Last week the second season of True Blood premiered on HBO, receiving the best audience levels of any show since The Sopranos series finale in June 2007.

It’s difficult to get much audience information on HBO, but I did manage to compile the following list. Nielsen adjusted its ratings measurements of HBO after 2004, so its hard to compare audience levels before that point.

The second season premiere of True Blood is 157% above the first season’s premiere of 1.44 million in 2008. It may be that the HBO series was partly helped by popularity of the Twilight series. It might also be a sign that HBO has the first series hit since the days of Tony Soprano.