‘Nashville’s Big Bash’ Was the No. 1 Most-Watched Country Program of 2023

New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash saw its ratings skyrocket in 2023, with a 75 percent bump in viewership over the 2022 New Year's Eve special.

In fact, if there's one big takeaway from New Year's special ratings overall, it's that more people are tuning in to celebrate with live television.

According to data collected by Deadline, the Bash averaged 8.21 million viewers during its 7:30PM-10PM stretch. That number is up an impressive 113 percent from the previous year, though a portion of those views can be attributed to its peak time right at the start of the program (11.93 million viewers), when some were still tuned in after the NFL coverage that aired on CBS right before the Bash began.

But viewership stayed high after the New Year's Eve special's half-hour local news break, averaging a 51 percent audience increase during the 10:30-11:30 PM and 11:30PM-12:30AM hours, averaging 6.93 million and 8.12 million viewers, respectively.

The program peaked at about 15 minutes 'til midnight, with 8.58 million viewers.

A press release from the Bash's PR representative also names the special as the highest-rated country music program of 2023. Viewership topped the CMA Awards (with 6.84 million viewers) the CMT Music Awards (5.64 million), CMA Fest (3.65 million), the People's Choice Country Awards (3.90 million) and more.

The Bash wasn't the only New Year's special to experience a boost in ratings: Deadline also reports that ABC's longstanding Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve With Ryan Seacrest jumped in viewership by 30 percent — an incredible 22.2 million viewers tuned in to see the ball drop at midnight in New York City's Times Square.

The Bash featured performances from a slew of country artists, including Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson and Elle King, the latter of whom hosted the show.