50 Fun Facts About The Weeknd

What is The Weeknd's real name?

Abel Tesfaye has said he is thinking of retiring the Weeknd persona while continuing to record music.

In which Toronto suburb was The Weeknd raised by his mother and grandmother?

Scarborough got half a million Canadian dollars from him in 2020, a gift to its hospital network's COVID-19 relief fund.

Why is 'Weeknd' spelled without the second 'e'?

A Canadian band owned the name 'the Weekend', so he cut a letter; the word marks the weekend he left home at 17 and never went back.

Which star's blog first pushed The Weeknd's anonymous YouTube songs to a wide audience?

Drake's OVO blog posted the songs, though The Weeknd says Drake's manager was the one vouching for him, not yet Drake himself.

Which mixtape closed out 2011, the year The Weeknd began with House of Balloons?

Echoes of Silence opens with a cover of Michael Jackson's 'Dirty Diana', listed only as 'D.D.'; Pitchfork called his vocal an eerily accurate copy of Jackson's.

How was House of Balloons originally released on March 21, 2011?

Free of charge through XO, it could sample Aaliyah's 'Rock the Boat'; the paid 2012 version dropped that sample and it only returned in 2021.

What is the motto of The Weeknd's XO label?

'XO 'Til We Overdose' feeds a fan theory that XO stands for ecstasy and OxyContin rather than hugs and kisses.

What was the 2012 major-label compilation of The Weeknd's 2011 mixtapes called?

Trilogy sold songs fans already had, plus three bonus tracks, and still entered the US album chart at number four.

What was The Weeknd's debut studio album, released in September 2013?

Kiss Land missed a number-one debut by fewer than 3,000 copies, edged out by Keith Urban's 'Fuse'.

'Earned It', The Weeknd's Oscar-nominated song, was recorded for which film's soundtrack?

Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson also shot the song's video, which features the film's lead, Dakota Johnson.

Which 2015 song was The Weeknd's first Hot 100 number one, drawing comparisons to Michael Jackson?

'Can't Feel My Face' got so big that Tom Cruise lip-synced it on network TV, though many listeners hear its lyric as being about cocaine.

Which Swedish hitmaker co-wrote and produced The Weeknd's first number one and later 'Blinding Lights'?

Max Martin came in after The Weeknd asked his label for help making hits; their first job together was a half-finished song the label sent over for him to rewrite.

Which rapper produced The Weeknd's 2015 song 'Tell Your Friends'?

Kanye West later posted his own take on the same beat online under the title 'When I See It'.

Which electronic duo features on the title track of The Weeknd's album Starboy (2016)?

Daft Punk had never topped the Hot 100 before; even 'Get Lucky' stalled at number two for weeks in 2013.

In which 2019 film did The Weeknd make his acting debut, playing himself?

Uncut Gems cast him as his own younger, still-underground self, in a wig of his old hair, and his character gets into a fight with Adam Sandler's.

'Blinding Lights' was first teased in November 2019 in a commercial for which car brand?

Mercedes-Benz cast him in an advert for its electric EQC, in which he tells the car to play his new song.

Which Billboard Hot 100 record did 'Blinding Lights' break in August 2021?

Most weeks on the chart: it passed the 87 of Imagine Dragons' 'Radioactive' and finished on 90, though only four of those were spent at number one.

'Blinding Lights' replaced which older hit as Billboard's best-performing Hot 100 song of all time?

'The Twist' had earned the title by climbing to number one in two separate chart runs, in 1960 and again in 1962.

Which awards gave After Hours no nominations at all, prompting The Weeknd to boycott them?

The Grammy Awards shut out both the album and 'Blinding Lights'; he called the process corrupt and said he would stop submitting his music.

Which veteran instrumentalist joined The Weeknd for a 2020 remix of 'In Your Eyes'?

Kenny G first played the song's saxophone solo live with him on the Time 100 broadcast, and the studio remix followed weeks later.

Which singer joined The Weeknd on the 2021 remix of 'Save Your Tears'?

Ariana Grande's remix lifted the song from number six to number one in a single week, giving both singers their sixth Hot 100 chart-topper.

Which music legend wrote The Weeknd's 2020 Time 100 tribute, calling 'Blinding Lights' the year's best pop single?

Elton John already had a link to him: the After Hours track 'Scared to Live' borrows from 'Your Song'. He wrote that, like Prince, The Weeknd marches to his own beat.

The Weeknd reportedly put $7 million of his own money into which performance?

His Super Bowl halftime show already had its production costs covered by the organisers, as usual; he added the $7 million himself to get the show he had pictured.

Which actor narrates The Weeknd's 2022 album, alongside Quincy Jones and Josh Safdie?

Jim Carrey was his Los Angeles neighbour; the two became friends after finding they could see each other's homes through their telescopes.

Which lead single from The Weeknd's fifth album was first previewed in a Tokyo Olympics promo?

'Take My Breath' was due to have its video shown before IMAX screenings of The Suicide Squad, but it was reportedly pulled over fears its strobe lighting could trigger seizures.

Which 2022 album by The Weeknd sits in the middle of the three-album arc that Hurry Up Tomorrow completes?

Dawn FM replaced a bleaker pandemic album he scrapped as 'emotionally detrimental'; he pictured its listener as dead and stuck in traffic on the way to the light.

What on-stage event in 2022 partly inspired The Weeknd's Hurry Up Tomorrow?

