Early celebrations, first and second balls (1904–1955) The first New Year's Eve celebration in
Times Square was held on December 31, 1904;
The New York Times owner,
Adolph Ochs, decided to celebrate the opening of the newspaper's new headquarters,
One Times Square, with a midnight
fireworks show on the southern roof of the building to welcome 1905. Close to 200,000 people attended the event, displacing traditional celebrations that had normally been held at
Trinity Church. However, following several years of fireworks shows, and the city banning the fireworks from being launched directly over the crowd due to safety concerns, Ochs wanted a bigger spectacle at the building. Ochs hired sign design company
Artkraft Strauss, headed by a Ukrainian metalworker named Jacob Starr, to construct a ball for the celebration; it was built from iron and wood, illuminated by a hundred
incandescent light bulbs, weighed , and measured in diameter. The ball was hoisted on the building's seventy-foot flagpole with rope by a team of six men. The ball would begin to drop at ten seconds before midnight. Once it hit the roof, the ball completed a
circuit that lit five-foot-tall signs on the sides of the building to signal the new year, accompanied by a fireworks display. The first ever "ball drop" was held on December 31, 1907, welcoming the year 1908; to promote the event, waiters of nearby hotels and restaurants wore
top hats with battery powered lights spelling out "1908", which they turned on at midnight to match the "1908" signs on the tower. The original ball was replaced with a new design after the 1919–20 event; it shared the physical dimensions with the first ball, but was now constructed solely from iron—decreasing its weight to . The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Year's Eve 1942–43 and 1943–44 due to
wartime lighting restrictions during
World War II. That year, the ball's lights were turned off for one minute at 11:58 p.m. prior to the drop, in honor of the victims of the
Iran hostage crisis. Beginning at the 1981–82 event, the ball was redecorated as a "
Big Apple" with red-colored lightbulbs and a green "stem", as part of the
I Love New York tourism campaign. The original white bulbs returned to the ball for the 1988–89 event, but were replaced by red, white, and blue-colored bulbs for the 1990–91 event to salute the troops of
Operation Desert Shield. Lighting designer Barry Arnold explained that "something had to be done to make this event more spectacular as we approach the millennium." The following year, John Trowbridge was hired as the drop's new technical director; in 2021, Jeff Strauss told
The Wall Street Journal that since his arrival, the drop had never had any technical issues since.
Year 2000 celebrations and the fourth ball (1999–2007) On December 28, 1998, during a press conference attended by New York City mayor
Rudy Giuliani, organizers announced that the third ball would be retired for the arrival of the new millennium, and replaced by a new design constructed by
Waterford Crystal. The year 2000 celebrations introduced more prominent sponsorship to the event; companies such as
Discover Card,
Korbel Champagne, and
Panasonic were announced as official sponsors of the festivities in Times Square. The city also announced that actor
Ron Silver would lead a committee known as "NYC 2000", which was in charge of organizing events across the city for year 2000 celebrations. The fourth ball was unveiled on September 23, 1999; measuring in diameter and weighing , it incorporated a total of over 600
halogen lamps, 504 triangle-shaped Waterford Crystal panels, 96 strobe lights, and spinning, pyramid-shaped mirrors. The ball was constructed at Waterford's factory in
Ireland, and was then shipped to New York City, where the lighting system and motorized mirrors were installed at a warehouse in
the Bronx. The crystals were inscribed with a design dubbed the "Star of Hope", which contained a circle and
seven-pointed star representing the Earth and its
continents. The panels were replaced annually with new designs reflecting different "Hope"-related themes, including "Hope for Abundance", "Hope for Courage", "Hope for Unity", "Hope for Wisdom", "Hope for Fellowship", and "Hope for Peace".
