The Weeknd: Everything you need to know about the 'Blinding Lights' singer

With a tonne of chart-topping albums and singles under his belt, The Weeknd, also known by his real name Abel Tesfaye, truly ruled the 2010s and is continuing this trend in the 2020s. His synth heavy throwback hits, such as the TikTok sensation 'Blinding Lights', have certainly played their part in shifting the pop music scene.

The singer released his sixth album ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ in January 2025 - of which he performed two tracks at the 67th GRAMMYs. He later starred in the psychological thriller of the same name last spring. Now, in 2026, as his global stadium tour heads to the UK this June, we take a closer look at the 'Starboy' behind some of the biggest hits of the decade...

Who is The Weeknd?

The Weeknd is a pop and R&B musician from Toronto, Canada. He first jetted into pop stardom with the album 'Beauty Behind the Madness' released in 2015, which featured the hit singles 'The Hills' and 'Can't Feel My Face'.

He has since been a mainstay of the pop landscape, with a slew of hits and collaborations with artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Ariana Grande.

His album 'After Hours' was released in 2020 and featured the song 'Blinding Lights', one of The Weeknd's biggest hits to date. In 2021 he affirmed his status in pop royalty through performing at The Super Bowl half time show.

The Weeknd's fifth album 'Dawn FM' was released in January 2022 and featured his Top 10 hit 'Sacrifice'.

What is The Weeknd's real name?

The Weeknd's real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye.

When is his birthday?

The Weeknd was born on 16th February 1990 (meaning he's an Aquarius for all you astrologers out there ♒️). At the time of writing The Weeknd is currently 36-years-old.

Is The Weeknd in a band?

Although he has collaborated with many other artists and producers, The Weeknd is a solo artist.

How did he become famous?

The Weeknd first got big with the release of three mixtapes: 'House of Balloons', 'Thursday' and 'Echoes of Silence', later released as the compilation album 'Trilogy' in 2012. His first mainstream success came with the release of 'Kissland' in 2013, which reached Number 2 on the US Billboard 200.

He saw further success with the song 'Earned It' in 2014. This song was released as part of the soundtrack to 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and was featured in his album 'Beauty Behind the Madness' released in 2015. This album also featured the hit singles 'The Hills' and 4x Platinum 'Can't Feel My Face'.

In the following years he released the albums 'Starboy' in 2016, 'After Hours' in 2020, 'Dawn FM' in 2022. With his sixth album released in 2025, The Weekend's ascent shows no sign of slowing.

READ MORE: The Weeknd's career - from 'Earned It' to 'Blinding Lights' and beyond.

When is The Weeknd going on tour?

The Weeknd has announced seven UK dates taking place in 2026 for his 'After Hours Til Dawn Tour'. He will perform in Manchester on 11th and 12th June, along with London on 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th August 2026.

The final leg of his global stadium tour concludes in Asia from September to November 2026.

Hurry Up Tomorrow (film)

Hurry Up Tomorrow is a 2025 psychological thriller starring The Weeknd as a fictional version of himself - a global pop star plagued by depression, insomnia, and a recent breakup who loses his voice onstage and spirals into an emotional breakdown.

He is then pulled into a surreal, dangerous odyssey by Anima (Jenna Ortega), an obsessed fan who forces him to confront his toxic behaviour and inner demons. Barry Keoghan plays his manager, grounding the story in the dark side of fame. The film was released in cinemas on 16 May 2025 and serves as a companion piece to The Weeknd’s album of the same name.

The film is available to watch on Apple TV and Prime Video.

The GRAMMYs 2025

In February 2025, The Weeknd ended his boycott of The GRAMMYs and performed two songs from his new album. The singer performed 'Cry For Me' and 'Timeless'.

The Weeknd's latest album

The singer's latest album is called 'Hurry Up Tomorrow', it was released on 31st January 2025 and features 22 songs.