He lost his voice mid-concert in front of a packed SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and had to walk off; the cause was psychological stress rather than any injury.

Which electronic group teamed with The Weeknd on the 2021 single 'Moth to a Flame'?

Swedish House Mafia went on to share his headline slot at Coachella 2022, booked with about two weeks' notice after the original headliner pulled out.

Which actress co-stars with The Weeknd in the 2025 film Hurry Up Tomorrow?

Jenna Ortega plays Anima, a troubled fan who ties his character to a hotel bed, then dances to 'Blinding Lights' and picks its lyrics apart.

In the HBO series The Idol, The Weeknd played Tedros, described as a sleazy nightclub owner and what?

Cult leader Tedros survived a creative overhaul in which the first director, Amy Seimetz, left mid-shoot; HBO cancelled the show after a single five-episode season.

Who played the pop star Jocelyn opposite The Weeknd in The Idol?

Lily-Rose Depp also sings with him and Blackpink's Jennie on 'One of the Girls', which reached the Hot 100 months after the show was cancelled and became her first chart hit.

What record did The Weeknd's 2022 to 2026 stadium tour claim in November 2025?

Top-grossing male solo tour ever: Live Nation announced that ticket sales had passed $1 billion, from more than 7.5 million tickets sold since the opening night in 2022.

In February 2023, The Weeknd became the first artist ever to pass what milestone on Spotify?

100 million monthly listeners: Guinness World Records certified the mark a month later and declared him, statistically, the most popular musician on the planet.

Whose album beat The Weeknd's Beauty Behind the Madness to Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammys?

Taylor Swift's 1989 took Album of the Year, but The Weeknd still left with two Grammys that night, one of them Best Urban Contemporary Album for the beaten record.

Which of The Weeknd's singles was his first to be certified diamond by the RIAA?

'The Hills' went diamond in June 2019, four years after it knocked another of his own singles off number one; he wrote and recorded it in his home studio in Toronto.

In 2023 The Weeknd launched Samra Origins, a specialty brand named after his mother, with which company?

Blue Bottle Coffee built the blend from Ethiopian beans that he and his mother Samra tasted together, a nod to Ethiopia's standing as the birthplace of coffee.

The Weeknd's 2011 mixtape House of Balloons was shortlisted for which Canadian award?

The Polaris Prize goes to the best Canadian album on artistic merit alone, whatever its genre, sales or label; Arcade Fire's The Suburbs beat him to it that year.

Which theme park brand turned The Weeknd's After Hours album into Halloween haunted houses in 2022?

Universal Studios reworked songs such as 'Blinding Lights' into a horror soundtrack for Halloween Horror Nights, where slashers and bandaged maniacs stalked the guests.

On which animated show did The Weeknd guest-star in the 2020 episode 'A Starboy Is Born'?

American Dad! was all he watched on tour, so he co-wrote the episode himself; the dark secret his cartoon self sings about is that he is a virgin.

'Blinding Lights' overtook which song to become Spotify's most-streamed track of all time?

'Shape of You' by Ed Sheeran had led since 2017; The Weeknd announced the handover himself on New Year's Eve 2022, with both songs sitting near 3.33 billion streams.

Which pop veteran joined The Weeknd and Playboi Carti on the 2023 single 'Popular'?

Madonna had debuted songs on the Hot 100 in the 1980s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s, so the single's entry at number 43 gave her a fifth decade; he called her 'the ultimate co-sign'.

Which of The Weeknd's number-one singles came from Starboy alongside the title track?

'Die for You' hit number one in March 2023, over six years after Starboy came out, the longest climb to the top for any non-holiday song; a TikTok revival that began in Southeast Asia set it off.

Besides Amharic and English, which language does The Weeknd speak fluently?

French was the rule at his immersion school, where speaking English got pupils into trouble; with Amharic spoken at home, he has called English almost his third language.

Before his music took off, The Weeknd folded clothes at which clothing chain's Toronto store?

American Apparel co-workers played his anonymous early songs in the store without knowing the singer was folding shirts beside them, which gave him the nerve to quit.

The Weeknd's towering early-career hairstyle was partly inspired by which New York artist?

Jean-Michel Basquiat was the model for the dreadlocks he grew for years; he cut them off in 2016, saying that once everyone begged him not to, he knew he definitely would.

Which Hollywood star guest-appeared in Apple Music's 2015 two-part commercial featuring The Weeknd?

John Travolta turned out to be his limo driver, turning round to ask where they were going as the singer left the MTV VMAs; the ad aired during the very show it depicted.

In 2018 The Weeknd publicly cut ties with which clothing retailer over a photo on its website?

H&M had pictured a Black child in a hoodie reading 'Coolest Monkey in the Jungle'; he tweeted that he was 'shocked and embarrassed' and would not work with it again.

What is the name of the radio show The Weeknd launched on Apple Music's Beats 1 in June 2018?

Memento Mori is Latin for 'remember that you must die'; he launched the show while 'hiding out in Paris' to share the music behind his late nights.

The Weeknd funded a University of Toronto course in which classical Ethiopian language?

Ge'ez, like Latin, survives only in church services; the classes began after a professor pledged $50,000 if Toronto's Ethiopian community matched it, and The Weeknd sent the same sum.

The Weeknd was named a UN Goodwill Ambassador in October 2021 for which agency?

World Food Programme relief work in Ethiopia, his parents' homeland, had received $1 million from him six months earlier, part of more than $3 million he gave away that year.