The 49th season of Saturday Night Live featured 40 distinct musical guest segments that accounted for 12.2% of the season’s total running time. The 20 artists collectively achieved about two hours and 28 minutes of screen time, averaging out to almost seven and a half minutes apiece. Scroll down to see how each stacked up against one another.
Note that the screen times listed here for Bad Bunny and Dua Lipa, who each pulled double duty this season as both host and musical guest, do not include their sketch appearances (those numbers can be found in our host ranking).
Also not factored into this ranking are cameos that ten of this season’s musical guests made during their respective episodes (We’ll be ranking screen time tallies for all of this season’s cameos separately, later this week.)
Our screen time data is calculated using a method that prioritizes face time, meaning that any contiguous (off-screen but in-scene) moments and practically all partial body appearances do not count. Screen time in opening credits, bumpers and goodnights are not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of each episode’s running time.
Raye – 9:01 / 14.42%
On her first SNL outing, Raye performed two songs from her Brit Award-winning debut album, My 21st Century Blues: “Escapism” and “Worth It.” Also included at the end of the latter April 6 segment was an 80-second rendition of her unreleased song, “Let There Be Light.”
Chris Stapleton – 8:52 / 13.88%
April 13 marked Stapleton’s third SNL appearance, as he’d previously performed on the show in 2016 and 2018. Before singing “White Horse” and “Mountains of My Mind” from his album Higher, he showed off his comedy chops in the musical pretaped sketch “Get That Boy Back.”
Noah Kahan – 8:33 / 13.73%
Kahan made his SNL debut on December 2 alongside Five-Timers Club inductee Emma Stone. He spent over four minutes each performing two tracks from his 2022 album, Stick Season: “Dial Drunk” and the title song.
Boygenius – 8:32 / 13.41%
Although the November 11 episode was Boygenius’ first as a group, member Phoebe Bridgers had already performed solo during Season 46. In between their performances of “Not Strong Enough” and “Satanist,” they appeared for 30 seconds in the “Troye Sivan Sleep Demon” sketch as clones of the titular singer.
Justin Timberlake – 8:30 / 12.82%
Including his Season 25 appearance as a member of ‘N Sync, Timberlake has served as an SNL musical guest six times, but prior to his return this season, the five-time host had not been on the show since 2015. Together, his two January 27 music segments were the lengthiest of the season at nine minutes and nine seconds.
Foo Fighters – 8:03 / 12.97%
On October 28, Foo Fighters cemented their status as one of the most heavily employed musical acts in SNL history with their ninth official gig (and first since November 2020). This time around they performed their new songs “Rescued” and “The Glass” while frontman Dave Grohl showed up in one live and one pretaped sketch.
Jennifer Lopez – 7:55 / 12.57%
Lopez’s fourth musical guest stint (following appearances in 2000, 2001 and 2010) consisted of performances of two songs from her This Is Me… Now album: the funk-infused “Can’t Get Enough” and the more subdued title ballad. She was supported by rappers Latto and Redman on “Can’t Get Enough.”
Vampire Weekend – 7:47 / 12.21%
Before May 11, Vampire Weekend had not been seen on SNL since 2013. On their fourth general outing and first as a trio, they performed “Gen-X Cops” and “Capricorn” from their fifth studio album, Only God Was Above Us.
Sabrina Carpenter – 7:32 / 11.81%
Carpenter’s SNL debut came one month after the release of her first Billboard top 10 single, “Espresso,” which she performed along with a medley of “Feather” and “Nonsense.” Both music segments were preceded by her cameo appearance as Daphne in the “Scooby-Doo” sketch.
Bad Bunny – 7:18 / 11.67%
Counting his nearly 21 minutes of screen time across nine non-music segments, Bad Bunny was seen more than any of this season’s 12 male hosts. He also performed “Un Preview” and “Monaco” from his sixth studio album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana.
Dua Lipa – 7:11 / 11.29%
Lipa served as host and musical guest on May 4 after having fulfilled the latter role in 2018 and 2020. In addition to singing “Illusion” and “Happy for You,” she took part in five live and three pretaped sketches.
21 Savage – 7:08 / 11.22%
Six weeks after the release of his third studio album, American Dream, 21 Savage took the SNL stage to perform its lead single, “Redrum,” and a medley of two additional tracks. Despite the two February 24 segments being almost equal in length, his screen time in the former was 34 seconds higher due to appearances from Brent Faiyaz and Summer Walker in the latter.
Olivia Rodrigo – 7:05 / 11.63%
Rodrigo’s second time on SNL featured performances of “All-American Bitch” and “Vampire” from her sophomore album, Guts. She also made a single sketch appearance as a “Tiny Ass Bag” salesperson.
Reneé Rapp – 6:52 / 11.05%
Rapp took the SNL stage on January 20, one week after making her film debut as Regina George in Mean Girls. In addition to acting in the “Entertainment Tonight Lip-Readers” sketch, she performed the songs “Snow Angel” and “Not My Fault,” receiving support from Megan Thee Stallion on the latter.
Billie Eilish – 6:41 / 10.14%
On her third SNL outing (after 2019 and 2021), Eilish performed the eventual Oscar and Grammy-winning Barbie song “What Was I Made For?” and the classic holiday tune “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” She also appeared in for an additional five minutes in two sketches.
Ariana Grande – 6:40 / 10.54%
Grande returned to SNL for the first time since 2016 to perform “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” and “Imperfect for You” from her seventh album, Eternal Sunshine. Her live renditions of the songs only accounted for 56% of her total screen time, as she also took part in three sketches, including “Sandwich King” in which she sang “What Was I Made For?” off screen.
Kacey Musgraves – 6:36 / 10.49%
Musgraves spent her third SNL stint on March 2 promoting her Deeper Well album by singing its title track as well as “Too Good to Be True.” As in 2018 and 2021, her pair of performances involved no help from additional vocalists, making her the first musical guest since Eilish to sing completely solo.
Travis Scott – 6:31 / 10.34%
Scott’s second SNL outing involved renditions of “My Eyes” and “Fe!n” from his fourth studio album, Utopia. He also showed up for 50 seconds as himself in the Please Don’t Destroy short “We Got Too High.”
Tate McRae – 6:18 / 9.94%
The combined running time of McRae’s pair of music segments is 80 seconds lower than the Season 49 average. Her SNL debut consisted of performances of “Greedy” and “Grave” from her sophomore album, Think Later.
Ice Spice – 4:43 / 7.64%
The very first musical guest of Season 49 was ultimately outpaced by all 19 who followed her and remained the only one whose segments accounted for less than 10% of her episode. The rapper performed “In Ha Mood” and “Pretty Girl” with the support of Rema on the latter.
