The Weeknd

The Weeknd
The Weeknd at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (1990-02-16) February 16, 1990 (age 34) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Other names	The Noise Kin Kane[1]
Occupations	Singer-songwriter record producer actor businessman
Years active	2009–present
Works	Discography production songs videography
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Genres	Pop alternative R&B R&B synth-pop new wave dance
Instruments	Vocals keyboards
Labels	XO Republic
Musical artist
Website	theweeknd.com
Signature

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (Amharic: አቤል መኮንን ተስፋዬ; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actor.^[2][3] Recognized for his unconventional musical production, artistic reinventions, and signature falsetto register, Tesfaye is one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation.

Tesfaye began releasing music anonymously in 2009. After co-founding the record label XO, he released three mixtapes—House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence—in 2011, and gained recognition for his blend of contemporary and alternative R&B, as well as the mystery surrounding his identity. He signed with Republic Records to reissue the mixtapes into the compilation album Trilogy (2012), and release his debut studio album, Kiss Land (2013) the following year. After a string of collaborations and film soundtrack contributions from 2013 and 2014, Tesfaye transitioned from alternative R&B to a pop sound with his second and third studio albums, Beauty Behind the Madness (2015) and Starboy (2016), both of which debuted atop the US Billboard 200. The former yielded his first two US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills", while Starboy spawned two more: its title track (featuring Daft Punk), and after a 2023 remix with Ariana Grande, "Die for You".

He returned to alternative R&B for his debut extended play, My Dear Melancholy (2018), which included the US top-ten single "Call Out My Name". He explored the dream-pop and new wave genres with his fourth studio album, After Hours (2020), which spawned the record-setting single, "Blinding Lights", in which became the most-streamed song of all time on Spotify, broke records as the longest-charting song in Billboard Hot 100 history, and was named the chart's best-performing song of all time. Other chart-topping singles from the album included "Heartless" and "Save Your Tears" with the latter gaining renewed popularity after a remix featuring Ariana Grande. Tesfaye began exploring dance-pop, leading to his fifth album, Dawn FM (2022), which included the US top-ten single, "Take My Breath". In 2023, he co-created and starred in the HBO drama series The Idol, which was a critical failure, while its accompanying soundtrack saw commercial success.

Tesfaye has sold over 75 million records, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. He has earned seven diamond-certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for his singles, and is the first artist to simultaneously hold the top three spots on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Blinding Lights" became the best-performing song in the Billboard Hot 100's history and the longest-charting song by a solo artist in the chart's history. Tesfaye was listed by Time as one of the world's most influential people in 2020, and was dubbed the "world's most popular artist" by Guinness World Records in 2023. An advocate for racial equality and food security, he was appointed a World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2021. He has donated millions to causes related to racial equality, food security, and disaster relief, including substantial contributions to COVID-19 relief efforts and the Ethiopian humanitarian crisis. His accolades include four Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, a Latin Grammy Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.