'Empire' up again: Top rated broadcast drama telecast in five years

The biggest new hit of the season has grown its viewership for an incredible seventh week in a row.

Empire—which is also EW‘s current cover story—continued its seemingly impossible climb Wednesday night, hitting 13.8 million viewers and a 5.3 rating among adults 18-49. Not only does that mark seven weeks of audience growth, but that demo rating is the highest for a regularly scheduled telecast of a broadcast network drama series in five years—since an epiosde of Grey’s Anatomy in 2010. For more, check out our preview of this week’s cover.

Also of interest in the ratings Wednesday night: Survivor (9.9 million, 2.3) returned down a tenth of a point from last February for a 90-minute premiere. The Amazing Race return (6.1 million, 1.5), surprisingly wasn’t helped by a strong-ish lead-in from its CBS reality cousin—Race matched its Sunday premiere a year ago. Here’s Jeff Probst answering burning questions about the premiere and Dalton Ross’ essential recap, and you can read a recap of The Amazing Race here.

In a related video, Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson discuss what it’s like being on a show that clearly cannot be stopped;