The Grammy Awards drew 14.4 million viewers on Sunday night, about a million fewer viewers than last year, Nielsen reported on Tuesday.
That drop, about 6 percent, marks the second consecutive year that the Grammys has attracted fewer viewers. As recently as 2024, the Grammys had 16.9 million viewers.
The back-to-back viewership declines bucks a trend for award shows, which have generally been on an upswing since the pandemic. The Oscars, for instance, had an audience of 19.7 million viewers last year, its fourth consecutive year of gains.
This year’s Grammy Awards featured more political speeches than any major awards show in several years. Winners like Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish both criticized the Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the Grammys stage. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens,” Bad Bunny said to a standing ovation. “We are humans, and we are Americans.”
Trevor Noah, the show’s host, also repeatedly needled President Trump during the show, prompting a threat of a lawsuit from Mr. Trump.
Though award shows became quite politicized in the late 2010s, Hollywood has mostly backed off from using the shows as a soapbox over the last few years.
This was also a year of transition for the Grammys. It was Mr. Noah’s final time hosting the show — his sixth — and it was the last time CBS broadcast the Grammys after a 54-year run. Disney’s ABC will take over broadcasting the Grammys next year.
John Koblin covers the television industry for The Times.
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