NEW YORK — The celebration for the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” has become NBC’s highest-rated prime-time entertainment broadcast in half a decade, attracting close to 15 million viewers.

This three and a half hour event, which aired on Sunday night, was filled with comedic skits, exceptional musical acts, and surprising guest appearances. It achieved the largest audience for NBC in the evening entertainment category since the 2020 Golden Globes.

According to NBC, only the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has managed to garner more viewers in recent years.

The viewer statistics for the “Saturday Night Live” special, which kicked off with iconic performances from Paul Simon alongside Sabrina Carpenter and an opening monologue by Steve Martin, also included figures from live streams on Peacock, NBC’s own streaming platform.

The special brought together a myriad of surprise appearances, featuring talents like Aubrey Plaza, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, and many previous stars from the show’s storied legacy which began airing in October 1975. Paul McCartney rounded out the evening with a memorable musical finale, while the iconic “SNL” stage was filled with celebrities as the show concluded on a high note Sunday night.