The Weeknd

 

One of the pioneers in making R&B sound popular in the mainstream pop world, The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, reached new heights that even his biggest of fans couldn't have imagined. With an already established name and reputation in the music industry, it was only about to reach the next level.

The decade began with the second single off his upcoming fourth album After Hours, "Blinding Lights" debuting at #11 on the US Billboard 200, which would not be a reflection of the song's performance and legacy down the line, peaking at #1 down the line. The album was released in March, not soon after the surge of COVID-19 cases leading to a worldwide shutdown. The album debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200, making it his fourth consecutive number-one album (three coming from the previous decade). It became the most streamed R&B album of all time, surpassing Tesfaye's own Starboy. In the album's first charting week, Tesfaye also became the first artist to lead the Billboard 200, Billboard Hot 100, Billboard Artist 100, Hot 100 Songwriters, and Hot 100 Producers charts simultaneously, and repeated his lead the following week. After Hours proved to be his biggest success so far, becoming his most awarded album era ever. Its single "Blinding Lights" was the most streamed song of 2020, garnering 1.6 billion streams in the 12-month period. It also became the longest-charting song on the Hot 100 of all time at 90 weeks, and a few months later, Billboard ranked it as the #1 Greatest Hot 100 hit of all time. But he wasn't done there. Tesfaye headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show on February 2021, becoming the first Canadian solo artist to headline the show. However, it didn't come without its fair share of controversies. In November 2020, the announcement of the nominees for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards commenced. Despite After Hours being a commercial and critical success, the album, along with its biggest single "Blinding Lights", received zero nominations. Dubbed "the biggest snub in Grammy history", Tesfaye pledged that he would “no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” even after the Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammys, revised its practices and did away with the “secret” nomination-review committees that for decades had curated most of the final lists, and which some alleged had become corrupted by insider dealings.

While having a somber 2021, basking in the successes of After Hours, Tesfaye hinted towards his next studio album, constantly referring to the phrase "The Dawn is coming". Sure enough, his next studio album, Dawn FM, was publicly released in January of 2022. The album debuted at #2 on the US Billboard 200. He also broke the record for the most simultaneous entries by a male soloist on the Billboard Global 200, charting 24 songs. The album was supported with three singles, "Take My Breath", "Sacrifice" and "Out Of Time". During this time, a single from his highly popular 2016 album Starboy started gaining popularity, named "Die For You". He then embarked on an all-stadium tour named the "After Hours till Dawn Tour" to support the two albums he'd released from 2020-2022.

As the new year began, Tesfaye's Blinding Lights officially took its spot as the most-streamed song in Spotify history, and later Tesfaye himself became the first artist in history to ever surpass 100 million monthly listeners in February, with support from a collaboration with fellow artist Ariana Grande, the remix to "Die For You". The song allowed it to peak at #1, previously at #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The Weeknd, while already an established household name, reached absolutely new heights, soaring in popularity and gaining more recognition. Spawning the biggest single hit in Billboard Hot 100 history, the biggest song in Spotify, the most successful and most-streamed R&B album ever in After Hours, and a possible album for a "trilogy" of albums, Tesfaye has truly established his place as one of the biggest artist of the decade so far, and the biggest artist in the world today.