The 40th anniversary of New Year's Rockin' Eve: By the numbers (The Week)

New York ? Lady Gaga headlines this year's installment of the Dick Clark show that made the Times Square ball drop synonymous with ringing in the new year

Raise your champagne glasses: Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve turns 40 this year. The program was first conceived in the early 1970s to attract a younger generation of viewers whose only other option was CBS Radio's annual Guy Lombardo and big-band music broadcast. Now, 40 shows later, the annual special is a?cultural institution, featuring the day's most popular musical acts and attracting millions of viewers around the globe. Here, a numerical look at the venerable show:

82
Iconic media personality Dick Clark's age. He'll co-host this year's show with Ryan Seacrest.

SEE ALSO: Alec Baldwin's 'hilarious' SNL spoof of his airplane controversy

?

43
Dick Clark's age when he began hosting the yearly program in 1972

100?
25-watt lightbulbs originally in the Times Square ball ? "a bit dimmer than today's," jokes Lauren Effron at ABC News

22,000
LED lights embedded in Waterford Crystal for 2011's multi-colored ball, dropped from a flagpole atop a skyscraper at 1 Times Square

SEE ALSO: Boardwalk Empire's 'mind-blowing' season finale

?

About 1 million
People who will pack Times Square to participate in the festivities

18.8 million?
People who watched the broadcast on ABC in 2010 ? more than NBC and Fox's New Years Eve audiences combined

SEE ALSO: Is Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol 'the best action movie of the year'?

?

2000
Pounds of confetti that will be shot into the air in Times Square this year

29
Musical performances scheduled for this year, including Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, and Florence + the Machine

SEE ALSO: The Adventures of Tintin: 'An Indiana Jones for kids'?

?

4
Musical performances on the first show, including Al Green, Helen Reddy, and Three Dog Night

5.5?
Projected hours consumed by this year's broadcast

SEE ALSO: The HBO bloodbath: Why Hung, Bored to Death, and America were canceled

?

Sources: 9News.com,?ABC News, Associated Press,?NYCGo.com, TIME

View this article on TheWeek.com
Get New Moon: Is Twilight's Bella Swan a bad role model?

What 'New Moon' taught Hollywood

The Vatican vs. 'New Moon'

EssayThe last word: He said he was leaving. She ignored him.

Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newsletter

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111230/cm_theweek/222905

bo jackson bo jackson ibogaine michigan football michigan football weather houston weather houston