September 11 attacks The 2001–02 celebrations were held in the aftermath of the
September 11 terrorist attacks; security was tightened in Times Square, with the event's police presence being doubled to around 7,000 officers, some officers being equipped with
metal and
radiation detectors, and police snipers stationed on rooftops. The ball featured panels with the theme "Hope for Healing"; they were inscribed with the names of countries and emergency organizations that had taken
casualties during the attacks, and the names of the
World Trade Center,
The Pentagon, and the four flights that were involved in the attacks. For a period during the 2010s, as part of the sponsorship of One Times Square's top-most billboard by Japanese electronics firm
Toshiba, a daytime countdown and ball drop was held as a media event at 10:00 a.m. ET to mark midnight
Japan Standard Time (JST). The event—held hours prior to the closedown of Times Square for the event proper—was used to appeal to
New York City's Japanese community, usually attended by members of Japanese media outlets, and included appearances by representatives in
traditional Japanese clothing. The numerical sign indicating the year (which remains atop the tower along with the ball itself) uses Philips LED lamps. The "14" digits for 2014 used
Philips Hue multi-color LED lamps, allowing them to have computerized lighting cues.
Modifications due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the 2020–21 festivities were closed to the general public. Attendance was limited to the media, performers, and the invited families of
essential workers and
first responders from the New York City area ("The Heroes of 2020"). In accordance with New York state health orders,
face masks were mandatory, and households were placed within "pens" with
social distancing. Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins stated that "it feels most appropriate to shine a spotlight on the individuals who are tirelessly leading our nation through hard times with unshakable strength, determination and poise, as well as their families, who deal with their own set of sacrifices." There was an estimated 80% reduction in NYPD presence at the event in comparison to past years.
Virtual components were developed for the event under the
VNYE banner, including a series of
streaming esports tournaments being organized by Ultimate Gamer, and a
VNYE app with
augmented reality camera filters and a digital recreation of Times Square as a
virtual world, minigames, and live streams of New Year's festivities in New York City and elsewhere. The automaker
Kia became a new sponsor of the festivities beginning that year; as a marketing campaign for its
fourth-generation Sorento, Kia held a promotional tour in which the "2021" numerals were driven from Irvine, California (the location of Kia America's headquarters) to New York City using the SUV.
Mashable writer Alison Foreman described the "dystopian" scenes of the event acknowledged by viewers on social media, including the large amount of placements by fellow sponsor
Planet Fitness (with revellers wearing Planet Fitness-branded clothing and accessories such as hats, and Planet Fitness-branded
tube men also occupying the "pens"). During a press briefing on November 15, 2021, Mayor
Bill de Blasio implicated that there were plans for New Year's Eve 2021–22 to have public attendance as normal, albeit with safety protocols to be determined and announced to a later date. de Blasio promised "a large, wonderful celebration", with "some clear, smart rules to keep everyone safe". On November 16, Mayor de Blasio announced that the event would be held as normal with no restrictions on capacity, although with all attendees over the age of 5 required to present
proof of vaccination for
COVID-19 (or proof of a recent negative
PCR test from within the past 72 hours if covered under an exemption, provided they wear a face mask). Despite a record number of cases in the city and state tied to
Omicron variant (which notably led to the suspension of several
Broadway shows due to COVID-19 issues within casts and crew, and the reimplementation of a state mask mandate for indoor public spaces that do not require patrons to be vaccinated), de Blasio stated on December 16 that "if at any point we need to alter the plan, we will", but emphasized that this was an outdoor event with only vaccinated attendees. On December 20, de Blasio stated that a final decision regarding any changes to the event would be made by Christmas, explaining that "we have what we've done historically for years and years, we have the kind of model we used last year. We are looking at anything that will make this work best." On December 22, de Blasio stated to CNN that the city was "looking to add additional measures to make it even safer"; the previous day,
Fox owned-and-operated station WNYW reported that organizers planned to mandate masks and cap the event's capacity, while the Fox network cancelled its planned
New Year's Eve special from Times Square citing COVID-19 concerns. These plans were confirmed on December 23, when it was announced that the maximum capacity would be reduced to 15,000 (from the approximately 58,000 present before), and that masks would also be mandatory for all attendees regardless of vaccination status. For the first time, the event's technical director John Trowbridge did not operate the drop in-person due to a COVID-19 infection, and instead directed the event quarantined at a hotel in New Jersey. A major renovation of One Times Square by Jamestown began in 2022, including the construction of a new observation deck, and the conversion of the tower's otherwise-disused floors into a Times Square museum and exhibition space. The ball drop itself was not disrupted by the ongoing construction. Ahead of the 2023–24 event, renovation was suspended in December 2023 to allow for preparations to begin (including the temporary removal of a
crane), and staff wore
personal protective equipment while on the roof.
