A wise man once told me the best way to go out is on top. If the numbers for the premiere of the seventh and final season of Sons Of Anarchy are anything to go by, that could well be the case for the FX series. With a premiere packed with a brutal prison attack, mourning and misplaced vengeance, the Kurt Sutter-created biker drama drew 6.2 million viewers at 10 PM last night with 4.1 million among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen. Coming in as the most-watched episode and the best demo result in the show’s history, the epic 1 hour and 47 minute beginning of SOA’s last ride was up 5% in total viewership from the 90-minute Season 6 premiere on September 10, 2013. Previously the best SOA had ever done, that debut last year had 5.87 million viewers with 3.94 million in the demo. Like last year’s season opener, last night’s SOA was also the top show in the 18-49 demo in both broadcast and cable.

Barely missing a beat from the shocking Season 6 finale of December 10 last year, last night’s season premiere found the SAMCO crew just 10 days later dealing with the aftermath and with club chief Jax Teller behind bars. The Season 6 finale had 5.2 million total viewers and 3.54 million 18-49s to rank as the best season ender ever for the show.

As good as the Season 7 opener did, it will have to burn some serious rubber to beat the results of last season. With digital figures taken into account on this DVR-friendly show, SOA Season 6 averaged 7.48 million viewers with 5.11 million in the 18-49 demo — the most-watched season of a FX original series in the cable network’s history in total viewers and the demo. With that in mind, let’s see what FX’s Live+3 ratings results have to show us when they come out. The cabler says they’ll have the numbers September 15.

Related: Last ‘SOA’ Comic-Con Panel Talks Prequel, Previews Final Season, Amid Emotions For Kurt Sutter & Cast