Glee: Hold on to Sixteen

"Hold On to Sixteen" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the fifty-second overall. The episode title is from a line in John Mellencamp's song "Jack & Diane". Written by Ross Maxwell and directed by Bradley Buecker, the episode aired on Fox in the United States on December 6, 2011, and featured the return of Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) to McKinley High and New Directions, and their participation in the Sectionals show choir competition. Eight songs are covered in the episode, which include three songs originated by members of the Jackson family and performed by New Directions: The Jackson 5's "ABC", Janet Jackson's "Control" and Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror". The performances were reviewed favorably for the most part, the notable exception being Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup", which was given a mixed reception. The episode as a whole was also given a mixed reception, with some reviewers criticizing the ease and rapidity of Sam's return, though others felt the show was back on track after developments in recent episodes. Five of the seven tracks from the episode—three of four singles, and two of three from the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 7—charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100, with the cast's "We Are Young" debuting at numbers twelve and eleven, respectively, selling 137,000 downloads in the United States. Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 7.11 million American viewers and garnered a 3.0/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership and ratings for this episode were down from the previous episode, "I Kissed a Girl".