Saturday Night Livejust closed out its historic 50th season, markingfive decades' worth of the finest sketch comedy and live music performances in America.The show has put countless stars on the radar, including Dan Aykroyd, Tracy Morgan, Gilda Radner, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, Pete Davidson, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey, but the list goes on and on. Beyond the cast members, an elite group of actors, comedians, and other stars have formed the “five-timers club,” for those who have hosted the show five or more times. And beyond that comes the final piece of the 90-minute puzzle: the musical guest.
While the five-timers club is primarily in reference to those celebrities who have hosted the show five times or more, I, for one, am more interested in the otherSNLfive-timers club.Far fewer musicians haveperformed liveas musical guests than celebrities who have hosted the show, making it much more difficult to get into the musical five-timers club. Here are ten artists who have done just that, and without whomSNLwould not be the 50-year success that it is.
10Foo Fighters
Nine Performances
Between his original band, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and even one time as a guest drummer for Tom Petty, drummer Dave Grohl holds the record forSNLmusical guest performances at 16. Nearly two-thirds of those performances were courtesy of his band Foo Fighters,who have become anSNLstaple, performing on nine Saturday nights over the years.Foo Fighters first appeared as the musical guest onSNLseason 21 in 1995, hardly a year into the band’s formation.
With 11 studio albums under their belt, Foo Fighters have performed onSNLfor almost every album they’ve released.
Since 1995, Foo Fighters have become an integral part of the very fabric ofSNL, not only with Dave Grohl holding the individual record for musical guest performances, butthe band holding the record for the group with the most musical guest performances.In fact, with 11 studio albums under their belt, Foo Fighters have performed onSNLfor almost every album they’ve released. As influential as they’ve been in the musical history of the show, it almost seems the show has been an equally important aspect of their album promotion in turn.
9Paul Simon
14 Performances
Though Dave Grohl has definitely performed onSNLthe most of any musician, folk rock legend Paul Simon is not far behind. Though he falls short on the record, Simon is one of just two members of the five-timers club who is also a member of the musical five-timers club. He has been a part of the SNL family since the very beginning, hosting an episode in season one, and performing alongside Sabrina Carpenter for SNL 50, making himthe only musician to perform in both the first and the 50th seasons of the show.
Among Paul Simon’s musical performances, he has shared the stage with some truly legendary musicians, from his longtime musical partner Art Garfunkel to fellow musical five-timer James Taylor, and none other than George Harrison, for the one and only time Harrison ever appeared on the show. A staple throughout all five decades of the show’s tenure,Simon is perhaps the single most impactful member, aside from the cast, of theSNLfamily.
8Beck
Seven Performances
Just a few months after the 1997 release of what many consider to be Beck’s greatest album,Odelay, he had hisSNLmusical guest debut. From there,Beck went on anSNLtear, appearing as the musical guest twice in the year 1999,once in January and once in December. He performed again in 2003, became a member of the musical five-timers club in 2005, and graced theSNLstage twice more for good measure, in 2006 and 2014.
Each of Beck’s musical guest appearances came shortly after the release of an album, including his highest Billboard 200-chartingGuero,which peaked at number two, and hisexperimental masterpiece,Sea Change, and each performance showcased two tracks from their respective albums. As such,Beck never performed his biggest hit, “Loser,” on a Saturday night on NBC.Clearly, however, that didn’t matter toSNLstaff or fans, who continued to welcome the mononymous musician back time and time again.
7Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Eight Performances
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers first performed as the musical guest onSNLseason 5, in 1979. From there, Petty and his band performed again twice in the ’80s anda whopping four times in the ’90s,in 1991, 1994, and 1999. After that, the band took a bit of a hiatus fromSNL, with their eighth and final performance coming in 2010, seven years before Tom Petty’s untimely death, eliminating the prospect of his band potentially reaching double-digit performances on the sketch comedy show.
Remarkably, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did not have a single number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and only had one single reach the top ten, “Free Fallin',” which peaked at number seven. They performed “Free Fallin'” along with “Runnin' Down a Dream” in their 1989 performance on SNL, as the musical guest for the season 14 finale, hosted by Steve Martin. Clearly,this was a performance like no other, leading to Petty’s ultimateSNLmusic takeover in the ’90s.
6Eminem
Six Performances
One of the most legendary rappers to come out of the ‘90swas none other than Marshall Mathers, otherwise known as Eminem. Eminem first appeared on SNL during the show’s 25th season in 1999, the same year he released his breakout album,The Slim Shady LP. Though he was not the official musical guest for this episode, he appeared alongside Dr. Dre, whowasthis episode’s musical guest and the legendary rapper who is credited with discovering Eminem.
