HBO's "Game of Thrones" pulled in a single-episode record audience for the eighth season's premiere Sunday night, propelling other concurrently running shows around the time slot to new highs as well.

HBO announced 17.4 million viewers sat down Sunday to watch the beginning of the end for the popular fantasy series, which is in its final season. That number is roughly half a million more than the previous record number of people who tuned in to watch the seventh season finale, "The Dragon and the Wolf."

Hyping up the final season of one of the most popular shows of all time for months before release seems to have paid dividends for HBO as multiple shows after "Game of Thrones" aired saw huge boosts to their viewerships. Comedic thriller "Barry," in its second season, had its highest audience ever at 2.2 million, political comedy "Veep" had its highest audience since 2016 at 1.5 million, and late night show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" had its highest since 2017 with 1.7 million.

While the numbers are self-reported, HBO disclosed how many people sat down to watch the episodes and also noted streaming viewers through their HBO Go and HBO Now services. HBO's reporting comes on the heels of Netflix self-reporting on the success of their own original content.

"Game of Thrones" is a fantasy series adapted from the works of author George R. R. Martin, who is currently writing the final book in the series. The TV writers were informed of the general plot points of the last book to ensure some consistency between the novels and the show amid concerns surrounding Martin's health and ability to finish the final book.

HBO also noted the season eight premiere was the most tweeted-about episode in the show's history.