Times Square Ball

The Times Square Ball is a time ball located in New York City's Times Square. Located on the roof of One Times Square, the ball is a prominent part of a New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square commonly referred to as the ball drop, where the ball descends down a specially designed flagpole, beginning at 11:59:00 p.m. ET, and resting at 12:00:00 a.m. to signal the start of the new year.

The event was first organized by then-New York Times owner Adolph Ochs, expanding upon New Year's fireworks displays he held at the building since 1904 to promote its status as the Times' headquarters. The ball itself was designed by sign company Artkraft Strauss, and inspired by the time ball at the Western Union Telegraph Building. First held on December 31, 1907, to welcome 1908, the ball drop has been held annually since, except in 1942 and 1943 in observance of wartime blackouts during World War II.

The ball has been updated seven times to reflect improvements in lighting technology: the original ball was 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter, constructed from wood and iron, and illuminated with 100 incandescent light bulbs. By contrast, the sixth iteration of the ball contained over 32,000 LEDs, and the seventh iteration which debuted for 2025–26 is 12.5 feet (3.8 m) in diameter. Since 1999–2000, the ball has featured an outer surface consisting of crystal panels manufactured by Waterford Crystal, which contain inscriptions and designs representing a yearly theme; the current ball contains over 5,000 of these panels..

The ball itself has remained atop One Times Square nearly year-round since 2009; with a renovation of One Times Square that soft opened in November 2025, the current ball became publicly accessible as part of a new observation deck attraction (with visitors also able to purchase outgoing crystals from the ball as keepsakes). Several previous iterations of the ball (including a recreation of the first ball) will also be exhibited as part of a new Times Square museum in the building.

The prevalence of the Times Square ball drop has inspired similar "drops" at other local New Year's Eve events across the country; while some use balls, some instead drop objects that represent local culture or history. In December 2025, in observance of the United States' semiquincentennial, it was announced that a special one-off edition of the event would be held on July 3, 2026, to count down to midnight on Independence Day—marking the first time it will be officially held outside of New Year's Eve.