Times Square’s iconic New Year’s Eve ball will be dropping in less than 24 hours to signal the new year and among the crowds in New York City will be Ryan Seacrest, who will be hosting ABC’s New Year Special “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025.”
The iconic venue is ready for the celebrations after rapper Pitbull unveiled the New Year’s Eve Ball for 2025 on Friday and installed the final glass tiles. Final preparations for the event took place Monday as organizers conducted a test run by illuminating the ball and sending it up the 139-foot pole atop One Times Square.
This year’s New Year’s Eve Ball, symbolizing “unity and enduring love,” according to Times Square is a geodesic sphere, measuring 12 feet in diameter, and weighing 11,875 pounds.
All 2,688 tiles that adorn the ball are manufactured by Gillinder Glass, a New York-based manufacturer, and replaced the previous ones for this New Year’s Eve celebration, Times Square said, adding the “ball is capable of displaying a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns that creates the spectacular kaleidoscope effect.”
Times Square’s ball drop tradition began in 1907, though New Year’s Eve celebrations at the iconic venue were first held in 1904.
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Times Square, on its website, says “this proud tradition is now a universal symbol of the New Year.”
Here’s what to know about the annual Times Square tradition and how to watch the celebrations on ABC and streaming.
How to watch and stream ABC’s NYE special
Ryan Seacrest, who is marking his 20th year as host, will host “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025” on ABC live from New York City. Rita Ora will join him as co-host and Carrie Underwood is set to perform just before midnight. Other performers include the Jonas Brothers, Alanis Morissette, Reneé Rapp, Dasha, Fat Joe, Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh, Ernest, HARDY, Kesha, Laufey, Natasha Bedingfield, and T-Pain.
The show will air live on Tuesday, Dec. 31, on ABC starting at 8 p.m. EST and will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.
Approximately 22.2 million viewers tuned into ABC’s New Year special in 2024 at midnight, according to the media outlet.
Watch ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025’: Subscribe to Hulu
When is the ball drop?
The Times Square Ball Drop celebration will kick off shortly before 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 31 and the New Year’s Eve Ball will be raised to the top of the pole at One Times Square. At exactly 11:59 p.m. ET, the ball will make its 60-second descent down the flagpole to signal the start of the new year.
Who is performing on New Year’s Eve?
The Times Square New Year celebrations will include performances by rock legend Lenny Kravitz, Mark Ambor, Grammy-nominated country singer Mickey Guyton, Carrie Underwood, Megan Moroney, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the Jonas Brothers, TLC, Greeicy, De La Ghetto, Kapo, and the dance group AGNEW, among others.
Underwood will perform just before the ball drops at midnight with a medley of some of her biggest hits, followed by Guyton, who then perform the special Times Square New Year tradition of singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” moments before the ball drop.
See full list of performers:‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2025′ headlined by Carrie Underwood, Jonas Brothers
How to watch Times Square ball drop
While multiple broadcasters will be airing the New Year’s Eve celebrations live on their TV channels and streaming platforms audiences can also catch the live webcast on Times Square’s official website starting 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
“Enjoy commercial-free, webcast coverage of the festivities leading up to the Ball Drop at midnight, including backstage access, behind-the-scenes stories and interviews with performers and other celebrities,” Times Square says on their website.
A livestream with open captions and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will also be available on YouTube.
Beyond Times Square:A giant Peep, a wrench, a crab. A look at the weirdest NYE drops.
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Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