'Dawn FM'

The Weeknd's most recent album before 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' is titled 'Dawn FM', and it dropped on 7th January 2022. The album was teased on The Weeknd's Instagram since the release of 'Take My Breath' in 2021, and follows the song's disco/synth aesthetic.

The album features collaborations with Tyler, The Creator, Lil Wayne and... Jim Carrey!? Yep, you heard us right, The Grinch himself - this is definitely the collaboration we were most intrigued by.

Official track list for The Weeknd's 'Dawn FM':

1. 'Dawn FM'
2. 'Gasoline'
3. 'How Do I Make You Love Me?'
4. 'Take My Breath'
5. 'Sacrifice'
6. 'A Tale By Quincy'
7. 'Out Of Time'
8. 'Here We Go... Again'
9. 'Best Friends'
10. 'Is There Someone Else?'
11. 'Starry Eyes'
12. 'Every Angel Is Terrifying'
13. 'Don't Break My Heart'
14. 'I Heard You're Married'
15. 'Less Than Zero'
16. 'Phantom Regret By Jim'

How did he get his name?

In 2013, The Weeknd revealed in a Reddit AMA how he came up with his name. He replied to a fan question about where he got his name from, saying:

'I left home when I was about 17 dropped out of high school and convinced Lamar to do the same lol. We grabbed our mattresses from our parents threw it in our friends s----- van and left one weekend and never came back home. It was gonna be the title of HOB. I hated my name at the time though so I tried it as a stage name. It sounded cool.'

If you're wondering why he dropped the 'e' from 'the weekend', he cleared that up too, saying: 'I took out the "e" because there was already a Canadian band named the weekend (copyright issues).'

Has he ever won a Grammy?

The Weeknd has won three GRAMMYs: Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2016 and 2018 for 'Beauty Behind the Madness' and 'Starboy' and Best R&B Performance for 'Earned It' in 2016. Whilst 'After Hours' was an imensely successful album commercially and critically, it received no nominations for the 2021 ceremony. In response to this The Weeknd announced he would no longer be submitting his music for the awards ceremony.

The Weeknd's collaborations with Ariana Grande

The Weeknd and Ariana Grande have collaborated multiple times. They first collaborated in 2014 on the song 'Love Me Harder', released as part of Ariana's second album 'My Everything'. Their next collaboration came in 2020 with the song 'Off the Table' released as part of Ariana Grande's album 'Positions'.

Then in 2021, Ariana featured on a remix of The Weeknd's song 'Save Your Tears'. In 2023, the pair released a collab called 'Die For You', which is a remix of the 2017 song by The Weeknd.

Having collaborated multiple times, the pair are definitely friends. Abel owes a lot to Ariana as Variety notes. It was through working on 'Love Me Harder' with her that he met producer Max Martin, who he wrote many of his breakthrough hits with.

Who else has The Weeknd collaborated with?

What are The Weeknd's most popular songs?

'Save Your Tears'

READ MORE: Buy tickets now to The Weeknd's 'After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour'

'Blinding Lights'

'Starboy'

'Can't Feel My Face'

'Take My Breath'

'The Hills'

'l Feel It Coming'

'Earned It'

'After Hours'

The Weeknd's Super Bowl performance

The Weeknd's status as pop royalty was cemented in 2021 when he performed at the Super Bowl half time show, following the footsteps of greats such as Prince, Madonna and Beyoncé (yes, that's right, the queen herself).

Unstopped by COVID restrictions, The Weeknd brought the show onto the field with a magnitude of masked dancers taking over the stadium, truly a performance for the history books.

You can watch the full performance on the NFL YouTube channel.

Has be been in any TV shows?

The Weeknd appeared on American Dad back in 2020 and appeared in an episode of The Simpsons on 20th March 2022. The singer confirmed the news in a tweet, retweeting a fan account saying: 'proud of this one💛'.

The character The Weeknd plays is called Orion Hughes in an episode called Bart The Cool Kid.

After the episode aired he shared a clip where his character turns up at the Simpsons' house to apologise to Bart after he was humiliated trying to return fake trainers.

• The Weeknd