‘Empire’ premiere has been seen by almost 30 million viewers, Fox says

How popular is the hip-hop soap “Empire”? Fox says nearly 1 out of every 10 Americans has seen it.

The network distributed Nielsen research Thursday that showed that since its January premiere, the first episode of the soap about an aging music mogul and his extended family has racked up 29.2 million total viewers.

That’s closing in on 10% of the U.S. population of approximately 318 million people.

The statistic also shows how viewers are increasingly delaying their TV viewing. On the day it first aired, the “Empire” premiere drew only 9.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.

Nearly 5 million viewers didn’t get around to watching until more than 30 days after the premiere.

Fox has already picked up “Empire” for a second season, but won’t reveal exactly when the show will return until next month, when it unveils the new schedule to advertisers.

How about you? Have you been following “Empire” all along, or are you waiting to binge later?

Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT