When CBS exec Jack Sussman was asked why the Grammys broadcast is taped-delayed again this year, he said all the chatter on social media gives West Coast viewers “another reason to want to watch.” And it looks like he was right: last night’s Grammy Awards pulled in its second-highest ratings numbers in 20 years — last year’s Whitney Houston tribute still holds the top spot — while generating more than 14 million tweets, according to Twitter. Read more

Update: Fueled by Whitney Houston's death, last night's Grammy Awards attracted 39 million viewers -- the most since 1984, according to Nielsen. And it set an all-time social TV record with 13 million social comments, according to Bluefin Labs. Last week, the Super Bowl hit a record-breaking 12.2 million comments, but the record didn't stand for long. According to data from Trendrr, the Grammys fell just short of the Super Bowl in social TV numbers -- but not by far. Trendrr's "activity score" was 17,122,439, compared to the Super Bowl's 17,487,241.

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Update: Here's a Storify of just a few tweets we collected during the Grammys. The Grammys are back tonight (Sunday), and it may attract one of it's largest audiences in years: last night's tragic death of Whitney Houston will play a central part in the event. But just like last year, the event will air live for the East Coast at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern, but still won't air on the West Coast until three hours later.

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