Three hours of prime time real estate, more than 30 musical acts bookended by lightly rehearsed comedy bits and a Radio City Music Hall’s worth of huge stars. What could go wrong?

Potentially everything, actually. But somehow, SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert director Beth McCarthy-Miller not only managed to land the plane with the February special, but she corralled some of the biggest stars in the world for one of the most dazzling, surprise-filled nights of music in recent memory.

And, not for nothing, it all happened with way less rehearsal time than you could ever imagine.

“They called me a year and a half ago and asked me and I absolutely said ‘yes’ right away. … I’m a total music and comedy nerd,” Emmy-nominated director McCarthy-Miller tells Billboard about her return to multi-cam TV after a career that has included stints behind the camera for episodes of Veep, The Good Place, Modern Family, 30 Rock and an 11-year run as SNL‘s director. “I would do anything for [SNL creator/producer] Lorne [Michaels], who was so instrumental in my career. It was like going back for a high school reunion.”

Sure, if your high school class included Lady Gaga, Eddie Vedder, Bill Murray, the Backstreet Boys, Miley Cyrus, Bad Bunny, Post Malone, the living members of Nirvana, Snoop Dogg, Jelly Roll and Cher.

Those are just some of the acts that McCarthy-Miller juggled on show night in the penultimate prime-time celebration of the beloved sketch series’ 50th anniversary. The programming also included the three-hour SNL50: The Anniversary Special that aired two days later, as well as the earlier mind-bending Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music documentary directed by The Roots’ Questlove and the four-part SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night docuseries on Peacock.

In other words, tons of competition for booking and viewers’ eyeballs.

McCarthy-Miller knew it was a monumental task, but she was up for it and, frankly, after working with Michaels to see who was available (and not) and putting the million little pieces together, she can now confidently say that “there is nothing I would change.”

Billboard hopped on the phone to chat with McCarthy-Miller about the show and to find out why she is now fully convinced that The Roots can play any song ever recorded.

You worked on the legendary MTV Unplugged with Nirvana, but whose idea was the surprise Post Nirvana performance with Post Malone and the living members of the group?

Dave Grohl was involved early on, and there was always interest in the Foo Fighters and possibly [Nirvana bass player] Krist [Novoselic] joining them. I know during COVID, Post did a YouTube Nirvana show with Travis Barker, and I think it became a natural segue. Dave and Krist had used St. Vincent and other singers before for the FireAid show and the guys just really enjoyed playing with him. After rehearsal, I went back to check on everything with [guitarist] Pat [Smear] and Dave, and they were like, “That was fun!”

The unexpected collabs really ruled the night. You also had Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard doing a Queen cover (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”) at the top. How involved were you in piecing those together?

The Miley thing was a combination of everyone asking, “What would you want to see?” I think Miley wanted Brittany, and that was a Lorne and Miley thing. … [show co-executive producer] Mark Ronson had a lot do with the pace of the show and where people should go and when. It was definitely a combined effort.

I have to ask, were there any of those collabs that didn’t happen that you went for? Frequent SNL guest Justin Timberlake couldn’t make it because he’s on tour, but who else did you reach out to?

There were people who were just not available who would have been great. Timberlake, not available and also for the Sunday show. I think Bruce Springsteen wasn’t available and people who were asked who made their mark on the show but were just not available. It was definitely tricky to try to represent as much as you could without being able to represent everybody obviously and represent different genres. I thought it all kind of worked out beautifully.

I saw someone ask, “Why didn’t they have Ashlee Simpson come back for a redemption arc?“

[Laughs] I’m sure Ashlee wouldn’t have enjoyed that phone call either. Or just have her come out and do a little hoedown dance during someone else’s number? I think we left the comedy to the comedians on that show, which was great. Everyone was having so much fun and would show up early for rehearsals to watch. Bill Murray hung out almost the whole day when he was rehearsing. So he rehearsed his [Nick the Lounge Singer bit] all day with the girls [Maya Rudolph, Cecily Strong and Ana Gasteyer], and then he came out and was just hanging out watching the rehearsals when Backstreet Boys were rehearsing and he was singing at the top of his lungs in the empty Radio City Music Hall along to the Backstreet Boys. Everyone was so happy to be there and be part of the show.

