'Empire' strikes back as season's hottest show

Cookie Lyon is the new lion of prime time.

Fox's Empire is shattering Nielsen records as the only series to rise in the ratings for seven consecutive weeks since its premiere, climbing steadily from 9.9 million same-day viewers for its Jan. 7 opener to 13.9 million last week. With DVR-delayed viewing factored in, it's currently averaging 15.6 million viewers a week. And among young adults, it's climbed 37% in seven weeks, the biggest gain for a new series since Fox's teen soap The OC in 2003, Fox says.

It also ranks as this season's top-rated network drama, ahead of NBC's The Blacklist and ABC's How to Get Away with Murder.

More impressive stats:

In February, new figures show Empire racked up 7.8 million views on demand on top cable provider Comcast's XFinity service, a record for any series that indicates new viewers are catching up on it and fueling weekly growth. And last week, the show eclipsed Scandal as the No. 1 network TV drama on social media. It also has a higher percentage of male viewers: 44% among adults ages 18 to 49 last week, compared to just 23% for Scandal's most-recent episode.

Empire, about a family hip-hop music business, gave a big shot in the arm to Fox, and is selling music as Glee did in its heyday, though the network remains in fourth place among young adults and viewers of all ages. But it's renewed the network's popularity among African-American viewers, who make up 63% of Empire's audience, and is by far the most popular series on TV among blacks, with nearly twice as many viewers as Scandal. (As a result, ABC comedy Black-ish, which started this season as a top new comedy and competes against Empire in the Wednesday 9 p.m. ET/PT hour, has suffered since January.)

Where is Empire most popular? Nielsen data for 56 top cities show folks in Memphis, Atlanta and New Orleans are the biggest fans overall. Here's a ranking of young-adult viewers:

1. Atlanta

2. Detroit

3 Baltimore

4. Philadelphia

5. St. Louis

6. Washington, D.C.

7. Dallas-Ft. Worth

8. New York

9. Chicago

10. Houston