‘Saturday Night Live’ Season 50: A Very Musical Premiere & Dream Performers

From bringing back season 1 performers to introducing legendary acts to the SNL stage for the first time, Katie & Keith have some ideas on the new Pop Shop Podcast.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 1865 — Pictured: (l-r) Sarah Sherman as Troye Sivan, Ego Nwodim as Jasmine Crockett, and Bowen Yang as Charli XCX during the “Charli XCX Talk Show” sketch on Saturday, September 28, 2024.

Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images

When Jelly Roll performed on the season 50 premiere of Saturday Night Live, his two songs were far from the only musical moment on the show. Bowen Yang brought two of the leading ladies of pop music to the episode by playing Charli XCX hosting a political talk show (alongside DJ/sidekick Troye Sivan) and channeling Chappell Roan when he played viral pygmy hippo Moo Deng on Weekend Update.

And that was just the first episode of this landmark season. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about the season premiere; who’s up next as hosts and musical guests (Stevie Nicks! Ariana Grande! Chappell Roan!); and who we’d like to see pop up later on, from returning season 1 performers to legends who have somehow never graced the SNL stage.

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Listen to the new episode below:

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Future makes chart history — yet again — atop the Billboard 200 with his latest album Mixtape Pluto, how Katy Perry notches her sixth top 10 album with the arrival of 143, and how Chappell Roan tops the Top Album Sales chart and the Artist 100 for the first time, thanks to promotion surrounding the first anniversary of her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard’s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

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