New Year's Eve Live

CNN correspondents provided reports of the festivities from the crowd, including the swearing in of incoming New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

[4] In addition to Times Square, the program has frequently broadcast from Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and Key West, where Gary Marion (a drag queen who performs as "Sushi") rides a ruby shoe down to ring in the new year.

[5] On May 31, 2017, CNN cut its ties with Griffin after she had posted a photo depicting her holding a mock severed head of U.S. president Donald Trump.

On December 31, 2003, Anderson Cooper hosted, joined by Jason Carroll (street reports), Hugh Hefner (at the Playboy Mansion), Cyndi Lauper, Wyclef Jean, Ben Stein, Amazing Kreskin, The Flaming Lips, John Zarrella (Key West), Kendis Gibson (Elma, New York, where a resident had won a write-in contest to have the show come to her New Year party, which in her case also was a graduation and going-away party for her son), and live look-ins at celebrations in other cities.

[12] On December 31, 2004, New Year's Live with Anderson Cooper featured a performance by Celine Dion from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

John Zarrella reported from Key West, Betty Nguyen was in Chicago, and Susan Roesgen was in New Orleans, which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

The two immediately developed a unique rapport, which featured discussion about pop culture events and off-beat news stories from the year.

[25] The 90-minute program featured Cooper and Griffin hosted in Times Square, with Brooke Baldwin reporting live in Nashville, John Zarrella in Key West and Gary Tuchman again participating in the "Midnight Run" in Central Park.

CNN correspondents included: Isha Sesay (street reports), Gary Tuchman and his 14-year-old daughter (Central Park run), John Zarrella (Key West), Brooke Baldwin and Marty Savidge (Nashville).

Correspondents joining the broadcast included Isha Sesay (Times Square), John Zarrella (Key West), Gary Tuchman (Eastport, Maine), Brooke Baldwin (New Orleans) and Susan Hendricks (Nashville).

Griffin's antics were tame compared to previous years, as her only trick of the night was to put red and blue dye in Cooper's gray hair.

Richard Quest was scheduled to report live from the Quantum of the Seas cruise ship off the coast of The Bahamas; although he was called back to New York to cover the AirAsia Flight 8501 crash.

The duo hosted an extra hour, beginning at 8 p.m. eastern time, starting the broadcast from their "NYE war room", a hotel suite at the New York Marriott Marquis.

[37] Cooper and Griffin received well-wishes from numerous celebrities, including Sharon Stone, Dave Grohl, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, and Ron Jeremy.

[38] Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman sent a video clip in which both appeared to be naked, inviting the duo to "join us in our bed...for some sex.

[38] With Griffin's typical antics muted, the critical attention for the night focused on Don Lemon, who during his on-air segments was drunk, and at one point during the evening, had one of his ears pieced on live television.

In May 2017, Griffin was fired from the program and CNN after she had released a controversial publicity photo which depicted her with an effigy of the severed head of U.S. president Donald Trump.

[41] The broadcast featured a series of field segments by Randi Kaye on a New Year's Eve "pot bus" tour in Denver, Colorado.

[46] Guests included Patti LaBelle, Gwen Stefani, Keith Urban, Dave Chappelle, Dead & Company, and Jack Black.

[47] During the show, the Times Square Alliance (the business improvement district for the area) asked Cohen to take down his umbrella so that it wouldn't obstruct the shots of other media outlets sharing the riser space.

Cohen complained on-air that they had been targeted, pointed out other outlets were able to keep their umbrellas up, and stated that the Alliance threatened to pull CNN's credentials for the following year.

Guests and performers included Kylie Minogue, Snoop Dogg, John Mayer, Gloria Gaynor, Josh Groban, Leslie Jordan, Patti LaBelle, Jimmy Buffett, and Desus & Mero.

Lemon was joined in New Orleans at a parade with Alisyn Camerota (Baldwin had departed the network earlier that year), and comedian Dulcé Sloan.

[53][54] Other correspondents included Stephanie Elam in Las Vegas, Randi Kaye in Key West, Richard Quest performing the CityClimb atop 30 Hudson Yards, Chloe Melas from Times Square, Donie O’Sullivan at Hudson Hound, an Irish bar in the West Village,[55] and Gary and Lindsay Tuchman in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the city's 500th anniversary.

[57] Other guests included Patti LaBelle, Amanda Gorman, Katy Perry (from her Play residency at Resorts World Las Vegas),[58] William Shatner, Leslie Jordan, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

[53] Shortly after midnight, Cohen re-iterated his disdain for outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio,[59] and celebrated the inauguration of Eric Adams.

[63][64] During an internal town hall in November 2022, the new head of CNN, Chris Licht announced that Cooper and Cohen are planned to host once again.

[67] On location in New Orleans, Don Lemon missed midnight in the Central Time Zone; the telecast at that point showed a split screen of scenes from the party and of Nashville's music note drop, with no commentary.

[11] The 2024–25 edition featured performances by 50 Cent (from Planet Hollywood Las Vegas), Diplo, Lil Jon, Meghan Trainor, Patti LaBelle, Shania Twain, and Sting.

[73] After being asked by Cohen about the most "conventional" place he had ever done LSD, Diplo revealed that he had microdosed the hallucinogen while on a helicopter ride to the Avalon Hollywood before going on-air.