Rick Springfield on returning to New Year’s Rockin’ Eve: ‘I’m very excited about it’

Rick Springfield will help ring in the new year with a performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026, and the experience certainly isn’t new to the singer.

In fact, Springfield told ABC’s On the Red Carpet during rehearsals for the show that performing on Rockin’ Eve was “one of the first things I did when ‘Jessie’s Girl’ first broke,” referring to his #1 hit from 1981.

“So this is great. I’m very excited about it,” he added. “You know, when I saw it come in I said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna do this.'”

With the year coming to a close, a lot of people probably already have their New Year’s resolutions in mind, but Springfield says he isn’t one of them.

“I’m a very goal-oriented person, and I don’t wait for New Year’s to make goals,” he said. “It’s kind of a cop-out.”

“I mean, I get it. It’s a good kind of point for someone to start, if they’re having a hard time starting,” he noted. “But I don’t really make the resolutions on the New Year’s thing. I just go for it all the time.”

As for what Springfield has planned for 2026, he joked that he’ll be “sleeping a lot” and also plans to visit his granddaughter a lot. There’s also plenty of music in store.

“I have a record coming out with a band I have called The Locusts that’s a double album coming out,” he said, “and I’ll also be recording a new album that I’m really excited about it.”

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026 kicks off on ABC Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET, with the show featuring countdowns from New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Puerto Rico and more.

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