The champ is back! Wednesday night (September 23) was the return of ‘Empire‘ and as to be expected #TeamEmpire showed up and showed out. Just like it’s record breaking first season, the hit FOX show returned with a vengeance in the ratings for premiere week and surpassed its competition including the new crop of series’ that premiered this week. According to Hollywood Reporter:

The one-hour episode easily outperformed everything else on TV last night — and this week, if you exclude football — with an average 6.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 16 million viewers. Compared to previous episodes, that’s only eclipsed by the March finale as the highest-rated ever. It’s a much-needed dose of good news for Fox. The No. 4 network followed Sunday’s all-time low Emmy ratings with a soft premiere for Minority Report and a disappointing start for Scream Queens.

Advertisers are betting big on Empire‘s new season. In The Hollywood Reporter‘s recent cover story on the drama, the asking price for a 30-second spot in the Sept. 23 premiere was revealed to be a staggering $750,000. And the rest of the season will see the same amount of time going for as much as $600,000. (That’s in the range of peak American Idol.)

Congrats to the show and cast once again! All eyes are fixed on seeing how the show will live up to its hype from season 1 which saw ratings grow consistently week to week and get higher and higher. Many are looking to see what Cookie & Co. have up their sleeves for us this season, stay tuned.

In case you missed it, get into last night’s premiere below.