Come New Year’s Eve, it’s customary to count down the last 10 seconds until the clock strikes midnight and the new year officially begins. It seems like the 10-second countdown is as old as time itself, but the tradition actually is much more modern. According to Alexis McCrossen, a history professor at Southern Methodist University, prior to the twentieth century, New Year’s Day was celebrated rather than New Year’s Eve. And even up until the mid-twentieth century, countdowns were not associated with New Year’s Eve or even festive occasions.

However, the tides turned on countdowns with the Apollo moon launch in 1961. After that, countdowns for radio hits and other fun activities began. Although some TV announcers in the 1960s began counting down to the new year, it wasn’t until 1979 that the crowd at Times Square in New York City began joining in. This was despite the first New Year’s Eve ball drop being held more than 70 years earlier in 1907. Publisher Adolph Ochs organized the first New Year’s Eve party in Times Square in 1904, while the first-ever ball drop took place three years later when the city banned fireworks for the celebration. Yet it was not until the final year of the 1970s for it to be fashionable for a crowd to gather and participate in shouting out the 10-second countdown, a practice that is now tradition.