
First on LateNighter: Saturday Night Live’s first episode of 2025 saw the show continue its upward ratings trajectory following a post-election slump.
Per Nielsen live-plus-same day data, the Dave Chappelle-hosted episode with musical guest GloRilla drew 4,848,000 total viewers and 1,021,000 viewers in the all-important 18-49 demo.
For context, that’s more viewers than have tuned into the show’s broadcast since its November 2nd John Mulaney-Chappell Roan episode (which featured a leaked cameo from Kamala Harris). It’s also the show’s highest rated January episode since 2022.
Still, amid a landmark a fiftieth season that kicked off with a series of highly rated pre-election episodes, this weekend’s is only the fourth highest rated episode this season so far (out of eleven).
As we’ve reported, Chappelle’s well-received fourth hosting stint saw the comic deliver a record-breaking 17-minute monologue (most are five minutes or less). Between that and a 15-minute “Weekend Update,” there was only time for four live sketches and a single pretape (most episodes see upwards of six live sketches, and often multiple pretapes)
Saturday Night Live returns this Saturday with Timothée Chalamet, who will be serving as both host and musical guest.
Complete season-to-date Nielsen ratings charts for SNL‘s 50th season follow below:
Live+SD Ratings – All Viewers (P2+)
Date | Host / Music Guest | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Avg Share % |
---|---|---|---|
9/28/24 | Jean Smart / Jelly Roll | 5,388 | 15.16 |
10/5/24 | Nate Bargatze / Coldplay | 4,763 | 13.34 |
10/12/24 | Ariana Grande / Stevie Nicks | 5,573 | 15.60 |
10/19/24 | Michael Keaton / Billie Eilish | 4,777 | 12,80 |
11/2/24 | John Mulaney / Chappell Roan | 6,587 | 18.35 |
11/9/24 | Bill Burr / Mk.gee | 4,424 | 13.09 |
11/16/24 | Charli XCX | 4,287 | 12.49 |
12/7/24 | Paul Mescal / Shaboozey | 3,839 | 10.80 |
12/14/24 | Chris Rock / Gracie Abrams | 4,200 | 12.55 |
12/21/24 | Martin Short / Hozier | 4,793 | 13.96 |
1/18/25 | Dave Chappelle / GloRilla | 4,848 | 14.92 |
Live+SD Ratings – In the Demo (P18-49)
Date | Host / Music Guest | Avg Viewers (000s) | Avg Share % |
---|---|---|---|
9/28/24 | Jean Smart / Jelly Roll | 1,126 | 13.72 |
10/5/24 | Nate Bargatze / Coldplay | 979 | 11.78 |
10/12/24* | Ariana Grande / Stevie Nicks | 1,266 | 15.72 |
10/19/24 | Michael Keaton / Billie Eilish | 946 | 11.17 |
11/2/24 | John Mulaney / Chappell Roan | 1,669 | 20.52 |
11/9/24 | Bill Burr / Mk.gee | 967 | 12.45 |
11/16/24 | Charli XCX | 863 | 11.32 |
12/7/24 | Paul Mesca l/ Shaboozey | 739 | 9.25 |
12/14/24 | Chris Rock / Gracie Abrams | 817 | 11.13 |
12/21/24 | Martin Short / Hozier | 940 | 12.20 |
1/18/25 | Dave Chappelle / GloRilla | 1,021 | 13.24 |
Ratings Data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
that was one of the best SNL Dave was great and you can see he was genuine I love to see that in people. He spoke from his heart