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A Night of Pageantry: The Setup and the Stage
The 2025‑26 edition of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve was one of the most ambitious ever produced, featuring more than 39 performing acts across several U.S. cities, from New York and Las Vegas to Chicago and Puerto Rico.
For the Times Square crowd — estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands in person and **millions more watching on television — Diana Ross was positioned as the headlining act.
Her set began at approximately 11:37 p.m. ET, strategically placed just minutes before the iconic ball drop that marks the transition to the new year.
The event itself was a spectacle. Times Square’s famous Constellation Ball, a 12.5‑foot sphere adorned with 5,280 Waterford crystals, slowly descended over the crowd, signaling the final seconds of 2025.
The broadcast delivered record viewership for the annual special, reaching 34 million total viewers and peaking with roughly 30 million at midnight, according to early Nielsen estimates — a four‑year high for the telecast.
A Medley of Classics: Ross Takes the Stage
Ross’s performance was a carefully curated celebration of her extraordinary career, built around a medley of some of her biggest hits.
Accompanied by a live band and energetically engaging with the crowd and cameras alike, she delivered renditions of beloved songs that have become part of the soundtrack of multiple generations.
Among the songs performed were classics such as:
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