Recalling The Best Young and the Restless New Year’s Eve Kisses

New Year’s Eve on The Young and the Restless almost always brings a kiss or five between characters. Sometimes they’re unexpected and others not so much. Occasionally, they’re even hallucinated. No matter what type of kiss, throughout the years some of your Genoa City’s favorites received a lovely smooch to ring in the New Year.

Young and the Restless: Best New Year’s Eve Kisses

In 1989, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and Nikki Reed (Melody Thomas Scott) attended a wedding. Nikki was there with Jim Grainger (John O’Hurley). They danced together, and Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) paid the man in charge of the music to play Nikki and Victor’s song. When that song played, Nikki acquiesced to Victor’s request for another dance, and they shared a kiss. Jim wasn’t pleased when he saw it.

In the waning moments of 1996, many of Genoa City’s finest gathered at Katherine Chancellor’s (Jeanne Cooper) mansion to ring in the New Year. She and John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) shared a loving kiss while Jill Foster Abbott (Jess Walton) looked on in jealousy and Esther Valentine (Kate Linder) wished her a happy New Year.

The same year, Grace Turner (then Josie Davis) hallucinated kissing her best friend Sharon Newman’s (Sharon Case) husband, Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow). However, when reality set in, Sharon and Nick kissed while Grace locked lips with Tony Viscardi (then Nick Scotti).

Modern Memorable NYE Moments

When Genoa City rang in 2010, Chloe Mitchell (Elizabeth Hendrickson) and Chance Chancellor (then John Driscoll) couldn’t even wait for midnight. Chance did his own early countdown and smooched Chloe early and then again as the New Year rang in.

Speaking of Chloe, she had another memorable moment on New Year’s Eve when she finally admitted her feelings for Kevin Fisher (Greg Rikaart) a mere year later as Genoa City said goodbye to 2010. Wearing her pajamas, Chloe found Kevin outside Jimmy’s Bar. Even though it wasn’t at a fancy party, Kevin and Chloe shared a kiss for the ages that night.

As the clock wound down on 2013, fan-favorite couple, Sharon and Nick shared an exciting kiss to ring in 2014. It’s just too bad that Nick had no clue the part Sharon played in Phyllis Summer’s (Michelle Stafford) coma or the paternity switch for Summer Newman (Hunter King).

Then Young and the Restless in 2014 saw Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) and Kevin smooching as the clock struck 12. It seemed like their close friendship might grow into a lovely romantic relationship. However, their ill-fated foray into something more than friendship didn’t last too long. Perhaps it’s because Mariah hadn’t admitted that she also liked girls. When she and Tessa Porter (Cait Fairbanks) finally kissed in August 2017, it started a whole new chapter for Mariah.

In 2018, a sad Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) saw a kiss that never really went any further between Lola Rosales (Sasha Calle) and Fenmore “Fen” Baldwin (Zach Tinker). It seems like the whole point was to make Kyle jealous, and poor Fen ended up the odd man out, eventually.

Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan) and Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) enjoyed one on New Year’s 2019. Poor Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) let her go to be with his brother. At the time, Adam and Chelsea had no idea that she’d end up injured as a result of his machinations against Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson), and she’d frame him for attempted murder. Good times.

Who could forget Sharon and Rey Rosales (Jordi Vilasuso) tying the knot on New Year’s Eve 2020? The couple shared an intimate wedding after a year of Sharon fighting breast cancer, and they sealed the deal in the traditional way. It looks like they’ve lasted at least a year. We expect they’ll kiss once more to ring in 2022 as well. Who else will? Stay tuned.

The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Genoa City, check out all the latest that’s been posted on Y&R spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.