The Thanksgiving edition of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” scored the show’s biggest audience of the year so far, TheWrap can exclusively reveal.
The episode, which featured guests including Cher, Jerry Seinfeld and Cody Rhodes, brought in 2.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen figures. That’s the biggest total viewership “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” has seen this year so far, and boosted the late night show to rank as its most-watched week since last Thanksgiving.
Season to date, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” is averaging 1.3 million viewers.
Fallon’s ratings success on “The Tonight Show” also translated to his holiday special, which drew 4.2 million and won the 10 p.m. timeslot, as it aired on Wednesday, Dec. 4. “Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasonings Spectacular” retained over 60% of the audience for the “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” special, which scored 6.3 million viewers across platforms and ranked as the night’s No. 1 primetime program. Together, the specials boosted NBC to win the biggest audience on Wednesday.
The special featured a number of guest appearances and performances from Fallon’s new holiday album, including Meghan Trainor, Cara Delevingne, Dolly Parton, J.B. Smoove, Jonas Brothers, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, The Roots and “Weird Al” Yankovic. “Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasonings Spectacular” also featured a performance with the Radio City Rockettes from the top of Rockefeller Center.
After Fallon released his holiday album, titled “Holiday Seasoning,” on Nov. 1, the album ranks as the No. 1 comedy album, the No. 1 current holiday album, and the No. 1 2024 holiday album debut, per Mediabase’s charts. The single, “Holiday,” which features the Jonas Brothers, currently sits atop Mediabase’s holiday chart in the No. 1 spot.
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group and Broadway Video, and is executive produced by Lorne Michaels. Chris Miller and Gerard Bradford also produce, with Miller serving as showrunner.
Jesse Collins Entertainment produced the holiday special, with EPs including Fallon, Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, Kelly Powers, and Jim Juvonen.
