TV Ratings: Fox’s ‘iHeart Living Room Concert for America’ Ties ‘American Idol’

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fox’s “iHeart Living Room Concert for America,” which saw Elton John lead a whole chorus of famous singers in calling for social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic, tied “American Idol” for first place in the Sunday night TV ratings race.

The concert, which featured the Backstreet Boys, Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey, scored a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 and 4.6 million total viewers, far more than Fox usually scores in the 9 p.m. time slot on Sunday nights. The network aired only reruns leading up to the concert, with a “Simpsons” replay scoring a 0.5 and a “Duncanville” replay a 0.6.

“” also posted a 1.3 rating, but drew a substantially larger audience of 7.3 million. Those figures represent a slight tick down from last week’s 1.4 rating and 7.7 million viewers. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” provided a solid lead-in to “Idol,” scoring a 1.1 rating and 6.5 million pairs of eyeballs. A “Rookie” replay rounded off the night for the Disney-owned network with a 0.5.

Over on CBS, “60 Minutes” delivered by far the largest audience of the night, drawing 10.2 million viewers to accompany its 1.0 rating. Later on, “God Friended Me” came in even at a 0.6 rating and drew 6.4 million total viewers, its largest audience since early Dec. 2019. “NCIS: Los Angeles” ticked down week-to-week to a 0.7 and 6.8 million viewers, followed by fellow “NCIS” spinoff “NCIS: New Orleans” which was even at a 0.7 and 6.5 million viewers.

“Little Big Shots” ticked down to a 0.4 and 3 million total viewers for NBC, followed by “The Wall” which also lost a couple bricks, falling to a 0.5 rating and 3 million viewers. “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” and “Good Girls” were both even at a 0.4 rating and 1.9 million viewers, and a 0.5 rating and 1.9 million viewers respectively.

The CW aired “Batwoman” and “Supergirl” replays, both of which scored a 0.1.