Here are the Nielsen yearly
(September-August) ratings averages, shares, and rankings for "Days of Our
Lives" for 1965-1989. Weekly ratings since the
1974 are available through the index page of this website. The ranking
listed is "Days" place amongst the number of soaps
on the air during each season. The share listed is the percentage of sets in use
that were tuned to
"Days."
FAQ: When was the first time "Days" was ever ranked
first in the Nielsen household ratings?
ANSWER: The
week of 11/8/71 (per a Daytime TV article, the first time "As the World Turns"
was not # 1 since 1960)!
FAQ:
When was the last time
"Days" ever ranked first in the Nielsen household ratings?
ANSWER:
The weeks
of 7/25/88-7/29/88 (sole possession) and 8/1/88-8/5/88 (tied with
The Young and the Restless). (Those two weeks were the weeks that
Steve & Kayla Johnson's on-location wedding aired).
Prior to that week,
the last time "Days" ranked
first in households was the week of 7/29/74-8/2/74. "Days" was also # 1 for
9 other weeks in 1974: 1/28/74-2/1/74; 2/4/74-2/8/74; 2/18/74-2/22/74;
3/4/74-3/8/74; 3/11/74-3/15/74; 3/18/74-3/22/74; 4/1/74-4/5/74; 4/8/74-4/12/74
and 6/17/74-6/21/74.
Year...............Rank........Rating.....Share
1965-66..........9 (of
17).......5.3..........20
1966-67.........10 (of
13)......6.9..........26
1967-68.........10 (of
12)......8.7..........31
1968-69..........5* (of
14)......9.3..........31
1969-70..........7 (of
19).......8.8..........30
1970-71..........4* (of
18)......9.5..........32
1971-72..........3 (of
17).......9.9..........34
1972-73..........2 (of
17).......9.9..........32
1973-74..........2* (of
16)......9.7..........32
1974-75..........3 (of
14).......9.6..........33
1975-76..........4* (of
14)......8.3..........30
1976-77..........7 (of
15).......7.8..........27
1977-78..........10 (of
14).....6.9..........25
1978-79..........10 (of
14).....6.8..........24
1979-80..........10 (of
13).....6.6..........23
1980-81..........9 (of
13)......5.6..........20
1981-82..........10 (of
15)....5.5..........19
1982-83..........8 (of
14)......5.7..........19
1983-84..........7 (of
13)......7.1..........22
1984-85..........6* (of
14).....7.1..........23
1985-86..........5 (of
13)......7.2..........23
1986-87..........4* (of
14).....7.0..........23
1987-88..........5 (of
12)......7.1..........NA
1988-89..........5 (of
13)......6.5..........NA