MTV Music's Last Song: 'Video Killed the Radio Star'

Viewers tuning in to some of MTV's old-school music channels on New Year's Eve 2025 saw more than a countdown—they saw the format quietly sign off. MTV pulled the plug on its remaining music-only channel on Dec. 31, ending decades of round-the-clock video programming in multiple countries. In the UK, MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live went dark, Rolling Stone reports. MTV Music bowed out with "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles, the first clip ever played when MTV launched in the US on Aug. 1, 1981. Other channels chose different final songs, with MTV 90s calling it a day with the Spice Girls' "Goodbye."

Music-only MTV channels, which ended in the US years ago, have also gone dark in countries including Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Australia, and Brazil, Deadline reports. The move has prompted a familiar question: is MTV itself done? For now, no, People reports. The flagship channels remain on air, continuing to lean on franchises like The Challenge and RuPaul's Drag Race. In the UK, the MTV HD channel remains, with reality shows like Naked Dating UK and Geordie Shore, reports the BBC.

MTV was the 49th most-watched US cable network in 2025, ahead of Comedy Central, per Variety. Parent company Paramount hasn't publicly explained why it killed the music-only brands, Rolling Stone reports. But it follows a pattern of cutbacks around Paramount's $8 billion merger with Skydance, completed in August 2025, and earlier decisions to pause the MTV Europe Music Awards and MTV Latin America's MIAW Awards. MTV News was closed in 2023 after 36 years, with executives citing economic pressures.

Former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes, speaking to People in October, said the shift was part of a larger transition. "While it's a bit sad, it's been a bit sad for a while. I think MTV had its time and history that time will never repeat, and it's time to change," she said. "We all change. We have to evolve. And I hope that there's another version of them, just like there's another version of us, us who were part of that we're no longer the same. Why should we expect them to be? The world has changed so much." (MTV's first day also included videos from the Talking Heads, Blondie, and Kate Bush.)