewers. The Grammy Awards (No. 3) and the Golden Globe Awards (No. 6) easily outpaced the two Emmy Awards telecasts (No. 7 and No. 18) of the year. The American Music Awards (No. 12) had a solid showing with its 50th anniversary special on CBS in October.
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The rankings below cover non-sports broadcast TV specials that aired in 2024. Honorable mentions are warranted this year for two streamers who put up ambitious live efforts: Netflix’s “The Roast of Tom Brady,” which aired live May 5 and generated quite a bit of pop culture buzz; and Peacock’s first-ever live special, “Colin Jost & Michael Che Present: New York After Dark,” which ran Sept. 12.
THE 25 MOST-WATCHED ENTERTAINMENT SPECIALS OF 2024
(Pictured top: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest”)
| Rank | PROGRAM (NETWORK) | TOTAL VIEWERS | DATE AIRED |
| 1. | Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (NBC) | 23.4 million | 11/28/2024 |
| 2. | 96th Academy Awards (ABC) | 20.2 million | 3/10/2024 |
| 3. | 66th Grammy Awards (CBS) | 18.1 million | 2/2/2024 |
| 4. | Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, Part 1 Late-Night (ABC) | 18 million | 12/31/2023-1/1/2024 |
| 5. | National Dog Show (NBC) | 12 million | 11/28/2024 |
| 6. | 81st Golden Globe Awards (CBS) | 10 million | 1/7/2024 |
| 7. | Nashville’s Big Bash, Part 1 Late-Night (CBS) | 8.1 million | 12/31/2023- 1/1/2024 |
| 8. | 76th Primetime Emmy Awards (ABC) | 7.4 million | 9/15/2024 |
| 9. | Oscars Red Carpet Preview Show (ABC) | 7.3 million | 3/10/2024 |
| 10. | Country Music Awards (ABC) | 6.9 million | 11/20/2024 |
| 11. | The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden (CBS) | 6.5 million | 4/14/2024 |
| 12. | Christmas at Rockefeller Center (NBC) | 6.2 million | 12/4/2024 |
| 13. | American Music Awards 50th Anniversary (CBS) | 6.1 million | 10/6/2024 |
| 14. | CMT Music Awards (CBS) | 5.9 million | 4/7/2024 |
| 15. | Tournament of Roses Parade (NBC) | 5.4 million | 1/1/2024 |
| 16. | Super Bowl Greatest Commercials (CBS) | 5.3 million | 1/7/2024 |
| 17. | Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (NBC) | 5.3 million | 12/6/2024 |
| 18. | Rose Bowl / Rose Parade (ABC) | 5.1 million | 1/1/2024 |
| 19. | 75th Primetime Emmy Awards (Fox) | 5 million | 1/15/2024 |
| 20. | An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution (ABC) | 4.8 million | 3/18/2024 |
| 21. | Toby Keith: American Icon (NBC) | 4.6 million | 8/28/2024 |
| 22. | Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks (NBC) | 4.4 million | 7/4/2024 |
| 23. | Bob Newhart: A Legacy of Laughter (CBS) | 4.4 million | 7/22/2024 |
| 24. | NCISverse: The First 1000 (CBS) | 4.3 million | 4/8/2024 |
| 25. | An Oprah Special: Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley (CBS) | 4.3 million | 10/8/2024 |