Fontainebleau Resorts served as a sponsor, promoting the 70th anniversary of its
namesake hotel in Miami Beach, and its newly-opened
Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort; the lighting patterns on the ball featured
bow tie motifs, alluding to the use of bow ties as a logo and visual motif at the two hotels, and the bow tie shape of Times Square itself. That year's "Imagine" performer,
Paul Anka, had also been known for his performances in Las Vegas. For the 2024–25 event, all of the panels on the ball were replaced by a new set designed and manufactured locally by
Port Jervis-based Gillinder Glass; Gillinder had originally been approached by organizers to assist in designing an upcoming seventh iteration of the ball, but it was decided that the company would instead produce a set of panels for the existing ball. The panels contained one of two designs, with one featuring an abstract depiction of One Times Square's roof and the ball itself, and another inspired by its then-upcoming wedding chapel Ever. Guests were allowed to purchase the outgoing Waterford Crystal panels and assist in installing the new panels—a test for an upcoming VIP experience that would be offered as part of the new attractions.
The seventh ball (2025–present) to promote
Happy Gilmore 2.On December 27, 2024, it was announced that the sixth ball would be succeeded by a new, seventh ball beginning in 2025–26, as part of the renovation of One Times Square. Jamestown president Michael Phillips stated that the new ball would have a "completely different design", and would be "dynamic" and "more digitally interactive". The sixth ball will be relocated to an exhibit in the new One Times Square museum scheduled to open in 2026, alongside the third ball (which was relocated from the Jamestown Group headquarters), and a recreation of the first ball (which was constructed using salvaged scrap metal from the renovation). In July 2025, as part of a marketing campaign by
Netflix for the film
Happy Gilmore 2, the outgoing ball was replaced by a giant
Callaway golf ball. Details regarding the seventh ball were first revealed in October 2025, with the new design—dubbed the "Constellation Ball"—officially unveiled on November 24, 2025, as part of the
ribbon-cutting for the new Times Square observation deck. The seventh ball is its largest iteration to-date, with a diameter of and a weight of over . It is covered in 5,280 circular Waterford Crystal panels in three different sizes (roughly doubling the number of panels that were used on the sixth ball), The numeric signage was similarly upgraded with new multi-colored LED lighting. The crystals continue to feature annual themes, this time as part of Waterford's "Infinite Edition" series: the themes are in sets of three to correspond with the three sizes of panels, with the initial themes being "Infinite Joy", "Infinite Light", and "Infinite Beginning". The crystals will be replaced over the course of the year via the "Premium Ball Experience" attraction, a VIP offering which allows guests to access the ball itself, remove and purchase one of the outgoing crystal panels to keep, and install one of next year's crystals. The crystal can be personalized with a
Morse code message encoded in a light pattern; this feature is an homage to the
telegraphs that were used by the
Times' newsroom when it originally occupied the building. The 2026 themes will be "Infinite Life", "Infinite Liberty", and "Infinite Happiness". Snow has fallen seven times, with the earliest being the 1926–27 event, and the most recent being the 2009–10 event, and rain/drizzle has fallen seventeen times, with the earliest being the 1918–19 event, and the most recent being the 2022–23 event. The records for most precipitation and snow for the whole day on New Year’s Eve were both set in 1948, when of precipitation and of snow fell and the rainiest occurred during the 2018-19 event, when 1.02 inches of rain fell. ==Broadcasting==