Which song did Guy Lombardo make a famous New Year's Eve tradition in North America?

Guy Lombardo made “Auld Lang Syne” a famous New Year's Eve tradition in North America.

Lombardo and his band, the Royal Canadians, performed “Auld Lang Syne” during their annual New Year's Eve broadcasts. Their radio and later television appearances helped make the song strongly associated with midnight celebrations across the United States and Canada.

The band's broadcasts were especially influential because they reached large audiences at the moment when people were waiting for the new year. Lombardo's orchestra became known for a polished dance-band sound, and the song functioned as a recognizable closing ritual after the countdown.

The melody and words existed long before Lombardo's broadcasts. Robert Burns wrote the familiar Scots-language lyrics in the eighteenth century, drawing on older material. Lombardo therefore did not write the song; his importance was popularizing a particular performance tradition in North America. In other countries, different songs, ceremonies, or local customs may accompany midnight.