The 50 Most Watched Network and Cable TV Shows of 2021-2022

In recent years, many of TV’s biggest shows have come from streaming services—from Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso and Netflix’s Bridgerton to Disney+’s The Mandalorian and beyond. And as those streamers continue to lean hard into original content, we’re left to wonder what current offerings people still watch on old-fashioned channels.

In a word, football. Variety compiled the viewership stats across network and cable channels for the 2021-2022 TV season and found that three of the four most watched programs were weekly football broadcasts. NBC’s Sunday Night Football is the most popular, with just over 18.1 million viewers, followed by Fox’s Thursday Night Football at about 15.4 million. Monday night games on ESPN landed in fourth place, slightly edged out of third by everyone’s favorite dad show: Paramount Network’s Kevin Costner-starring Yellowstone.

All sports and rancher dynasties aside, viewers tend to tune into crime and procedural dramas more than anything. NCIS, FBI, Blue Bloods, and The Equalizer made the top 10, along with 60 Minutes and Chicago Fire. NBC’s Chicago universe at large has a broader fanbase than strictly-streaming TV lovers might realize: Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med are both in the top 15. In other words, Dick Wolf’s domination of network TV isn’t over. As co-creator of the Chicago, FBI, and Law & Order franchises, he has a total of nine shows in the top 50.

Network sitcoms aren’t exactly living up to the precedent set by classics like Friends and Seinfeld, but they’re not extinct yet: CBS’s The Big Bang Theory prequel series Young Sheldon took 12th place. And when it comes to reality TV, long-running competition series continue to reign supreme: The Voice, Survivor, and American Idol all made the top 50.

Scroll on to see if your (or your parents’) favorite show did too, and check out Variety’s full list here.

1. NFL Sunday Night Football (NBC) // 18.14 million
2. NFL Thursday Night Football (Fox/NFL Network) // 15.4 million
3. Yellowstone (Paramount Network) // 11.31 million
4. NFL Monday Night Football (ESPN) // 11.23 million
5. NCIS (CBS) // 11.01 million
6. FBI (CBS) // 10.35 million
7. Chicago Fire (NBC) // 9.92 million
8. Blue Bloods (CBS) // 9.78 million
9. The Equalizer (CBS) // 9.45 million
10. 60 Minutes (CBS) // 9.38 million
11. Chicago P.D. (NBC) // 9.26 million
12. Young Sheldon (CBS) // 9.22 million
13. Chicago Med (NBC) // 9.2 million
14. FBI: Most Wanted (CBS) // 8.85 million
15. NFL Thursday Night Football (NFL Network) // 8.78 million
16. Ghosts (CBS) // 8.41 million
17. NCIS: Hawai'i (CBS) 8.34 million
18. FBI: International (CBS) // 8.31 million
19. The Voice - Tuesday (NBC) // 8.28 million
20. 9-1-1 (Fox) // 8.15 million
21. The Voice - Monday (NBC) // 8.12 million
22. This Is Us (NBC) // 8 million
23. 9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox) // 7.46 million
24. Bull (CBS) // 7.45 million
25. La Brea (NBC) // 7.43 million
26. Survivor (CBS) // 7.42 million
27. NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) // 7.35 million
28. Magnum P.I. (CBS) // 7.34 million
29. American Idol (ABC) // 7.26 million
30. The Good Doctor (ABC) // 7.14 million
31. American Idol - Monday (ABC) // 6.99 million
32. Law & Order: SVU (NBC) // 6.84 million
33. CSI: Vegas (CBS) // 6.8 million
34. The Neighborhood (CBS) // 6.76 million
35. Bob Hearts Abishola (CBS) // 6.7 million
36. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) // 6.51 million
37. S.W.A.T. (CBS) // 6.5 million
38. The Rookie (ABC) // 6.43
39. Dancing with the Stars (ABC) // 6.3 million
40. Station 19 (ABC) // 6.22 million
41. New Amsterdam (NBC) // 6.17 million
42. Law & Order (NBC) // 6.08 million
43. The Masked Singer (Fox) // 5.88 million
44. United States of Al (CBS) // 5.86 million
45. Seal Team (CBS) // 5.83 million
46. Big Sky (ABC) // 5.74 million
47. B Positive (CBS) // 5.69 million
48. Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC) // 5.56 million
49. The Amazing Race (CBS) // 5.5 million
50. The Cleaning Lady (Fox) // 5.17 million

[h/t Variety]