CBS' Grammy Awards had a strong showing Sunday, averaging 28.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen estimates.
The 3½-hour telecast, beginning at 8 ET/PT, honored a broad range of artists, from fun. to Mumford & Sons to The Black Keys, and had its second-biggest turnout since 1993, when 29.9 million tuned it.
But it couldn't match the record-high 39.9 million average set last Feb. 12, a day after Whitney Houston's death, as that broadcast became an instant memorial to the singer and for the first time topped even the Academy Awards, usually TV's No. 1-rated entertainment program.
Even at this year's level, the Grammys easily topped other music programming including last May's American Idol finale (21.5 million) and the Country Music Assocation Awards on Nov. 1 (13.7 million).
