‘Is There Someone Else’ That Can Stop The Weeknd?
The Weeknd’s Spotify account and a list of his most listened songs.
February 22, 2023
Abel Tesfaye, better known around the world by his stage name, The Weeknd, has taken the music industry by storm. As of Feb. 2023, he now holds the Spotify record for most monthly listeners in history with 98.5 million listeners, overtaking the previous holder, Ed Sheeran, by over ten million listeners.
The Weeknd has become a prominent R&B artist and is helping the genre overtake Spotify which usually has mostly pop singers dominating the charts. In the top five chart for most listened Spotify artists, it was dominated by four pop artists, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Shakira.
The Weeknd stands alone as the only non-pop artist in the top five list, and is also at the top of it. “The Weeknd is one of my favorite artists and has started the uprising of R&B artists,” says MBA freshman Kobe Magdael.
One main contributing factor that helped him reach this record is his world renowned song, “Blinding Lights,” which has broken multiple records independently since its release such as spending the most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 88 weeks. It is currently the most streamed song in Spotify history with over three billion streams.
“The Weeknd is my favorite singer because he has very soothing vocals,” says another MBA freshman Adrian Rios. “He is one of the best artists of this decade.”
This hasn’t been the only major feat that Tesfaye has achieved during his impressive career. He has won a total of four Grammys and six American Music Awards. He currently holds multiple world records, one for his studio album “Beauty Behind the Madness,” and another for being on the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100 by a solo artist.
With all of these achievements under his belt, it doesn’t look like The Weeknd is slowing down anytime soon. His feature with Metro Boomin and 21 Savage on the newly released track “Creepin,” debuted at top five on the Billboard Hot 100 and is still there.
Love him or hate him, The Weeknd has made his mark on the music world as a legendary artist.
Katherine • Mar 3, 2023 at 9:20 am
On February 22nd, Joshua Mata wrote an article titled “Is There Someone Else That Can Stop The Weeknd?”. The article details Abel’s (otherwise known as The Weeknd) smashing success worldwide as an R&B artist. This article interested me because I am listening to The Weeknd as I write this, and was wondering if there actually is anyone who is remotely close to Abel’s spotify followers record. At the time this article was written Abel had 98.5 million spotify listeners, and just one week later has 101 million monthly listeners. In 7 days he’s acquired 2.5 million more listeners, which can be accredited to his recent release on February 24th of Die For You (Remix) featuring Ariana Grande. I’d be interested in knowing who on Spotify can compete with numbers like these, and if Abel will keep growing exponentially. I’m excited to see his success as R&B has been an underrated genre for far too long, so its recognition on such a grand scale is a massive achievement by Abel. Thank you for shining light on arguably one of this generation’s best R&B artists, and I look forward to seeing his achievements in the future.
Klarisa Hernandez • Mar 1, 2023 at 5:16 pm
On February 22, Joshua Mata wrote an article titled “‘Is There Someone Else’ That Can Stop The Weeknd?” The article mentions that Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd is making a huge impact in the music industry in this generation and goes into further detail about how he is a prominent R&B artist. I am happy you wrote about this because I don’t think everyone realizes how much music can impact a person. The Weeknd is one of my favorite artists and he has different songs for all of the different ways you might be feeling. It is also crazy how one person can help so many people, I say this because he has over 95 million monthly listeners. That many people enjoying your music and listening to it, (maybe even daily) is insane to think about and process. The fact that so many people love him and he’s collabing with other well-known artists like 21 Savage helps him expand his fan base which is just impacting so many other humans globally. With this being said, I am happy you wrote an article on this because he is someone well-known and writing about this sheds light on the impact one human can have on the world.
Lucia Thomas • Mar 1, 2023 at 1:52 pm
On February 22, 2023, Joshua Mata wrote an article entitled “Is There Someone Else That Can Stop The Weeknd?” Mata talks about how successful and popular The Weeknd is and mentions how The Weeknd has taken the music industry by storm with Billboard Hits. I was a little shocked to find out how popular The Weeknd actually was as he was the number one artist on spotify. I personally love The Weeknd’s songs as they are super catchy and easy to listen to. I was interested to find out that “The Weeknd stands alone as the only non-pop artist in the top five list, and is also at the top of it” as I thought he was a Pop artist but instead he is a R&B artist. He’s also won multiple awards and his newly released track “Creepin” debuted at top five for the Billboard’s Hot 100 which is insane to think that a newly released track is already on the Billboard’s Hot 100, but within the top 5 is even more insane. I loved this article because it shows you how popular The Weeknd really is and I knew he was a well-known artist, but I didn’t know that he was this successful. I agree with Joshua Mata as I don’t think The Weeknd will be stopping anytime soon either as he is continuing to release hit songs and perform sold-out concerts.
