Grammys drew 26.6 million viewers, highest total since 2004

A whopping 26.6 million viewers watched the Grammy Awards on CBS last night, according to Nielsen — more than any year since 2004. (This information comes from preliminary overnight ratings, which could change slightly when the final numbers come in this afternoon.) By comparison, the 2009 telecast pulled in 19.0 million viewers, while 2008’s drew 17.1 million.

UPDATE: According to more complete ratings provided by CBS, last night’s Grammy Awards drew 25.8 million viewers. This remains the highest-rated Grammys telecast since 2004.