Viewership for the Grammy Awards rose in 2017, with an average of about 26 million viewers — about 1 million more than last year’s ceremony, according to Nielsen.

The Grammys, which aired Sunday on CBS, is usually the second-most-watched awards show, behind only the Academy Awards, which last year drew roughly 34 million viewers on ABC. Along with major sporting events, the Grammys are one of the most-viewed events in television.

This year’s Grammys — which featured a showdown between Adele and Beyoncé, including live performances from both — returned to Sunday night after broadcasting on a holiday Monday last year. The show also featured a new host, James Corden of CBS’s “The Late Late Show,” who had a more active role in the show than the Grammy’s former master of ceremonies, LL Cool J. The ceremony, at a little more than 3 1/2 hours, was a long one.

This is the third straight year that the Grammys ratings have held relatively steady: In 2014 it had 25.3 million viewers; last year it notched 25 million.

The numbers are a reassuring sign for TV executives who have been keeping an eye on live event ratings, which had begun to experience a sudden decline in the last two years. The NFL saw ratings declines this season, and this year’s Super Bowl had a slightly smaller viewership.

And nearly every awards show — from the Oscars to the Emmys to the American Music Awards — has seen declines after several years of growing viewership.

The Grammys surge Sunday may be a sign of a better year. The Golden Globes likewise bucked the trend last month, when it brought in 20 million viewers, an uptick of 8 percent compared with last year’s ceremony.