The current event began as an annual occurrence in 1994, but it traces its history and name to a disco held in Buffalo in 1979, featuring The Trammps and Gloria Gaynor.
Tickets for the event regularly sell out within minutes of being put on sale, which usually occurs in early August.
The in-person event was not held in 2020 due to crowd size limits imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state).
A radio broadcast on WTSS, which will break from the station's usual Christmas music format, coincided with an Internet stream on the World's Largest Disco Web site featuring replays of video from past events.
In 1979 “The World’s Largest Disco” was created by Glenn Arnette, Director of the Buffalo Convention Center, along with Bruce Marsh and Steve LaManna.