Justin Timberlake Delivers SNL’s Highest Ratings In More Than A Year

How do you help Saturday Night Live ratings skyrocket? You invite Justin Timberlake back to host for a fifth time of course. The singer/actor took to the SNL stage this weekend and his appearance was a welcomed ratings booster for the sketch based weekly improv series.

SNL last night delivered a 5.9 rating among metered-market households alongside a 15 share. Saturday Night Live also features a 3.7 rating among 18-49 year old adults in the 25 markets with Local People Meters.

To put Timberlake’s appearance into perspective, Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine managed just a 2.7 rating with adults 18-49 with 7.3 million viewers. As final numbers come in Timberlake is expected to be the clear front-runner for SNL ratings so far this year.

Timberlake’s appearance bested Charles Barkley, who brought in high ratings for the show back in January 2012.

Justin Timberlake has become a favorite among many SNL fans thanks to his viral music videos and memorable characters.

While Timberlake has make several cameo appearances on SNL over the last few years, his last hosting appearance occurred back in May 2011.

During the singer’s last appearance, he managed to knock down a 9.8 million viewers rating alongside a 3.5 rating among adults 18-49.

The final ratings numbers for SNL will be made public later in the week.

With “D*ck in a Box,” the singing soup guy, a popular Target character, and various other memorable skits, we can’t say Timberlake’s success on SNL surprises us.

In what might have been the best but most subtle of the night, Justin Timberlake appeared to answer back Kanye West’s criticisms of his music during a musical performance.

[iframe width=”560? height=”315? src=”http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=n33630? frameborder=”0?]

There appears to be very little subject matter Justin will ignore. During last night’s show, the singer/actor even managed to poke fun at the death of Hugo Chavez.

Do you think Justin Timberlake will become one of SNL‘s more timely hosts who year after year continues to bring laughter to the shows fans new and old?