After the Luke & Laura GH wedding, what are the all-time highest rated soap episodes?

I know Steve and Betsy's wedding on ATWT had 20 millions viewers.

I think Bo & Hope's wedding had A LOT of viewers.

I'll have to look up on that.

Luke & Laura's wedding on GH was the highest rated episode of soap ever. I believe Steve & Kayla's wedding from DAYS was the second highest for daytime and the highest for DAYS.

I wonder where Sonny & Carly's 3rd wedding ranks up there? heh

Here's an old article...

Wedding lifts `Days' to No. 1 in soaps ratings

There's nothing like an old-fashioned wedding to boost the ratings of a soap opera.

In the case of "Days of Our Lives," the long-awaited nuptials of Patch Johnson and Kayla Brady helped catapult the NBC daytime drama to the top spot in the ratings for the first time in 14 years.

Since the star-crossed lovers (played by Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans) exchanged vows on July 25, "Days of Our Lives" has overtaken ABC's "General Hospital" as the most popular soap in the country.

To date it is Days highest rated episode, and daytime's second highest rated episode ever. (Behind Luke and Laura's wedding)

I wish we had the total viewers

Here's an old article...

Wedding lifts `Days' to No. 1 in soaps ratings

There's nothing like an old-fashioned wedding to boost the ratings of a soap opera.

In the case of "Days of Our Lives," the long-awaited nuptials of Patch Johnson and Kayla Brady helped catapult the NBC daytime drama to the top spot in the ratings for the first time in 14 years.

Since the star-crossed lovers (played by Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans) exchanged vows on July 25, "Days of Our Lives" has overtaken ABC's "General Hospital" as the most popular soap in the country.

To date it is Days highest rated episode, and daytime's second highest rated episode ever. (Behind Luke and Laura's wedding)

I wish we had the total viewers

Thanks, Rick. I'd love to see one of the soap mags to an article on this and analyze how and why the soaps got these big spikes. Seems like nothing they do today give such huge ratings spikes. I know there was more audience back then, but these big soap weddings used to pull them in. Maybe because a lot of soap weddings now are about everyone except the couple getting married.

I believe the number for Patch and Kayla was 8 million. Luke and Laura had 30 million.

Where’s that article from? The second most watched episode in daytime history had 8 million viewers? That can’t be right.

Soaps had promo then, thats why the ratings spiked. Now that The View has all this promo, they have the highest ratings in two years. If soaps were heavily promoted in primetime we wouldn't be talking about how pitiful the ratings are.

I'm pretty sure the primetime episodes of Y&R got high ratings.

I totally agree with you, Chris.

If only soaps would get more promos that last longer than 20 seconds, and that air in primetime, the ratings would rise. But the networks are too dumb to do that.

Where’s that article from? The second most watched episode in daytime history had 8 million viewers? That can’t be right.

You're correct.

I read somewhere that Steve Andropolous and Betsy Stewart's wedding had about 20 millin viewers.

Steve and Kayla must've been around the 24 million mark or so...

Patch & Kayla's wedding ABSOLUTELY got higher than 8 million viewers

I believe they were 25-27 Million viewers, I can't remember the exact number....Bo and Hope's wedding in England was close to the 20 Million mark aswell.

ATWT, DAYS and GH definetly hold the Top 4 positions.

I remember Patch and Kayla getting like 23-24 million. I could be wrong but it was somewhere in there.

Those were the days. I wish we could see numbers like that now. I wish soaps were promoted more damnit

Those were the days. I wish we could see numbers like that now. I wish soaps were promoted more damnit

Unfortunately, it looks like soaps are a dying genre and are as ridiculed as much as K-fed's latest album. 25 years ago, there were less programs on the air for viewers to turn to. With the addition of all the satellite and cable feeds, those who have the opportunity to watch during the daytime hours will find something else of interest. I don't think we'll ever get those massive numbers ever again, even if they heavily promote the most popular couple on air at the time.

I still think the networks should dedicate more time to primetime promotion. I guess in the scheme of things, it helps them more to promote another Grey's Anatomy promo for instance, instead of any one of the ABC soaps.