The Weeknd Discography

The Weeknd Biography

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (Amharic: አቤል መኮንን ተስፋዬ; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He is known for his unconventional music production, artistic reinventions, and signature use of the falsetto register. Tesfaye began releasing music anonymously in 2009. He co-founded the record label XO and released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence in 2011, which gained recognition for its style of contemporary and alternative R&B and the mystery surrounding his identity. In 2012, Tesfaye signed with Republic Records and re-issued the mixtapes for his compilation album Trilogy. He explored the dark wave genre for his debut studio album Kiss Land (2013), which debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. After its release, Tesfaye began contributing to film soundtracks. His 2014 single "Earned It" from Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Tesfaye earned critical and commercial success with his pop-leaning second album, Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), which reached number one in the US, contained the US Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "Can't Feel My Face" and "The Hills", and won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album in addition to a nomination for Album of the Year. Experimenting with multiple genres led to his third album, Starboy (2016), which also saw commercial success. It included the US number-one eponymous lead single (featuring Daft Punk) and "Die for You", earning it the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Tesfaye returned to alternative R&B with his debut extended play, My Dear Melancholy (2018), which contained the US top-ten single "Call Out My Name". He explored new wave and dream pop with his fourth studio album, After Hours (2020), which featured the chart record-setting single "Blinding Lights" along with two US number...