KATSEYE on SNL Tonight: Start Time, Host and WILD Chart Run

by Hannah / Sep 26, 2026 05:25 PM EDT

KATSEYE performs on "Saturday Night Live" tonight, taking the stage for the Season 52 premiere as musical guest. The show airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and streams on Peacock, with NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson hosting for the first time.

The booking arrives at the peak of the group's chart run. "WILD," the five-track EP released in August, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated Aug. 29 with 170,000 equivalent album units, 145,000 of them in pure sales, according to Billboard. That was the biggest unit week for an all-woman group since December 2014, and it made KATSEYE the fourth all-woman act to top the chart this decade, following TWICE, NewJeans and BLACKPINK.

The result is a sharp step up from the group's previous best. "Beautiful Chaos" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in 2025. The "WILD" singles have also been steady on the Hot 100: "Pinky Up" reached No. 28, "Animal" No. 24 and "Hootie Frutti" No. 31.

The SNL slot also carries some history. Forbes reports it will be the first appearance by a traditional girl group on the show since Destiny's Child, who last performed there in May 2004. The most recent all-female act to play the stage was boygenius in November 2023. Yoonchae will also join a short list of Korean singers to appear on the SNL stage; BTS was the first Korean act, in April 2019.

KATSEYE was assembled through HYBE and Geffen Records' 2023 survival series "The Debut: Dream Academy" and debuted in 2024. The lineup performing tonight is four members: Daniela, Lara, Megan and Yoonchae. Sophia and Manon are on hiatus for health reasons, and the group has been touring as a foursome.

Timing matters here as well. The group's "THE WILDWORLD" tour opened Sept. 1 in Dublin, and tonight's broadcast falls in the break between its European and North American legs. The North American run includes double-headers at UBS Arena in New York and Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and a date at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.

For a group that formed on a reality competition and built its audience largely online, a live network broadcast puts it in front of a general U.S. audience rather than a fan base that already follows it.

The next SNL episode, on Oct. 3, has Dakota Johnson hosting with Turnstile as musical guest.