Jan 4, 2024 - Things to Do

Nashville's New Year's Eve special got big TV ratings

Adam Tamburin

Thomas Rhett performs on NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE: NASHVILLE'S BIG BASH — Thomas Rhett performing during New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash. Photo: Dokk Savage/CBS via Getty Images

"Nashville's Big Bash," Music City's live New Year's Eve special, was a ratings winner for CBS.

The special averaged 8.31 million viewers in primetime, more than doubling last year's audience, according to a news release.

State of play: The first block of primetime programming for the special outranked the same portion of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC by 18%.

But the ABC program took the ratings crown during the midnight countdown.

The big picture: Nashville's performance-heavy program, broadcast live from Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, was CBS' most-watched original entertainment special since the Grammy Awards last February.

It also ranks as the top country music program of the year, besting the CMA Awards and the CMA Fest special.

Zoom in: The show featured live performances from Lainey Wilson, Thomas Rhett and Lynyrd Skynyrd, with pre-taped appearances from other stars.

Of note: The live event also drew a record crowd of 215,000 attendees, according to organizers.

Editor's note: This story was updated to add more details about late-night ratings.

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Nashville's New Year's Eve special got big TV ratings

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