Nina Mungcal • Mar 1, 2023 at 1:43 pm
On February 22, Joshua Mata wrote an article titled, “‘Is There Someone Else’ That Can Stop the Weeknd?” The article talks about the success of Abel Tesfayer most famously known as The Weeknd. Mata talks about the rise of The Weeknd’s career as he’s climbed the charts over the years. Recently, he now holds the Spotify record for the most monthly listeners in history. As someone whose favorite artist is The Weeknd, it is amazing to see just how far he’s grown as a musician. I’ve been a fan of his music for years now, and it’s quite astonishing to hear the story of his rise to fame. As he’s grown in popularity, his life has changed for the better. In his earlier music, most of his work was based around his experiences growing up and then later on the often unheard-of reality of the dark side of Hollywood. In addition to Tesfaye having won four Grammys and six American Music Awards, he’s also the creator of the HBOMax drama series, “The Idol,” which is said to be released later this year. Also, a few years ago, Tesfaye performed on one of the biggest stages- the Superbowl Halftime Show. In the past few years, he’s risen to the top of the charts which his collaborations with Metro Boomin, 21 Savage, Ariana Grande, and Future. Additionally, he wrapped up his After Hours til Dawn Tour, which was by far one of the most hyped-up tours. He’s also dropping an album soon, which is very exciting. It’s incredible to see just how far a solo artist can go, even if the odds might have not been in their favor at first. I enjoyed this article and it was very informative. The closing sentence is very powerful, as it shows that even if you’re not a fan of The Weeknd and his music, he will go down in history as a great artist.
Ashley Oelmann • Mar 1, 2023 at 10:02 am
In this article, it mentions all of the Spotify achievements of The Weeknd, on Spotify and overall music charts. Overtaking Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Shakira as the only non-pop artist on the charts as well as number one, his one hit that got him so famous, “Blinding Lights,” caught the attention of young listeners, which soon got people of all ages to view his music. Like many artists, who flourished during the lockdown as we were constantly searching for new content and artists to follow, The Weeknd became extremely popular, and “it doesn’t look like The Weeknd is slowing down anytime soon.” Nevertheless, his other songs, “I Was Never There,” “In Your Eyes,” and “Often” really caught my, as well as others because of his strong, yet smooth vocals that just make you want to relax and listen. At school, whenever I feel a bit awkward standing around campus or walking to class, I always would have a spoitfy playlist, of course, consisting of The Weeknd, Doja Cat, Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift, Halsey, Kendrick Lamar, JID, Arctic Monkey, etc.
Keira Ly • Mar 1, 2023 at 9:55 am
On February 22, Joshua Mata wrote an article titled, “‘Is There Someone Else’ That Can Stop The Weeknd?” The article mentions that Abel is now the record holder for most monthly listeners on Spotify in history with 98.5 million listeners as of February 2023, overtaking Ed Sheeran by over ten million listeners. I found this really interesting because I really enjoy Abel’s music, but I didn’t know he was this popular. Mata also talks about how the song, “Blinding Lights” was a main contributor to his successful music career. This song isn’t my favorite of his, but I do agree that “Blinding Lights” is a good song that helped give Abel his name in the industry. The article also talks about how Abel has won a total of four Grammys and six American Music Awards. This is really unfathomable to me because I only hear about awards when new artists win one, so having a total of ten awards in only two big award ceremonies is crazy to me. Finally, Mata mentions the song, “Creepin’” in which Abel features in. I first heard this song when my friend played it in the car with me. I automatically fell in love with it and after I got home I immediately went into all three of the singers’ Spotify profiles. Immediately, my favorite was The Weeknd. I really liked the sound of his voice and the style of his music. Overall, The Weeknd has made really impressive achievements and I also really enjoy his music.
Gabriel Martinez • Mar 1, 2023 at 9:47 am
On February 22, Joshua Mata wrote an article titled “Is there someone else that can stop the Weeknd”. The article talks about how The Weeknd is one of the most prominent artists out there. It came as a shock to me to find out he surpassed people like Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber in monthly listeners on spotify. From the beginning I knew that the Weeknd was famous but I had no clue he would be the number one artist on spotify. I find it interesting that he is the only non pop artist in the top 5, I guess pop music is widely celebrated. To find out that his song Blinding Lights stayed in the top 100 for 88 weeks, thats almost a whole 2 years. And it is kind of insane to think that this song has 3 Biliion streams. I think that his popularity spiked from this song but I can recall hearing music by the weeknd a few times before he released this song so he was already rising to the top before his most popular song. Also I believe he wont be stopping any time soon. He is only gaining more popularity as he holds the title for most listened to artist.
Angelika • Feb 28, 2023 at 12:54 pm
On February 22, Salma Mancilla wrote an article entitled “‘Is There Someone Else’ That Can Stop The Weeknd?” The article covers The Weeknd’s recent success and all of the encompassing factors that contributed to the fact. There are various songs and awards mentioned. The specificity was impressive, and shows the hardwork and dedication to the topic. I love The Weeknd, a lot. He is on repeat constantly, so seeing an article about him made me very excited. I am grateful for the coverage on one of the greatest artists of our time. Even though I love him and listen to him a lot, I was surprised to see that he has broken the record for most monthly listeners on Spotify. Passing artists like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, I am even more amazed at what The Weeknd can do. I thought I knew a lot about the artist, but this article has helped me learn more. The passages were very well organized and written. It presented the content in a sensical matter, and described the theme very well. The article wrote about a very interesting topic, and while it probably was not needed to get clicks, the words were written in a very interesting way, as well. I appreciate the representation of artists, and the knowledge that was provided from reading.