Ratings: American Idol down 5% from last week, but UP from last season

Yes! Congratulations American Idol! The ratings actually went up from last season's numbers.

I can't wait for next week's numbers so we can officially call this season a success. Will Idol retain it's lead and numbers throughout the live shows?

From TVbytheNumbers:

Of course Fox easily dominated the night as the two hour American Idol revealing the final 24 scored a 7.2/20 rating/share in adults 18-49. That’s down 5% from last week’s one hour episode, though for the night overall Fox was about 30% better off than last week due to the extra hour of Idol. It was also ahead of the equivalent telecast last year.

Both The Vampire Diaries and Nikita were down a tenth with adults 18-49 and adults 18-34.