Whitney Houston's Sudden Death Jolts Canadian Grammy Award Ratings

TORONTO – Whitney Houston’s death on the eve of the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday drove up the Canadian TV ratings for the music awards show.

The Global Television telecast drew an average 4.6 million total viewers – the largest Grammy TV audience in 11 years, according to BBM Canada data.

That was 37 percent up on the 3.3 million Canadians that tuned into the 2011 Grammys.

ET Canada’s pre-Grammys show drew another 1.2 million viewers on Global Television as Canadians recalled Houston’s untimely death in Los Angeles.

The Canadian telecast peaked at 10:09pm Sunday night with 5.6 million viewers watching as Adele, the big winner on the night with six Grammy awards, performed “Rolling in the Deep.”