The Weeknd's career: From 'Earned It' to 'Blinding Lights' and beyond
We take a look at The Weeknd's career
The Weeknd, who is also known by his real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, has had huge success over the last decade winning countless awards including a BRIT Award for International Male Solo Artist in 2021. He's also appeared in The Simpsons, headlined Coachella 2022 with Swedish House Mafia, and brought his 'After Hours til Dawn' tour to the UK in 2023.
With four Number 1 albums and huge hits like 'Earned It' from Fifty Shades of Grey, 'Can't Feel My Face' and 'Blinding Lights' we take a look at the career of the Canadian singer, as he starts to tease another album called 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' and plans for 2025.
Here is The Weeknd's career from 'Trilogy' to 'Dawn FM':
Before 2011: The Weeknd started his music career
In 2009, The Weeknd started to release music on YouTube anonymously. The singer later met with a producer called called Jeremy Rose who worked with him on some tracks.
The Weeknd then uploaded three of the songs to YouTube under the name xoxxxoooxo, which received attention from some well-known publications including The New York Times.
Before making a name for himself as The Weeknd, he also worked under the aliases the Noise and Kin Kane.
2012: The Weeknd released compilation album 'Trilogy'
In 2012, The Weeknd released his compilation album 'Trilogy', despite not having a lot of success in the UK chart, it reached the Top 5 in both his native Canada and the US.
2013: The Weeknd released 'Kiss Land'
The Weeknd followed the release of his first compilation album, with his debut studio album 'Kiss Land'. This album became a hit in the UK too, reaching Number 12 in the chart and the top spot in the UK R&B Albums chart.
2014: The Weeknd and Ariana Grande released 'Love Me Harder'
2014 was a busy year for The Weeknd, he co-wrote and released 'Love Me Harder' with Ariana Grande in September, followed by the Fifty Shades of Grey song 'Earned It' in December of that year.
2015: The Weeknd released 'Beauty Behind the Madness'
The Weeknd's big success started back in 2015 with the release of his second studio album 'Beauty Behind the Madness'. The singer released, 'The Hills' and 'Can't Feel My Face', which were both Top 3 hits in the UK.
2015: The Weeknd's 'The Madness Fall Tour'
The Weeknd supported the release of his album 'Beauty Behind the Madness' with 'The Madness Fall Tour'. The singer's tour took him across North America.
2016: The Weeknd performed at the Oscars
'Earned It' was nominated for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards, after it featured in Fifty Shades of Grey.
The Weeknd performed his hit song at the Oscars, reenacting his sultry video.
2016: The Weeknd wins several Billboard Awards
The Weeknd won eight Billboard Awards in 2016, to date he has won 19! In 2016, the singer won awards for Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Song Sales Artist, Top Radio Songs Artist, Top Streaming Songs Artist, and Top R&B Artist.
He also won Top R&B Album for 'Beauty Behind the Madness', Top Streaming Song (Audio) for 'The Hills' and Top R&B Song for 'Earned It'.
2016: The Weeknd won two Grammy Awards
2016 was a big award year for The Weeknd. The singer was also nominated for several Grammys taking home Best R&B Performance for 'Earned It' and Best Urban Contemporary Album for 'Beauty Behind the Madness'.
2016 was also the year that The Weeknd released his third studio album 'Starboy', along with the song of the same name, and 'I Feel It Coming' both with Daft Punk.
2019: The Weeknd starred in the film Uncut Gems
The Weeknd appeared in the film Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, and Idina Menzel. The singer played himself hosting a party in a nightclub.
2020: The Weeknd's song 'Blinding Lights' becomes a TikTok hit
The Weeknd released 'Blinding Lights' in November 2019, but it became hugely popular in 2020 as it was the subject of a TikTok dance challenge at the beginning of the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. The song also became his most popular to date.
Raising awareness of a drink-driving campaign, The Weeknd appeared at the 2020 American Music Awards with his head in bandages.
In an interview with Esquire The Weeknd explained that his song 'Blinding Lights' is about "how you want to see someone at night, and you're intoxicated, and you're driving to this person and you're just blinded by streetlights."
2021: Black Music Action Coalition's Music in Action Awards
The Weeknd was honoured at the Black Music Action Coalition's Music in Action Awards in 2021. On receiving the award, he had to hold back tears saying: "This is the best award I've ever gotten in my life."
The organisation aims to address systemic racism within the music business.
2021: The Weeknd performs at the Super Bowl Halftime show
In 2021, The Weeknd became the first Canadian solo artist to headline the Super Bowl Halftime show. In that year the singer also received a BRIT Award for International Male Solo Artist.
The Weeknd also released several songs in 2021 including 'Hurricane' with Kanye West featuring Lil Baby and 'Moth To a Flame' with Swedish House Mafia.
2022: The Weeknd released 'Dawn FM'
The Weeknd released his fifth studio album 'Dawn FM' in January 2022. To accompany the album's release, the singer also held an Amazon Music event with the same name.
2022: The Weeknd appears in The Simpsons
In March 2022, The Weeknd confirmed he would be appearing in an episode of The Simpsons. After the episode aired he shared a clip showing his character apologising to Bart after he was humiliated trying to return some fake trainers. The character he plays is called Orion Hughes in an episode called Bart The Cool Kid.
2022: The Weeknd co-headlines Coachella
The Weeknd was announced as a co-headliner along with Swedish House Mafia for both Sundays of Coachella festival in 2022.
2022: The Weeknd announced 'After hours til Dawn' tour
In March 2022, The Weeknd announced the North America leg of his 'After hours til Dawn' tour. The singer performed across Canada and the US and was supported by Doja Cat.
In November 2022, The Weeknd announced the second-leg of the tour, featuring dates across Europe and Latin America. The Weeknd will perform in Manchester in June 2023, and London in July 2023.
2023: The Weeknd and Ariana Grande release another collaboration
The Weeknd and Ariana Grande released another collaboration together called 'Die For You' in 2023. The song is a remix of The Weeknd's 2017 song.
2024: The Weeknd announces new album 'Hurry Up Tomorrow'
In September, The Weeknd announced his new album is called 'Hurry Up Tomorrow'. He has not yet revealed its release date.
You can hear songs by The Weeknd on Northsound 1.
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