Bryan Adams once sang, "Everywhere I go, the kids wanna rock!"

Well, many of those rockin' kids were watching High School Musical 2 last Friday night, on both sides of the border.

Astral Media announced yesterday that the highly anticipated premiere of High School Musical 2 on the Family Channel drew a record 1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated non-sports program on a specialty broadcaster in the past five years.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Friday's premiere drew an estimated audience of 17.2 million, which would make it the most-watched basic-cable program ever, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The numbers in both Canada and the U.S. more than doubled viewership figures for the original High School Musical, which debuted in 2006.

'MILESTONE'

Compared to conventional Canadian networks, which are available in more than 10 million Canadian households, Family Channel is a commercial-free, subscription-based service that is available in only 5.4 million homes.

"Not only was the debut telecast of High School Musical 2 Family's highest-rated telecast ever, it also achieved a milestone that is extremely rare for specialty services in breaking the 1-million viewer mark," said Joe Tedesco, Family's vice-president and general manager.

The High School Musical franchise -- which features Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman -- has become a cultural phenomenon with TV-movies, hit records, concerts and merchandise.