MTV hit scores its biggest audience yet.

LAUREN CONRAD and her gang of drama queens are more popular than ever.

"The Hills" season premiere earned the highest rating of the year in cable television among 12-34 year olds -- with an averaged 4.8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

In fact, Monday night's show scored such a huge audience that it even beat out broadcast television for the evening.

It seems viewers just can't get enough of L.C., WHITNEY PORT and their nemesis, former BFF HEIDI MONTAG. Reuters reports that in its first full day live on MTV.com, the new "Hills" episode logged 1.8 million downloads, up 29% from the day after Season 3's premiere episode.