Ryan Seacrest on New Year's Eve and His Taylor Swift Listening Ritual

Seacrest will host 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve' in Times Square

ByABC News
December 30, 2014, 12:21 PM

— -- Ryan Seacrest says the success of Taylor Swift’s “1989” album was one of the biggest pop culture stories of 2014 -- and Seacrest himself may be a reason why.

The host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” says he loves a certain track from the album so much he has to regulate himself when listening to it in public.

“’Blank Space.’ I crank that up,” Seacrest said today on “Good Morning America.” “I put my windows up in the car when I get to an intersection because I’m literally singing out loud and then when it’s green I can put them back down.”

“She was a huge country slash pop artist and then she decided to make this totally pop album – it was her decision to do it – and it became the biggest album of the year,” Seacrest said of Swift.

The “Blank Space” singer herself will be live with Seacrest on Wednesday night in New York City’s Times Square, contributing to the nearly 6 hours of live programming that will feature 38 performances in anticipation of the New Year's ball drop.

“This is the biggest show that I’ve ever done in my life,” said Seacrest, also the longtime host of “American Idol.”

Seacrest says he got a sneak peek of the smash hit Swift’s “1989” album would be when the singer played a song for him last September, ahead of its Oct. 27 release.

“I remember she took me into a dressing room at the iHearRadio Music Festival that we did in Las Vegas and she played one of the tracks and I just looked at her and said, ‘This is going to be a number one hit,’” Seacrest said.

Stars like Iggy Azalea, Meghan Trainor and more will join Swift in performing at “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” but it is two male performers whom Seacrest says could be the ones to watch in 2015.

“You know who had a really great year and is going to have a bigger year in 2015 is Nick Jonas,” Seacrest said. “He came out with a track called ‘Jealous’ and the rest of the album is really good.”

“I think next year you’re going to hear a lot more about Nick and an artist, Prince Royce, who is big internationally,” he added. “Prince Royce has got a mainstream pop album coming out which will be big, I think, in the states next year too.”

"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" with Seacrest will air Wednesday night beginning at 8 p.m., ET on ABC.