The fiery final presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump drew 71.6 million viewers, the third-highest total ever for a presidential debate, according to data from Nielsen released on Thursday.

The debate did not approach the record-setting first debate on Sept. 26, which had 84 million viewers, but it did surpass the second debate audience of 66.5 million.

By this point, record ratings have become a familiar story line for this year’s election cycle. Wednesday night closed out a 14-month debate season that featured two dozen debates, many of which set records, including:

■ The most-viewed debate ever (the first presidential debate).

■ The highest-rated primary debate and the highest-rated non-sports cable event ever (the first Republican debate, which drew 24 million viewers in August 2015).

■ The highest-rated Democratic debate ever (the first Democratic debate in October 2015 had 15.8 million viewers).