"Empire" Is The Most Popular Wednesday Night Show With Young Viewers

After Fox renewed Empire for a second season after airing just two episodes, here’s some more confirmation that the series is a quick hit: as of last Wednesday’s third episode, Empire is officially the most popular show on Wednesday evenings among viewers under 50.

According to Vulture, the Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard-led drama saw a spike of more than half-a-million viewers between its second and third episodes with the numbers peaking at 10.9 million same-day viewers last week. Very few shows put up bigger numbers in the week after its premiere, but Empire is apparently still on the rise nearly a month in.

Taraji P. Henson’s comedic spat with 50 Cent about the show doesn’t seem to have hurt the ratings one bit, and with the soundtrack selling (and streaming) strong on its own, it looks like Empire will be with us for a while.