This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Kōhaku Uta Gassen" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Japanese. (December 2014)Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:NHK紅白歌合戦]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|ja|NHK紅白歌合戦}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Kōhaku Uta Gassen
Also known as	NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen
Created by	Tsumoru Kondo
Ending theme	Hotaru no Hikari
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	75 contests
Production
Production locations	Tokyo Takarazuka Theater (1959–1972) NHK Hall (1973–2020; 2022 onwards) Tokyo International Forum (2021)
Running time	4 hours 30 minutes
Production company	NHK
Original release
Network	NHK General TV (1953–present) NHK Radio 1 (1951–present) NHK World Premium(Worldwide) (1998–present)
Release	January 3, 1951 (1951-01-03) – present

NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen (Japanese:NHK紅白歌合戦,Hepburn:Enu Eichi Kei Kōhaku Uta Gassen, "NHK Red and White Song Battle"^[1]), more commonly known simply asKōhaku, is an annualNew Year's Evetelevision special produced by Japanese public broadcasterNHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK network and by some overseas (mainly cable) broadcasters who buy the program. The show ends shortly before midnight. Before the show began broadcasting on television in late 1953, the show was held on 3 January and only consisted of a radio broadcast.

The program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white. The "red" team orakagumi (赤組, 紅組) is composed of all female artists (or groups with female vocals), while the "white" team orshirogumi (白組) is all male (or groups with male vocals). At the end of the show, judges and the audience vote to decide which group performed better.^[2] The honor of performing onKōhaku is strictly by invitation, so only the most successful singing acts in the Japanese entertainment industry can perform. In addition to the actual music performances, the costumes, hair-styles, makeup, dancing, and lighting are given focus. A performance on the show is regarded as a highlight in singers' careers due to the show's wide reach.

The songs and performers are examined by a selection committee put together by NHK. The basis for selection are record sales and adaptability to the edition's theme.

At the same time, ademographic survey is conducted regarding the most popular singers for each and what kind of music people want to hear. This and the song selection explain theamalgamation of themusical genres and itsartists.

There are, however, exceptions to the process.Momoe Yamaguchi chose to sing her favorite song "Hito Natsu no Keiken" (ひと夏の経験) with its suggestive lyrics during the 25th edition, despite NHK's pick of a different song.

When the show was first broadcast on radio in 1951, each team had a few performers, all of whom would perform within an hour. Since 1989, the program goes on for at least four hours as both teams, each having at least 25 performers, perform their songs.

At the end of the show, the audience and a panel of judges—notable celebrities who may or may not have a connection to the music industry—vote to select the winning team. In the past, the audience vote has been composed of a head count of the venue audience members, who could vote for either team (NHK Hall, which has been the venue for mostKōhaku editions since 1971, can seat 3,000 people). This counted as one vote.

As of the 54th (2003) and 55th editions (2004), viewers who watch the program throughISDB-S on NHK BS Hi-vision could vote by having their own head count in their respective households. Although it was still sketchy to determine in the 55th, the audience vote was counted as two votes: one for the venue audience and one for ISDB-S viewers.

The audience vote(s) are added to those of the judges who each have to vote for one team. The team with the most votes wins.

The above process was done differently for the 56th edition (2005). Instead, the NHK Hall head count, the vote count from cellphone users and the vote count from ISDB-S viewers each counted as one vote. As stated above, the team that got at least two votes won.

In the57th edition (2006), aside from cellphone and ISDB-S viewers and the NHK Hall audience,1seg users voted. Its format had been reverted to the ball voting system—from the audience head count and the judges' votes.

From the58th edition (2007) to the 63rd edition (2012) and again in the 65th (2014), 66th (2015), and 68th (2017) through 70th editions (2019), the winner was determined through an overall head count, all from cellphone, ISDB-S viewers, 1seg users, and the NHK Hall Audience (including guests). Voting reverted temporarily to judges plus audience-unit votes in the 64th edition (2013) and 67th (2016) except that viewing audience votes (from internet, cellphone, digital TV, and 1seg voting) during halftime and end of show would each count as one vote and the NHK Hall head count as another single vote. The71st edition (2020) featured off-venue voting only as there was no live audience in attendance due to concerns that arose from theCOVID-19 pandemic in Japan. The 71st edition also saw performances emanating from multiple venues within NHK's studio premises with NHK Hall still the main staging area.

