After a record-setting season last year, “American Idol” looks poised to deliver even better ratings this year. Last night’s season premiere was not just the most-watched program of the 2006-’07 season by nearly 10 million viewers, it also was the second-most-watched edition of “Idol” ever.

“Idol’s” sixth-season premiere drew 37.3 million total viewers last night on Fox, according to Nielsen overnights. That’s just 700,000 shy of the series-record 38 million who watched the season two finale nearly four years ago, and it’s almost 2 million more than last year’s then-record debut drew.

It’s the most-watched premiere ever for the show, and it also pulled record ratings among adults 18-49. Last night’s two-hour premiere, which began at 8 p.m., averaged a 15.7 adults 18-49 rating, up 3 percent over last year’s 15.2 fast national rating.

The show peaked with 41.5 million total viewers at 9:30 p.m., its final half hour. It also hit an astonishing 18.0 among 18-49s in that half hour.

No show this season has put up numbers even close to “Idol’s.” The previous most-watched show was the season finale of “Dancing with the Stars,” which drew 27.5 million in November.

It was also well ahead of the previous best among 18-49s, an 11.0 for the premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy” in September.

Certainly the show received a huge amount of pre-premiere buzz that helped build ratings. It also didn’t hurt that Fox advertised it on the highly rated NFL playoff games over the past few weeks.

Another thing that may have helped was internet speculation over judge Paula Abdul’s recent bizarre behavior in an interview to hype the show, which is a big hit on YouTube. Abdul blamed the incident on an audio problem.

“Idol’s” huge night led Fox to an easy first-place finish for the night among 18-49s with a 15.7 average rating and a 36 share. CBS was second at 3.2/8, NBC third at 2.9/7, ABC fourth at 2.1/5, Univision fifth at 1.8/4 and CW sixth at 0.6/1.
 
Fox comfortably took each of its two hours last night, starting with a 14.1 rating at 8 p.m. for the first hour of the “Idol” premiere. CBS was second that hour with a 3.8 for “NCIS,” Univision third with a 2.4 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and NBC fourth with a 1.9 for “Dateline.” ABC ended up fifth that hour with a 1.7 for the first 60 minutes of a two-hour “America’s Funniest Home Videos” special and CW sixth with a 0.8 for a repeat of “Gilmore Girls.”
 
At 9 p.m. Fox dominated yet again, this time with a 17.4 rating for the second hour of “Idol.” CBS was a distant second with a 3.1 for “The Unit,” with NBC third with a 2.0 for a “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” repeat and Univision and ABC tied for fourth at 1.8, Univision for “Mundo de Fieras” and ABC for its second hour of “AFHV.” CW finished sixth with a 0.5 for a repeat of “Veronica Mars.”
 
With Fox done at 10 p.m. NBC led with a 4.7 for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” ABC was second with a 2.8 for “Boston Legal,” CBS third with a 2.6 for “48 Hours Mystery” and Univision fourth with a 1.3 for “Ver para Creer.”
 
Fox easily finished first for the night among households as well, averaging a 20.3 rating and a 30 share. CBS was second for the night at 7.8/12, NBC third at 6.5/10, ABC fourth at 4.6/7, Univision fifth at 2.3/4 and CW sixth at 1.1/2.