Lady Gaga To Help Drop New Year's Ball In Times Square

Back in May, ahead of the release of her Born This Way album, Lady Gaga described her hometown of New York City as her "husband," and now, she's been tapped to help her spouse ring in the New Year in the most traditional of ways: by dropping the ball in Times Square.

Yes, according to The New York Post, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has named Gaga as his special guest at the City's annual New Year's Eve celebration, where she'll ceremoniously push a Waterford Crystal button at 11:59 p.m., officially beginning the famed crystal ball's descent over the raucous Times Square crowd.

Shortly after the official announcement was made, Gaga took to her Twitter account to express her excitement, writing "I'm so looking forward to ... dropping the Ball with Mayor Bloomberg! What an honor as a New Yorker!"

Each year, Bloomberg chooses a guest to drop the ball and help usher in the New Year ... though, to date, Gaga is his most, uh, unique pick: previous honorary button-mashers have included Bill and Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Muhammad Ali and Rudy Giuliani.

Of course, dropping the Times Square Ball — which this year is bedazzled with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles and carries the theme of "Let There Be Friendship" — isn't Gaga's only New Year's Eve gig. She'll also perform at two NYE celebrations: the 40th annual "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" and, of course, the Japanese program "Kohaku Uta Gassen."

MTV will also be throwing a New Year's Eve party of its own: "NYE in NYC 2010," a performance-packed special featuring Demi Lovato, Mac Miller, Selena Gomez, J. Cole, Jason Derülo and more. It all goes down live on MTV at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday (December 31) from Times Square.

Will you be watching the ball drop this New Year's Eve? Let us know in the comments below!