Country music helped ABC to its best ratings week in more than a year. The network, which narrowly lost to CBS for the distinction of America's most popular TV network last week, aired the Country Music Association awards to 17.2 million people, according to the Nielsen Co.

ABC and CBS dominated the upper reaches of the Nielsen charts; 24 of the nation's most-watched programs the week of Nov. 9-15 were on one of the two networks. ABC is nearing the end of a "Dancing With the Stars" run, so that audience is growing. A story line that played out across all three "CSI" franchises was a winner for CBS. All the shows earned a spot in Nielsen's top 14 programs, with the mother ship, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," getting its biggest audience of the season.

For the week, network averages were: CBS, 11.5 million viewers (7.2 rating, 12 share); ABC, 11.2 million (7.0, 11); NBC, 8.1 million (5.1, 8); Fox, 8 million (4.8, 8); CW, 2.4 million (1.5, 2); ION, 930,000 (0.6, 1).

In the evening news race: NBC "Nightly News," 9.4 million (6.2, 12); ABC; "World News," 8.4 million (5.7, 11); "CBS Evening News," 6.7 million (4.6, 9).

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1 Sunday Night Football: New

England at Indianapolis (NBC)

2 NCIS (CBS)

3 Dancing With the Stars (ABC)

4 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)

5 CMA Awards (ABC)

6 Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick (NBC)

7 NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)

8 Dancing With the Stars Results (ABC)

9 The Mentalist (CBS)

10 Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

11 Desperate Housewives (ABC)

12 CSI: NY (CBS)

13 Two and a Half Men (CBS)

14 CSI: Miami (CBS)

15 The Good Wife (CBS)

16 House (Fox)

17 60 Minutes (CBS)

18 Survivor: Samoa (CBS)

19 The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

20 Criminal Minds (CBS)