featured performances by AJR, Busta Rhymes with Anderson Paak, Chloe X Halle, CNCO, Jason Derulo, the Goo Goo Dolls, Kylie Minogue, Pentatonix, Bebe Rexha with Doja Cat, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, and Sting with Shirazee. The late-night portion was seen by a total of 7.63 million viewers, a 6% decrease over 2020. NBC averaged 4.6 million viewers in primetime overall, which included the retrospective special New Year's Eve: Escape From 2020, and the primetime hour of the main telecast. Miley's New Year's Eve Party In September 2021, Vulture reported that NBC was planning to revamp its New Year's Eve programming for 2021–22, with a new special to be hosted by singer Miley Cyrus and produced by Lorne Michaels, thus ending Carson Daly's specials after sixteen editions. NBCUniversal had signed an overall deal with Cyrus in May 2021, including a first-look deal with her studio Hopetown Entertainment, and hosting three specials across the company's properties (an arrangement which began with her concert special Stand By You for Peacock). On November 29, 2021, NBC officially announced the new special—Miley's New Year's Eve Party—which would be co-hosted from Miami by Cyrus and Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson, who is a friend of the singer. It featured performances by Cyrus, 24kGoldn, Anitta, Billie Joe Armstrong, Brandi Carlile, Jack Harlow, Kitty Cash, and Saweetie. The special was preceded by Hoda and Jenna's retrospective, 2021: It's Toast! Cyrus explained that the special was intended to be "honest", "authentic", and "relatable to the way that everyone celebrates at home." Amid the COVID-19 situation that emerged in late-2021, Cyrus stated that they "wanted to make sure that it was the right and responsible thing to do to continue having a New Year’s show that was encouraging people to come together and celebrate". In a break from the formats of the remaining networks' New Year's Eve specials, late local programming aired at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT following the Hoda and Jenna special rather than at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT as normal, with Miley's New Year's Eve Party beginning in the final half hour of primetime at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and continuing into the late-night daypart. Miley's New Year's Eve Party finished in second place for the night, behind New Year's Rockin' Eve and ahead of CBS's inaugural New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash (Fox cancelled its special due to COVID-19 issues, and aired reruns in its place), averaging