Lady Gaga named by Mayor Bloomberg to drop New Year's Ball In Times Square

According to The New York Post, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has named Lady 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, Lady 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."