• Besides Auld Lang Syne
, other popular songs for New Year’s are It was a Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra), Imagine by John Lennon, and What a Wonderful World made popular by Louis Armstrong.
• From 1981-88, Manhattan switched and dropped a big, lighted apple instead of the ball.
• New Year’s Eve is the busiest day of the year at the Walt Disney theme parks.
• Dick Clark started hosting New Year’s Eve in 1972, offering a younger type of programming to contrast with CBS and Guy Lombardo. Today Ryan Seacrest hosts Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
• For more on the ball drop in Times Square, read “The Times Square Ball Drop.”