NHK's year-end music program "The 71st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen" was broadcast live from NHK Hall to close out 2020, and this year's winner was the red team led by actress Nikaido Fumi. 

The last time that the red team won was back in 2016. With this, the red team has a total of 32 wins and the white team a total of 39 wins. 

When Uchimura Teruyoshi, the main host of the program, handed Nikaido with the winning flag, she laughed while saying, "Whoa, whoa! It's heavy. It's really heavy!" She then looked to her team and expressed, "I'm sorry. I will take this on behalf of you. Thank you very much." Finally, she bowed her head and said, "Everyone was really wonderful. Both the red team and the white team. Thank you for your hard work." 

Meanwhile, the white team's host Oizumi Yo responded, "I was really impressed with the red team. The white team did their best too. They did good. The red team did good too!" 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 'The 71st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen' was held without an audience for the first time in its history. As such, the votes were cast by the viewers with up to five votes per TV.