Another highlight was Lady Gaga doing “D–k in a Box” with Andy Samberg. Did Gaga need convincing to join in on that? It was also fun to see cast members incorporated into musical numbers, like Fred Armisen playing drums for Devo and the B-52s.

Gaga was in for that and she was not necessarily performing. She was definitely doing the “D–k In a Box” bit and we had somebody fall out and she then performed [“Shallow”]. We had T-Pain and Bad Bunny, and Eddie Vedder was so funny as Captain Jack Sparrow.

What was the rehearsal time to swap Gaga in for that bit?

You mean besides no rehearsal? We rehearsed that whole show in two days. So we had about 45 minutes to rehearse that [Lady Gaga] bit. I had pre-blocked it with stand-ins just so I knew where we were going. Then we literally got everybody [Gaga, Samberg, Eddie Vedder, Lonely Island, T-Pain, Bad Bunny] up there for 45 minutes and they did a run-through. I think T-Pain didn’t even come to the run-through.

Were there any worries about catching a stray by dipping into the Drake/Kendrick beef with the Marty and Bobbi bit singing “Not Like Us” with Will Ferrell and Ana?

No. I thought it was hilarious. If anyone is gonna take that as a diss, they need to find a sense of humor somewhere because that was so funny. Will and Ana threw that together with [longtime SNL writer] Paula Pell in about 24 hours.

More than 600 musical acts have performed on SNL over the years, so how do you start cutting down the list for your show?

Well, you start cutting it down by the people who say no. [Laughs] No, but it’s really hard and thank God they had done that great documentary that Questlove did, because it really encompassed how important music is to SNL. Because everyone was really represented quite well in that. So then it was just decisions on what was going to be on the main show and what was going to be on Friday night show. I thought the Paul Simon/Sabrina Carpenter thing was perfect for the Sunday show. I think for a minute that was on the Friday show, then it went to the Sunday show, and Paul on the Sunday show was perfect, just where it should have been.

Who was your must-have? Who did you chase to no avail?

A few, of course. There were definitely people who weren’t able to be there who would have been great: Mick Jagger, Springsteen, Stevie Nicks. But the other side of it is, you couldn’t get everybody and I thought every genre on music that’s been on SNL was represented in that show.

Jimmy Fallon worked his ass off in that opening “Soul Man” bit.

He was working very hard and very out of breath.

Did it feel mean in retrospect to make him host and talk so much right after that?

[Laughs] It was always his idea to do some opening number, and I thought that was the perfect representation and Jimmy does stuff like that better than anybody else. It was a little difficult for the poor guy to do that, but he did do it in run-through, but I don’t think he hit it as hard. He was, literally, out of breath. But every comedian or musical performer, you put an audience in front of them and they take it up to 11.

Tell me about something we didn’t see onscreen that blew your mind. Or something that really captured the vibe of the moment for you.

In general, the whole thing felt like a family reunion. People were sticking around to watch other people rehearse, and people were coming over from 30 Rock to Radio City to see other people rehearse. The unsung heroes of that Friday night show were The Roots. Those guys worked their butts off and were literally thrown into the fire a couple of times and having to work out and learn songs in 15 minutes, get off stage and then come back in half an hour. And then, on the live show, Brittany Howard’s guitar went out and stopped working and the guitar player from The Roots [“Captain” Kirk Douglas] picked up that guitar solo on the fly. It was amazing. They can pick up a song in five seconds and they were also playing in all the musical comedy bits too!

