The hotly anticipated one-hour finale of 'How I Met Your Mother' aired this past Monday night (March 31st), and the show's devoted fans were treated to a comedic ending which included divorce, death and reconciliation.

How I Met Your Mother
'How I Met Your Mother' received record ratings

It seems that finally finding out how the series' protagonist Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) met 'The Mother' was what television viewers wanted to find out as the last show achieved record setting ratings.

According to final numbers from Nielsen, around 13.1 million fans tuned in to CBS to see the penultimate episode, beating the previous record of 12.3 million fans who watched 'The Pineapple Incident' episode which aired in November 2005 during 'HIMYM's first season.

Josh Radnor
Ted Mosby, played by Josh Radnor, revealed how he met his chidren's mother

The series, which followed Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Robin (Cobie Smulders), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Ted (Josh Radnor) living in NYC, aired for nine series since debuting in 2005, and has gone on to become CBS' second most watched sitcom, just behind 'The Big Bang Theory.'

See what happened in the final episode on the next page