【Pilar Coll】

If it felt like everyone and Pilar Colltheir mother (of dragons) was watchingGame of Thrones onSunday night, it's because they were.

According to HBO, a staggering 17.4 million viewers across cable, HBO Go, and HBO Now tuned into the Game of Thrones: Season 8 premiere on Sunday — surpassing Thrones' previous ratings record from the finale of Season 7, which brought in 16.9 million viewers in July 2017.

The debut of Thrones' final season marked the largest night of streaming activity in HBO's history, and that means great things for the service's other series.

Barry, a tense dramedy starring Saturday Night Livealum Bill Hader, followed Thronesand saw its best night ever with 2.2 million viewers.

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SEE ALSO: 'Barry' star Anthony Carrigan knows who NoHo Hank would want on the Iron Throne

Similarly, HBO's long-running comedy VEEP, which followed Barry, experienced its best night since June 2016 with 1.5 million viewers.

And then Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which followed VEEP(which followed Barry, which followed Thrones),championed its best night since August 2016, bringing in an audience of 1.7 million.

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As fans play catch up on Sunday's Thrones premiere — and dive into the five remaining Thrones episodes in the coming weeks — viewership is likely to continue climbing for HBO programming across the board.

Ultimately, Game of Thrones: Season 7 averaged 32.8 million viewers per episode. Season 8 is sure to burn that record right up. (Er... sorry, little Ned.)

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Topics Game Of Thrones

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