There were so many A-listers in the audience that it could have been a typical stuffy awards show vibe. So were you surprised by their freakout over Backstreet’s “I Want it That Way”? Tina and Amy were singing like high schoolers, Adam Sandler, Paul Rudd were shouting along. Even Jerry Seinfeld got in on it.

When they rehearsed and they do what they were gonna do, and they said, “Now you sing,” I was like, “Oh no! It’s an industry crowd, I hope they’re gonna sing!” But literally every person knew every word. Paul Rudd, Pedro Pascal, Jerry Seinfeld was singing with Brian [Littrell]. It was nuts. Every time I cut to the audience, I’ve never, ever had a better cut-away experience in my life where every time I cut to a shot there was some incredibly famous person singing at the top of their lungs having the greatest time of their life.

What do you think it was about them that go everybody so excited?

I think everybody was so psyched for that experience. I said to Lorne, “You’re literally watching your legacy in front of your eyes.” It’s kinda nuts. I think everyone has a deep appreciation for Lorne and what he’s accomplished, and I think everyone just came to have fun.

One of the things that really grabbed people was Pedro Pascal just losing it to DEVO. When you saw that, were you like, “Oh, we need to cut that immediately”?

Yes, it was nuts, it was crazy. Every time I cut to the audience they were having the time of their lives. Pedro literally gyrating to DEVO was, I think, my favorite cut-away of the whole night.

Was there anything that did not go as planned that was a pleasant surprise or an “oh sh–” moment?

I think almost everything happened the way it was supposed to happen magically, which I will tell you did not happen in run-through. The fact that on-air it all happened the way it was supposed to was a Christmas miracle. We made every changeover, but there was one really big changeover where we had Jimmy in the audience and he was supposed to go over to talk to Sandler, and Sandler wasn’t in his seat because he’d just done the Post Nirvana intro and he was backstage talking to people. So then he just freewheeled it, which was amazing, and we were able to make the turnaround a little faster on the night of the show so he wasn’t there laying with egg on his face for too long. Other than that, everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.

I still sing “Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars” all the time, so tell me how the Bill Murray lounge singer bit came together?

I think [longtime SNL writer] Jim Downey wrote it for Billy, and then Billy asked for three of the girls and they tried to get who was available. Ana, Maya and Cecily agreed to do it and they rehearsed it in the lobby of Radio City and then came onstage and rehearsed it the day before the show.

The four-part series showed you how tight rehearsal and writing is on the show, but it sounds like your show was just as harried, if not more.

It was crazy nutty. It was two days of rehearsal and then show day, and we did a little rehearsing on show day before we did a run-through. We ran through the whole show just once.

It seems like you tried to pay tribute to so many through the song choices, like Eddie Vedder tipping his hat to Tom Petty with “The Waiting,” or David Byrne doing “Heroes” or Chris Martin with Bonnie Raitt…

It was definitely a conscious decision and Eddie [Vedder] was going to do “The Waiting” and we asked if he could say something about Tom [Petty] at the end of the song. He said he would do it in the middle during the break and then he said something completely different at run-through than he did during the show! He mentioned more of the musical artists on the show [during run-through], and then on air he did a tribute to the cast members.

What does it take to get Cher to put on those assless chaps again?

C’mon! How crazy is that? That she looks like that at her her age. I’m embarrassed of myself because I don’t look like that and I’m a lot younger. And how amazing did she sound?

The cast are used to staying up all night writing and long hours to get the show on air each week. But when you think about putting together this show, what was the biggest challenge now that you’ve had time to think about it?

The most challenging part was just getting the show rehearsed and on the air without any disasters. Also the difference between an hour and a half and three hours and also the difference in doing it at Radio City and having these huge band changeovers. It was logistically a lot more difficult… just putting all the pieces together. It was like a Tetris puzzle, so if one piece fell out you were in big trouble. Like when Brittany’s guitar stopped working, I said, “Oh God, I hope this doesn’t keep happening to us tonight.” And it didn’t and we were all good.

Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” remains the biggest song in the world, as it tallies a seventh week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and a fifth week atop Billboard Global Excl. U.S.

Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” debuts at No. 2 on both the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S.; Ed Sheeran’s “Sapphire” starts at Nos. 8 and 7 on the respective rankings; and sombr’s “Back to Friends” hits the top 10 on Global Excl. U.S., rising 11-9, as it continues scaling the Global 200’s top 10.

The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.

Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.

“Ordinary” leads the Global 200 with 70.4 million streams (essentially even week-over-week) and 12,000 sold (down 3%) worldwide June 6-12.

Carpenter’s “Manchild” launches at No. 2 on the Global 200 with 70.1 million streams and 8,000 sold worldwide June 6-12, following its release late on June 5. She claims her fourth top 10 on the chart with the song that introduces her next album, Man’s Best Friend, due Aug. 29.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” drops 2-3 on the Global 200, after 18 weeks at No. 1 starting last September (second only to the 19 weeks at No. 1 for Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” since the chart began); ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” dips 3-4, after 12 weeks at No. 1 starting in November; and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” swoops 4-5, following three weeks at No. 1 last August.

Sheeran’s “Sapphire” enters the Global 200 at No. 8 with 44.8 million streams and 7,000 sold worldwide in its first full week, following its June 5 release, ahead of his album Play, due Sept. 12. He adds his fifth top 10 on the chart and first in a lead role since 2021 (when “Bad Habits” led for a week and follow-up “Shivers” hit No. 3).

“Ordinary” commands Global Excl. U.S. with 51.3 million streams (up 1%) and 5,000 sold (up 2%) outside the U.S.

“Manchild” debuts at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S. with 43.7 million streams and 3,000 sold beyond the U.S., marking Carpenter’s fourth top 10.

“Die With a Smile” descends 2-3 after 17 weeks atop Global Excl. U.S. starting last September. Only “APT.,” which backtracks 3-4, has led longer: 19 weeks, beginning in November. “Birds of a Feather” rounds out the top five, falling 4-5, following three weeks at No. 1 last August.

“Sapphire” sparkles at No. 7 on Global Excl. U.S. with 38.2 million streams and 4,000 sold outside the U.S., becoming Sheeran’s fifth top 10.

Plus, sombr’s “Back to Friends” pushes 11-9 on Global Excl. U.S. top 10, thanks to an 8% boost to 30.9 million streams outside the U.S. The singer-songwriter (real name Shane Boose) scores his first top 10 on the chart; it likewise became his first top 10 on the Global 200, where it lifts 7-6 for a new high.

The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated June 21, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, June 17. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

With their upcoming tour of Europe, Asia, North and South America and Australia in 2025, Oasis is back in the spotlight and hotter than ever. If you’re Gen X or millennial, looking for fresh ‘fits before you see the Britpop band live again, or Gen Z discovering Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? for the first time, we have you covered too.

We rounded up the best Oasis merch and apparel to get ready for the band’s world tour from Amazon.

And if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can order now and any one of these Oasis t-shirts will be delivered to your home in less than two days once it’s released, thanks to Prime Delivery.

Not a member? Sign up for a 30-day free trial to take advantage of all that Amazon Prime has to offer, including access to Amazon Music for online music streaming, Prime Video and Prime Gaming; fast free shipping in less than two days with Prime Delivery; in-store discounts at Whole Foods Market; access to exclusive shopping events — such as Prime Day and Black Friday — and much more. Learn more about Amazon Prime and its benefits here.

Scroll down and check out our recommendations for the best Oasis merch and apparel you can buy online.

Additionally, if you’re a superfan, we found even more collectibles and other Oasis gear and are perfect for Brit Pop lovers. We sourced from a few of the top online retailers, like H&M, Walmart and Urban Outfitters.

