The Weeknd und Playboi Carti

Tesfaye dropped out of high school at age 17 and left his native Scarborough, Ontario for Toronto. He began his music career in 2009 by dropping tracks anonymously on YouTube. The Weeknd co-founded the record label XO in 2011 and released three mixtapes in the same year: House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence.

The Weeknd’s mixtapes began to make noise as people responded to his unique R&B style and mysterious identity. His three mixtapes were downloaded eight million times, an astonishing audience for an artist without even a debut album to their name.

In 2012, The Weeknd signed with Republic Records and re-released his mixtapes as a compilation album, Trilogy. The album was met with positive reviews from critics, and it reached number four on the charts in the US and number five in Canada. At the end of 2012, The Weeknd embarked on a concert tour to promote Trilogy.

He dropped his debut studio album, Kiss Land, in 2013. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 95,000 copies in its first week.

After the release of Kiss Land, The Weeknd wrote a song for the film Fifty Shades of Grey. “Earned It” went on to win a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance. The song was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In 2014, The Weeknd collaborated with Ariana Grande on her song, “Love Me Harder.” It climbed to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In September of that year, The Weeknd kicked off his first headlining tour at Barclays Center in New York.

In May 2015, The Weeknd released the second single from his upcoming album. “The Hills” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number twenty and climbed all the way to the top, making it his first number-one single. The full album, Beauty Behind the Madness, dropped that August and reached number one in Canada, Australia, the UK, and Norway. The Weekend promoted the album by headlining several summer music festivals, including Lollapalooza.

Beauty Behind the Madness was certified double platinum in the US, selling 1.5 million copies worldwide. It was the most-streamed album of the year and produced three platinum singles. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album.

Following this major success, The Weeknd embarked on his first arena tour. The Madness Fall Tour kicked off in his home country at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

At the end of 2016, The Weeknd released his third studio album, Starboy with an eponymous lead single featuring legendary French electronic duo, Daft Punk. After reaching number one in several countries, the song became the duo’s first chart-topping hit and The Weeknd’s third.

Debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, Starboy became The Weeknd’s second consecutive number-one record. It also took home a Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, making it The Weeknd’s second win in that category. The album was certified four-times platinum by the RIAA.

In support of the album, The Weeknd embarked on the Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour in early 2017. It kicked off at the Ericsson Globe in Sweden.

2018 was another big year for The Weeknd. In February, he collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on “Pray for Me”, a song from the Black Panther film soundtrack which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The next month, Tesfaye released his first EP, My Dear Melancholy. Debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, it became The Weeknd’s third number-one album.

In November, The Weeknd released his first greatest hits album, The Weeknd in Japan, with songs from the setlists of his 2018 The Weeknd Asia Tour.

In 2020, The Weeknd released his fourth studio album, After Hours. The first two singles, “Heartless” and “Blinding Lights,” both peaked at number one on the Billboard 100 chart. “Blinding Lights” also went on to become the first song in history to hold a top-ten spot for an entire year.

To date, The Weeknd has sold over 75 million records and remains one of the top-selling artists of all time. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the most influential people in the world. His work toward racial equality and food security has also earned him the title of Goodwill Ambassador for the Global Food Programme.

In January 2022, The Weeknd released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM. He is currently promoting it on his After Hours til Dawn Tour. Catch him live through November 27.