One year after his performance with Dr. Dre, Eminem made his official debut as the musical guest for the season 26 premiere in 2000. He went on to play as theSNLmusical guest five more times,performing a combination of hits like “Without Me” and “Berzerk,” as well as deep cuts like “Mosh” and “Won’t Back Down,“which he performed with Lil Wayne. Many of Eminem’s performances saw guest appearances from his collaborators, including Dr. Dre and Lil Wayne, as well as Skylar Grey and Snoop Dogg.
5James Taylor
One of the earliest musical five-timers is James Taylor, whose first performance on SNL was during the season 2 premiere in 1976. Taylor performed again in 1979, and, in 1980,he performed as a co-musical guest with fellow musical five-timer, Paul Simon, for the show’s historic 100th episode.Taylor took an eight-year break fromSNLbefore coming back to perform as the musical guest in 1988, 1991, and 1993. In the six times he performed onSNL, Taylor never once played what is perhaps his greatest hit, and the song for which many people know him today, “Fire and Rain.”
James Taylor was an artist whose stage presence clearly had a massive impact onSNLin its first two decades.
Taylor also never played his only song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, his cover of “You’ve Got a Friend.” He did, however, play “Sweet Baby James,” the lead single of his 1970 album of the same name, which failed to chart at all, in two of his six performances on the show. Regardless of whether he played his hits, James Taylor was an artist whose stage presence clearly had a massive impact onSNLin its first two decades.
4Rihanna
Five Performances
With 11 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100,Rihanna is one of the most consistent pop music legends of the 21st century.It just makes sense that she would be a musical five-timer onSNL;the surprising thing is that she’s only been the musical guest five times exactly. Rihanna first appeared on theSNLstage in 2009, roughly two weeks after the release of her fourth studio album,Rated R.From there, the show had her back in 2010, two times in 2012, and in 2015.
When she performed for the second time in one year, a rare feat by any musician onSNL, Rihanna made it clear exactly why they invited her back so soon. Rihanna played two of her greatest hits to date, “Diamonds” and “Stay,“showing off her range both as a vocalist and within the genre she has so tastefully mastered.Though she hasn’t appeared onSNLsince the release of her last album in 2016, it’s hard to believe there won’t be a sixth performance on the show in her future.
3Justin Timberlake
Aside from Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake isthe only musical guest to make it into the five-timers club as a host and separately as a musical guest.Timberlake has appeared onSNLa total of eight times, as the host only twice, the musical guest three times (including once withboy band*NSYNC), and as both the host and musical guest three times. As a five-time host, Timberlake has definitely made his mark on the show, putting on some of the greatest skits of any host the show has had.
That said,Timberlake’s contributions as a musical guest are no joke.His first appearance on the show was with *NSYNC in 2000, but three years later, Timberlake made his solo debut as both the host and musical guest onSNLseason 29, where he played his first solo hit, “Cry Me a River.” In addition to—and sometimes at the same time as—his hosting appearances, Timberlake performed as the musical guest again in 2006, twice in 2013, and in 2024.
2Jack White
The illustrious and multi-talented Jack White has performed on SNL a total of five times, once with his band The White Stripes, and four times as a solo act. Though five seems a relatively low number for White, especially given that The White Stripes only account for one of those performances,he is the kind of artist who could very likely continue coming back as the musical guest onSNLfor years to come,assuming he continues to release music at a steady pace.
White first appeared as the musical guest with his band The White Stripes in 2002, and then again by himself almost a full decade later in 2012. He went on to perform again in 2018, 2020, and 2023, all following the release of at least one solo album. White has yet to return as a musical guest following the release of his latest album,No Name, but asone of the most consistent musical guests of the 2010s,I’d be shocked if Jack White didn’t show up as the musical guest a few more times in the 2020s.
1Arcade Fire
A consistent treat throughout the latter half ofSNL’s 50-season run, Canadian alt-rock bandArcade Fire never went more than five years betweenSNLperformances since their first one in 2007.The band has a unique sound, to say the least, withmarried coupleWin Butler and Régine Chassagne at the helm. They are perhaps the most underground musical five-timer, but definitely continue to hold their own in the company of legends throughoutSNL’smusical tenure.
The band’s career has become so deeply intertwined withSNLthat I actually started listening to Arcade Fire as a result of one of their performances on the show.
After theirSNLdebut following the release of their second studio album in 2007, Arcade Fire performed on the show in 2010, 2013, 2018, 2022, and in 2025 during the show’s momentous 50th season. In fact, the band’s career has become so deeply intertwined withSNLthat I actually started listening to Arcade Fire as a result of one of their performances on the show, and I’m sure I’m not their only fan for whom that’s the case.
