what song do they play when the ball drops

The traditional song you hear when the New Year’s Eve ball drops is “Auld Lang Syne,” most famously in the Guy Lombardo recording used on the official Times Square broadcast.

What song is it, exactly?

• The classic answer to “what song do they play when the ball drops?” is “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish song with lyrics collected and adapted by poet Robert Burns in the 18th century.

• In the U.S. and Canada, its association with midnight on New Year’s was cemented by bandleader Guy Lombardo , whose orchestra used “Auld Lang Syne” every year on his hugely popular New Year’s Eve broadcasts from 1929 to 1976, and that recording is the one traditionally played in Times Square after the ball drops.

Why that song at the ball drop?

• “Auld Lang Syne” became the unofficial New Year’s song because its theme is about old times and enduring friendships, which fits the feeling of looking back as one year ends and another begins.

• Over time, crowds in English‑speaking countries adopted it at midnight, so now there’s “a good chance you’ll hear it” at the stroke of twelve almost anywhere New Year’s is celebrated.

Variations and other songs you might hear

• Outside the official Times Square broadcast, different parties and DJs often choose more hyped songs right at or right after the countdown, like Prince’s “1999” or electronic tracks, but these are personal or crowd‑driven picks rather than a universal standard.

• Online forum discussions about “the song they play when the ball drops” almost always point back to “Auld Lang Syne,” sometimes noting that its melody can sound almost instrumental in a noisy, intoxicated midnight crowd.

TL;DR: The widely recognized answer to “what song do they play when the ball drops?” —especially for the Times Square New Year’s Eve broadcast—is “Auld Lang Syne,” typically in the Guy Lombardo version.