The , referred to from hereon as "Kōhaku", was aired on December 31, 2008 from NHK Hall in Japan.
The music show on New Year's Eve is broadcast on both television and radio, and divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white.
Hosts
Red team host: Yukie Nakama
White team host: Masahiro Nakai
Mediators: Kazuya Matsumoto and Fumie Ono
Radio broadcasting spot person: Yasuhirio Yamada and Aika Kanda
Performers
The singers, announced on November 25, 2008, are ordered below according to the gojūon.
Results
The winners were the shirogumi, the white team, making it their 4th consecutive win. The white team now leads with 31 wins over the red team with 28 wins. The table below documents the voting and points distribution: