New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash Draws In Huge Ratings, Outperforms Every Other Country Music Show From 2023
Country music ended 2023 in a “big” way.
New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash was a celebratory concert program that aired on CBS from 7:30 PM-1 AM ET on New Year’s Eve (December 31). The stacked lineup included performers such as Lainey Wilson, Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, Morgan Wallen, Cody Johnson, Elle King, Carly Pearce, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
RELATED: LAINEY WILSON & ELLE KING JOIN LYNYRD SKYNYRD FOR “SWEET HOME ALABAMA” ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
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The ratings for Nashville’s Big Bash are in now. According to Deadline, the program averaged 7.58 million viewers throughout the night, marking a 75% increase in viewership when compared to 2022.
But the program had peak moments that totaled even higher. It started off with 11.93 million viewers, which likely carried over from the NFL coverage that aired before the program started.
Breaking Down The Numbers Behind The Success Of Nashville’s Big Bash On New Year’s Eve
During its first stretch from 7:30-10, the show averaged 8.21 million viewers. For comparison, only 3.9 million viewers tuned in to the same portion of the program in 2022.
The program then took a break at 10 PM for the local news to air for 30 minutes. Once the show returned, it averaged 6.93 million viewers in its last primetime hour.
Then, from 11:30 PM-12:30 AM, the show averaged 8.12 million viewers. There was a peak of 8.58 million viewers at the 11:45 PM quarter hour, as more people tuned in for the countdown to the New Year.
Ratings dropped slightly after 12:30 AM. Still, an impressive average of 7.4 million viewers remained tuned in to the program until ended at 1 AM.
Nashville’s Big Bash Outperformed Every Country Music Awards Show From 2023
A representative for Nashville’s Big Bash released a statement about the program’s ratings. According to this rep, Nashville’s Big Bash was the #1 country music program of 2023.
That means the celebration outperformed every country music awards show from the year.
We don’t know the exact ratings for the ACM Awards, since they aired on Amazon Prime Video and not network TV. But here are the ratings for the other programs in 2023:
- The CMT Music Awards – 5.64 million viewers
- CMA Fest – 3.65 million viewers
- The People’s Choice Country Awards – 3.90 million viewers
- The CMA Awards – 6.84 million viewers
In other words, it seems likely Nashville’s Big Bash will be back to ring in the next New Year!
Head below to watch one of the highlight performances from the program. Lainey Wilson and Elle King joined Lynyrd Skynyrd to sing the band’s iconic hit, “Sweet Home Alabama.”