A total of 133,201 fans watched the four games at the City of Manchester Stadium, St. Andrew's, Stamford Bridge and The Valley. Over the last decade, this season's average is beaten only by 1998-99 (35,879) and 2001-02 (34,698).

TV audiences have also been extremely buoyant, up 35% from last season on the BBC. Viewer numbers peaked at 6.4m for Manchester City - West Ham United on Monday and 6.7m for Chelsea - Newcastle United on Wednesday.

The match at Stamford Bridge gained a 27% share of the viewing audience between 8 and 10pm making it comfortably the most watched programme in these prime time hours.

FA Chief Executive Brian Barwick said: "The crowd and TV audience figures are extremely encouraging and underline the special fascination that English football has with The FA Cup.

"These crowds are especially positive seeing as the matches weren't played at some of the biggest stadiums such as Old Trafford, St James' Park, Villa Park, Anfield or the Stadium of Light.

"We've seen how Cup fever grabs clubs and their fans as they get ever closer to the Final.

"West Ham are in their first semi-final since 1991, while Charlton are looking to reach this stage for their first time since 1947, the year they went on the win the Cup. I'm looking forward to two exciting semi-finals."

Barwick also explained: "A special scheduling solution had to be found for this season's Sixth Round and we worked closely together with the Premier League and Football League to agree the fixture calendar."