President Donald Trump boasted that the viewership for his first State of the Union address was the "highest number in history," but Nielsen's historical figures show it didn't even crack the top 5.
Former President George W. Bush is No. 1 in a landslide, according to the media tracker.
The top SOTU viewership in history, dating back to 1993, according to Nielsen:
- Jan. 28, 2003: G.W. Bush - 62,061,000.
- Jan. 27, 1998: Bill Clinton - 53,077,000.
- Jan. 29, 2002: G.W. Bush - 51,773,000.
- Jan. 27: 2010: Barack Obama - 48,009,595.
- Jan. 25, 1994: Bill Clinton - 45,800,000.
- Jan. 30, 2018: Trump - 45,600,000.
More people watched Trump's first speech to the joint session of Congress last year than his SOTU address Tuesday night — 47,741,000.
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