For the second straight year, the Grammy Awards saw a sharp ratings decline, driven largely by a collapse among younger viewers.
Only 14.4 million people watched Sunday’s broadcast, far below the 25–40 million viewers the show regularly drew from 2016 to 2019. That total marks the fourth-worst ratings in Grammy history, ahead of only 2021, 2022, and 2023. After a brief rebound to 16.9 million viewers in 2024, ratings slid again to 15.4 million in 2025—and dropped another million this year.
Overall, viewership fell 11% from last year and roughly 20% compared to two years ago, continuing the downward trend for the increasingly politicized awards show.
Most of the ratings collapse came from the younger audiences the music industry and advertisers value most. This year’s Grammys saw viewership drop 13% among adults 25–54, 19% among those 18–49, and 20% in the key 18–34 demographic.
After a broadcast in which musicians like Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny injected overt political messaging, it’s difficult to see future shows rebounding. Entertainment media are likely to blame streaming or the pandemic, despite ratings briefly recovering in 2024—years after COVID—and the Grammys posting massive numbers from 2016 to 2019, well into the streaming era.
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