The figures were boosted by the fact that United, Chelsea and Arsenal were all at home.
But it is still striking that, even with a team of Mr No-Names wearing red shirts at Old Trafford, more than 67,000 turned up to watch non-league Exeter City take on the holders.
Helped by reduced ticket prices, Chelsea managed to attract a bigger crowd for their clash with unglamorous Scunthorpe - 40,000 - than for most of their Champions League games, including the visit of European champions Porto.
Although Highbury's capacity is reduced on European nights, Arsenal got a bigger crowd for Stoke's visit in the FA Cup than for their opening game in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.
Halfway through the season, attendances in the revamped Championship have soared by 11 per cent to an average of more than 17,000 per game. Overall crowds outside the Premiership have risen by more than five per cent on last season.
Certainly the FA Cup appears to have recovered from the desperation of five seasons ago when it was decided that it was better for English football for Manchester United to take part in FIFA's inaugural world club championship than the most famous domestic Cup competition on the planet.
Most of the country clearly enjoyed the sight of Conference side Exeter snatching a goalless draw at Old Trafford and forcing Alex Ferguson to add a replay in Devon to their busy season. Oldham's upset of Manchester City was also a breath of fresh air.
There is going to be far more excitement attached to the "Harry Redknapp show" at St Mary's Stadium when Southampton clash with Portsmouth in the fourth round than for a Premiership derby on the south coast.
Statistically it appears that we are have all been a bit too nostalgic about the excitement of past FA Cup competitions. Worries in recent seasons that our romance with the Cup is waning are also not unusual when you look at the long history of the competition.
It is true that the big clubs have dominated the final for most of the last decade but it is also a myth that there used to be far more upsets.
Mike Collett, the FA Cup historian and author of "The Complete Record of the FA Cup", said: "There has actually always been around the same number of shocks every year. What the FA Cup has got is that one big upset can make a season special.
"The magic of the Cup is that anybody can play anybody else and get a result. It has retained that magic. Four Premiership teams went out and Exeter drew at United at the weekend.
"When I was researching my book I came across a newspaper article from 1962 when it was being suggested that there weren't so many upsets anymore and that the magic had gone."
