Sorry Hawkeye — Super Bowl XLIV Broke Your Record

The ratings for this Sunday's Super Bowl were through the roof, breaking the record held for 27 years by M*A*S*H.

But just barely. According to Nielsen, 106.5 million U.S. viewers watched the Saints beat the Colts, making Super Bowl XLIV the mos-watched television show ever. The previous holder of this title was the series finale of M*A*S*H, which attracted an audience of 106 million back in 1983 (although Lisa de Moraes of the Washington Post makes the excellent point that M*A*S*H's ratings remain more impressive, since the American population has increased by 75 million since then).

Here in Canada, according to a CTV press release, 6.7 million Canadians were watching the game, while 16.64 million of us watched at least part of the game.