The Andy Griffith Show’s final season ranked number 1 in the Nielsen ratings. The 1967–68 season ended the sitcom’s run at the top of American television’s yearly primetime rankings.
That achievement capped an unusually consistent run. The series remained a top-ten hit throughout its eight seasons and never ranked lower than seventh in the yearly ratings. Its final season’s first-place finish placed it ahead of other major programs, including The Lucy Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
The show’s success was especially notable because Andy Griffith left after the eighth season. The closing episodes introduced Sam Jones, played by Ken Berry, and helped transition the setting and supporting cast into the spin-off Mayberry R.F.D.
A related fact often causes confusion: individual seasons had different ranks, including fifth in 1963–64 and third in 1966–67. The stored answer concerns the final 1967–68 season, not the show’s average position across its entire run.