‘Saturday Night Live’ Social Views Jumped 53% in 2025 | Exclusive

If you feel like “Saturday Night Live” is all over your social feeds, you’re not alone. Social viewership of “SNL” was up 53% in 2025 compared to 2024, TheWrap has exclusively learned. The iconic comedy show will return this Saturday on NBC with Finn Wolfhard as host and A$AP Rocky as musical guest.

Whereas 2024 generated 5.1 billion social views for the NBC staple, 2025 saw roughly 7.6 billion views. Part of that increase is likely because of the “SNL” 50th anniversary, which took place in February. But Season 51 is off to an incredibly strong start without the help of a notable anniversary or an election year.

Social views for the first half of Season 51, which premiered in October, were 17.4% higher compared to the same period in 2024. While the first half of the season in 2024 generated 2.9 billion views on social media, the first half of this season saw 3.4 billion views. It should be noted that the first half of the 2024 had a bit of an assist thanks to the Trump vs. Harris presidential election as well as the beginning of the show’s historic 50th season. Season 51 seeing growth without those well-established viewership boosts is notable.

So far, the top performing episode of Season 51 is the Dec. 20 holiday episode, which was hosted by Ariana Grande with Cher as musical guest. The episode also served as a farewell to beloved cast member Bowen Yang, who announced he was leaving shortly before the episode aired. On social media, that episode outperformed Grande’s Season 50 episode by 26%. That’s an especially impressive feat considering that Grande’s 2024 episode was the most-viewed episode on social media for all of Season 50.

TheWrap also acquired a list of the best-performing Season 51 skits so far. Here they are, ranked from most to least watched:

1. “El Chavo Del Ocho” — 78.5 million views
2. “Domingo Cold Open” — 69.6 million views
3. “Home Alone” — 57.5 million views
4. “White House Makeover” — 46.4 million views
5. “Sabrina Carpenter Monologue” — 43.9 million views

As previously mentioned, “SNL” will return on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC. After Finn Wolfhard and A$AP Rocky make their mark on 30 Rock, they will be followed by host Teyana Taylor and musical guest Geese on Jan. 24 and host Alexander Skarsgård and musical guest Cardi B on Jan. 31.

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