Aside from the performances, there are special performances where certain performers do their act together, the so-called "Ring Show" where performers from both teams take part in a "singing exercise," as well as performances from non-competing artists both in Japan and abroad. At the end of the show, all the performers sing "Hotaru no Hikari" (蛍の光) together. The song is based on the Scottish "Auld Lang Syne" that is commonly sung at New Year parties in the west. In addition, the 50th edition of the show included a "Countdown Special" to welcome the year 2000.

A special celebrating the 100 years of broadcasting is scheduled to air on March 25, 2025. More than 10,000 submissions were received from the public, who shared their favorite and most memorable moments from all broadcasts.Teruyoshi Uchimura,Yo Oizumi,Mone Kamishiraishi, and announcerMaho Kuwako serve as hosts of the special program "100 Years of Broadcasting Project: Everyone's Best Kohaku", airing on March 25, recorded at NHK Hall, Kohaku's venue since 1973. The cast includesKiyoshi Hikawa,Hiromi Go,Akira Fuse,AI,Nogizaka46, andGolden Bomber.Kazunari Ninomiya is scheduled for a guest appearance. Performers talk about their "Kohaku" memories and sing songs that meet this theme.^[3] Previous to the program, a specialSongs [ja] will air on March 13, with guests, includingLady Gaga, commenting about their experiences on Kohaku.^[4][5][6]

Kōhaku was once the most-watched show on Japanese television of the year. One major factor was that New Year's Eve in Japan is a holiday traditionally spent at home (seeŌmisoka). Over the years, the annual event's popularity has declined from an all-time high of an 81.4 rating in 1963 to a low of 30.6 in theKantō region for the first part of the 2006 event.^[8] The 2021Kōhaku program set a record low for the second portion of the show with a 34.3 viewership rating in the Kantō region.^[9] Despite the drop,Kōhaku is consistently the top-rated musical event each year.^[10]

Outside Japan, Taiwan also hosts a similarKōhaku competition,Super Star (超級巨星紅白藝能大賞), which broadcasts on theeve ofChinese New Year. Similar toKōhaku, the special is held at a live venue,Taipei Arena. UnlikeKōhaku,Super Star does not have gender-affiliated teams and the special is pre-recorded weeks before airing instead of being a live broadcast. Thefirst special premiered on February 13, 2010, the eve of the 2010's Chinese New Year.^[11] Themost recent special was set to be broadcast on February 9, 2024.

The following is a list of acts with notable contributions to the Japanese entertainment industry, and have a minimum of five appearances onKōhaku to their credit (appearance numbers in parentheses are as of the 73rd edition):

1. Matsuura has also appeared withDEF.DIVA andGAM. However, NHK does not count those appearances towards her count.

1. Saori Yuki and Sachiko Yasuda are counted as a duet. Solo appearances by either of the two would not count towards the duet count.

AlthoughKōhaku is made up of mostly Japanese entertainers, foreign artists (artists who are not Japanese nationals) popular in Japan have competed in the program. Special appearances, supporting musicians or other methods of participation where the artist or group's performance was not accounted for in the overall scoring should not be added to this list. Below is a list of artists or groups who have done so, categorized based on the country of origin (Asian or non-Asian) the person or majority of the members in a group are from, along with the editions:

• Kōhaku Uta Gassen Official Page (Japanese)
• NHK Kōhaku on the NHK Digital Museum

• Culture articles needing translation from Japanese Wikipedia
• NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen
• Music competitions in Japan
• Japanese music television series
• Japanese television specials
• 1953 Japanese television series debuts
• New Year's television specials
• Annual television shows
• 1950s Japanese television series
• 1960s Japanese television series
• 1970s Japanese television series
• 1980s Japanese television series
• 1990s Japanese television series
• 2000s Japanese television series
• 2010s Japanese television series
• 2020s Japanese television series
• Music festivals in Japan
• Japanese radio programs
• 1951 radio programme debuts
• Simulcasts

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 Chinese (Taiwan)-language sources (zh-tw)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• Articles needing additional references from September 2018
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles with multiple maintenance issues
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hatnote templates targeting a nonexistent page
• Articles containing Japanese-language text