Revellers in the Big Apple, the use of traditional festive red top hats, kissed and broke selfies as a giant illuminated crystal ball slid down a pole, making landfall at precisely the stroke of midnight.
Times Square, known worldwide for its nonstop hustle, erupted in cheers and confetti as the ball nearly 12,000 pounds (5,400 kilograms), with 32,000 LED lights and 2,688 Waterford crystals, marked the last minute of 2014.
Nearly 200 million Americans are expected to tune in at the moment, and the organizers felt that it would eventually be seen for up to a billion more people worldwide.
TV personality Ryan Seacrest received a demonstration on live television before the countdown to 2015, and several musical acts such as Taylor Swift and singer Idina Menzel is conducted.
The temperature was freezing but the wind chill made it feel several degrees cooler.
Koto Ryo, who had traveled for 30 hours from Fukuoka, Japan, was the first to reach the square.
"We did it!" told the New York Daily News, wearing an American flag over his shoulders and a pair of glasses, 2015. "First on! This is so awesome, so cool."
Police officers in New York were in force, the application of the prohibition of alcohol and the use of bomb-sniffing dogs to check for potential threats.
The New York City Police Department embattled has come under scrutiny in recent days after two of their own were shot dead in an ambush.
Some officers, fearing for their safety, reportedly have cut in arresting people for minor offenses.
The man who killed the officers had said he was reacting to high-profile police killings of unarmed black men. Several of these cases in 2014 sparked protests across the country.
The police department has also been involved in a public dispute with the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio after he said he had urged her biracial son take extra care when it comes to officials.
