List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States

The following is the list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States by average viewership, according to Nielsen. Of the 30 most-watched telecasts, 27 are Super Bowls. The Apollo 11 moon landing is generally considered to have been the most watched event in American television history, having garnered an estimated viewership of between 125 and 150 million viewers. However, the Apollo 11 moon landing is considered a news event and not a telecast—the major networks each produced their own coverage of the event. As a result, CBS and Nickelodeon's live telecast of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 holds the record for the largest average viewership of any live network U.S. television broadcast, with 123.7 million viewers.

Average viewership
The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, is reported to have been watched by 125–150 million people. This figure has not been substantiated by Nielsen Media Research, which has only published figures for the moon landing based on household viewership.

The highest-rated broadcasts of all time
The highest-rated broadcast of all time is the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983, with 60.2% of all households with television sets in the United States at that time watching the episode. Aside from Super Bowls, the most recent broadcast to receive a rating above 40 was the Seinfeld finale in 1998, with a 41.3.

Nielsen only began recording a list of ratings for individual broadcasts starting in July 1960, therefore ratings before that time are not included in their official count.

Timeline
The following is a timeline of the highest rated television broadcasts since December 17, 1960.

Series by year
The following is a list of the highest rated television series by year.

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