Photo of David Letterman during 'Late Show' finale, by Jeffrey Staab
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David Letterman's Late Show farewell on Wednesday night attracted 13.8 million viewers, its highest viewership since its post-Winter Olympics episode on Feb. 25, 1994.

According to Nielsen, Late Show earned a 3.1 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic, also a high from December 2005 when Letterman and Oprah Winfrey ended their faux feud.

Those numbers also bested anything that aired in the earlier primetime hours, including Survivor's season finale (2.2 rating, 9.7 million viewers) on CBS and the season-closer of Modern Family, which hit an all-time low (2.2 rating, 7.1 million) on ABC.