Shop more merch and apparel from Oasis on Amazon, below:

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

This week’s crop of new songs features two sterling collaborations: the first, between Americana music darling Sierra Ferrell and blues-country singer Kashus Culpepper. Also, two traditional country-steeped artists, Randall King and Braxton Keith, team up for a barroom-ready track. Also issuing new songs this week are Tyler Childers, Tanner Adell and Kayley Green.

 Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country songs of the week below.

Kashus Culpepper (feat. Sierra Ferrell), “Broken Wing Bird”

Culpepper melds his husky, soulful voice with Ferrell’s plaintive twang on this languid, tender song of loving an injured bird until it becomes strong enough to fly away, as the wounded bird brings back memories of an old lover who was emotionally wounded and stopped trying to spread her own wings. The pared-back acoustics here showcase just how well their voices pair together.

Tyler Childers, “Nose on the Grindstone”

Childers has long included this fan-favorite in his shows, and now fans officially get this song via this newly-released live recording. This theatrical feel and Childers’ gritty, rough-hewn voice tell the tale of a son recalling lingering lessons learned from a father who pulled long hours doing blue collar work, and the hardship in living by those words in a modern world as the son battles addiction. “There’s hurt you can cause time alone cannot heal,” he sings, masterfully weaving lyrics depicting the tension between a son’s desire to make his family proud and the insistent pull of addiction. The track previews Childers’ upcoming album Snipe Hunter, out July 25.

Tanner Adell, “Snakeskin”

Acoustic guitar and Adell’s pristine vocal wind together for a song that blends breezy instrumentation with a venomous warning for anyone who thinks they can easily capture her heart. “I’m a cowgirl/ I’ma gone do my own saving,” she declares in a sweet-toned vocal that also harbors an edge of hard-won toughness. Adell previously issued the heart-wrenching, intensely personal “Going Blonde,” but here she evinces how a tough childhood has long-reaching impact.

Kayley Green, “You’d Still Be Drunk”

On her latest, Green sings of rebuffing any notions that an ex-lover might have potentially followed a redemptive arc should she have remained in the relationship. Sonically, the song has a upbeat, throwback vibe soaked in girl power and attitude that further reinforces Green’s strong vocals.

Randall King (feat. Braxton Keith), “Cheatin’ on My Honkytonk”

Keith and King team up for this barn burner about a guy who has traded in nights at a beloved honkytonk bar for time spent with his enticing lover. “The old me probably wouldn’t know me/ He’d probably disown me if he could see me now,” they sing, with their distinctive twangy vocals weaving together effortlessly. This track has the potential to be a mighty summer lovin’ anthem.

Wiz Khalifa has become one of the faces of weed rap since his debut in 2005. The rapper’s also built up a tolerance for the smoke, according to a new interview between Khalifa and late night host Jimmy Kimmel.

Khalifa appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Friday (June 13), where he confirmed that he smokes about 30 joints a day to keep his head in the clouds. “Yeah, yeah, yup,” he said when asked about his daily smoking routine. “I have things to do. I work out — I got kids, so I do a lot of different things.”

Wiz explained that he looks at it like a “mental exercise” as he attempts to navigate life’s daily obstacles while high. “Somebody put it a really good way the other day,” Khalifa said. “You smoke and then you just challenge yourself to do normal things throughout the day … I enjoy it.”

As far as his kush origins, the 37-year-old revealed he began smoking as a teenager since it seemed like the thing to do while hanging in the studio with fellow musicians.”It was just for for music purposes, like, being in the studio and hanging around other musicians it was just the thing to do,” he said. “It kind of became something that, you know, later on in life helped me to get through a lot of things.”

In addition to sitting down for an interview, Khalifa peformed “5 Star” without Gunna, which landed on his Kush + Orange Juice 2 album in April. Look for Wiz to also hit stages across North America for his Good Vibes Only Tour with DaBaby and Sean Paul.

Watch the interview and his performance below.