'The X Factor's Britney Spears Night', in which the American singer performed her comeback single 'Womanizer, captured a 48% share of the audience between 7.35pm-9.15pm.
Spears' performance was a far cry from a catastrophic outing at the MTV Video Music Awards a year ago, when she barely managed to lip-synch, but her decision to mime on the programme that trains its contestants to be able to perform live attracted criticism.
Britney Spears made her appearance as her new album 'Circus' was released to good reviews.
The show drew an average audience of 11.9m viewers and a 46% share of the audience as 'X Factor' contestants sang a selection of Britney Spears songs.
The results show, which saw Spanish-born singer Ruth Lorenzo voted off the series in a public vote, was watched by 10.7m viewers and a 50% share of the audience between 10.15pm-10.45pm. It peaked at 11.2m viewers and a 53% share of the audience.
Earlier in the evening, BBC One's 'Strictly Come Dancing' had 9.8m viewers and a 42% share of the audience between 6.05pm-7.35pm. This was some way down on the 11.7m who tuned in last week to see John Sergeant's last appearance on the show.
'Strictly Come Dancing' was up against ITV1's 'New You've Been Framed', which delivered 5m viewers and a 21% share of the audience between 6.35pm-7.05pm.
'Harry Hill's TV Burp' brought ITV1 6.7m viewers and a 27% share of the audience between 7.05pm-7.35pm.
The latest instalment of 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!' pulled in 9.6m viewers and a 40% share of the audience between 9.15pm-10.15pm.
Last night's instalment of 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!', in which Timmy Mallett and Esther Rantzen became the latest contestants to leave the show, won the 9pm slot with 8m viewers and a 30.7% share of the audience.
BBC One' new crime drama 'Wallander', in which stage and screen actor Kenneth Branagh plays a Swedish detective, trailed ITV1 with 6.2m viewers and a 23.9% share of the audience between 9-10.30pm.
Channel 4's 'Chaos at the Zoo', a documentary following TV presenter Anna Ryder-Richardson and her husband Colin over eight months as they and their young daughters attempt to run their own zoo in Wales, netted 1.4m viewers and a 5.2% share of the audience at 9-10pm. Including ratings on Channel 4+1, it managed 1.5m viewers.
Hollywood action thriller 'S.W.A.T.', starring Colin Farrell and Samuel L Jackson, earned Five 1.2m viewers and a 5.8% share of the audience at 9-11.20pm.
The first part of 'Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Philadelphia' brought BBC Two 3.2m viewers and an 11.8% share of the audience at 9-10pm. The concluding part will be shown this Sunday.
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