The largest New Years event, the ball drop in New York City, commemorated the end of 2025.
The East Coast rang in 2026 as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day.
As Dec. 31 changed over to Jan. 1, thousands of guests live in Times Square—and at least 1 billion people around the globe—watched the annual ball drop in New York City.
The minute-long tradition is among the most viewed annual live events.
Other time zones in the United States are now counting down to midnight.
Americans living in the Pacific Time Zone have the longest wait in the contiguous United States, with New Year’s arriving three hours later in Los Angeles than it does in New York City.
Celebrations are already underway around the globe to ring in the new year with fireworks, drum performances, drone shows, and more.
The new year arrived first for the islands in the Pacific Ocean closest to the International Date Line, including Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Tonga, and New Zealand.
Shortly thereafter, Sydney entered 2026, marking the New Year with a massive fireworks display that stretched more than four miles—as well as heightened security, coming in the wake of a shooting incident at a Hanukkah festival on Dec. 14. Police officers carried rapid-fire rifles, a first for the celebration.
Since then, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe have also crossed into the New Year.
Europe marked its entry into 2026 with fireworks displays in London, Paris, Moscow, and elsewhere.
In Seoul, South Korea, thousands gathered for a Buddhist tradition of ringing a bell 33 times, meant to protect against misfortune and welcome peace and prosperity. At the Great Wall of China outside Beijing, a drum performance and light show celebrated the arrival of the new year.
Fireworks created a dazzling display in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and sparkled over Egypt’s ancient pyramids in Giza, Paris’s Eiffel Tower, and the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Hundreds of other nations and thousands more cities are similarly bidding farewell to 2025.
The new year is slowly creeping across the globe, and North and South Americans are anxiously awaiting the countdown to midnight, with just around an hour to go until the clock strikes twelve on the East Coast.
By Troy Myers and Joseph Lord
