On Sunday, April 23, someone tweeted to The Weeknd, “ABEL NOTICE DAWN FM DON’T ACT LIKE IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.” He tweeted back, “What does this mean?”
Someone else chimed in with a tweet, “I feel like the Dawn FM era didn’t have its time to shine the way it deserved.”
“Really? I don’t know if I agree… maybe elaborate?” The Weeknd responded.
He also had worthy reactions to someone claiming “you hate Dawn FM” (“??? Not true! One of my favorites hands down”) and another person claiming he “did a little more for After Hours than what you did for Dawn FM”:
“It had the same amount of music video videos as After Hours,” The Weeknd tweeted separately to yet another person convinced they know how The Weeknd feels about his discography better than he does. “Maybe one less? A universe. Dawn FM experience short film, stadium tour(still going), live film and live album… I don’t think it needs more.. it’s perfect.”
It had same amount of music videos as after hours. Maybe one less? A universe. dawn fm experience short film, stadium tour(still going), live film and live album… i don’t think it needs more.. it’s perfect. https://t.co/dYqLXNhzJF
The argument is moot, really. The Weeknd began a new era on Friday, April 21, by releasing “Double Fantasy” featuring Future from the companion album to The Idol.
The Weeknd is one of music’s biggest names. His catalog is fairly extensive and includes a combination of studio albums and mixtapes. One way The Weeknd differs from other popular artists of the recent age is that most people see his mixtapes as regular albums. This speaks to the quality and diversity of the Canadian singer’s music. Some of his mixtapes even rank above the studio albums in the eyes and ears of many fans.
The Weeknd released his first studio album in 2013 with Kiss Land. This album followed three mixtapes, released from 2011 until 2012. Despite the earlier work, most of the world first gravitated to The Weeknd in 2015 when he signed with Republic Records. This year brought his album, Beauty Behind The Madness, which included the smash single Can’t Feel My Face. Currently, The Weeknd has five studio albums, multiple EPs and mixtapes, and soundtrack appearances. The latest is that his remix to Die For You with Ariana Grande debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March of this year.
Ranking The Weeknd’s albums can be difficult as the singer has an incredible music catalog. However, based on fan reactions and overall sales, these are the weekend’s best albums, and mixtapes ranked from worst to best. Here are The Weeknd’s best albums, ranked.
‘House Of Balloons’ From 2011
Though not one of his studio albums, many consider the 2011 mixtape House of Balloons the Weeknd’s best work. This collection of songs debuted before the Weeknd was who he is now. At the time, no one really knew the singer. In addition, this was a time when R&B was rediscovering its identity and needed something new. House of Balloons has been called an intense album. It details a drug-fueled bender between two lovers in a way many music fans had never heard before. The Weeknd’s House of Balloons is a must-listen for people who like experimental R&B. On the list of The Weeknd’s albums, ranked, this one is the best.
‘Thursday’ From 2011
Thursday came mere months from the release of House of Balloons. The album is often seen as a continuation. On it, he sings about pain and not wanting to succumb to the forces around him. The album involves themes of addiction, toxic love, and simply wanting to survive it all. Again, this was before people really knew The Weeknd, which means he had more room to be vulnerable.
‘After Hours’ From 2020
Critics believe After Hours to be The Weeknd’s first major studio album to fully capture the singer’s best. According to many, there are no skips on the album. In addition, it’s the perfect blend of his mixtape days and his more mainstream sound. Famously, the album had no featured artists and included the number 1 hit single, Heartless. Of course, After Hours also has Blinding Lights, which was inescapable. The song still holds up in the years since its release. The Weeknd’s After Hours is easily one of his best albums. This one could easily be ranked higher, but his overall catalog is impeccable.
‘Beauty Behind The Madness’ From 2015
For some, Beauty Behind The Madness was their introduction to The Weeknd. He had gained a following up until now, but this album catapulted him into superstardom. The Weeknd started the album rollout with the song Often as the lead single. After this came hits like The Hills and Can’t Feel My Face. It was the ladder that had worldwide appeal and really took off. This wasn’t only a hit for the day. Instead, it’s still a song that people go back to. Despite the subject matter of Can’t Feel My Face, the song even won a Kid’s Choice Award.
‘Dawn FM’ From 2022
It’s rare for artists to release multiple albums in a year. However, The Weeknd started working on Dawn FM in the early days of the pandemic. He wanted to provide the world with music that reminded people of going outside. In many ways, the album was intended to be an escape from the harsh realities of being in quarantine. However, it’s also a concept album that tells a deep story about going to the afterlife. Though not his best, Dawn FM is a solid body of work that came during depressing times.
‘Starboy’ From 2016
Starboy has a lot of fans, but it’s also not a favorite album by most of his R&B lovers. With this body of work, he continued to show that he’s an artist who likes to cast a broad net. It’s mostly pop. Some would probably say it’s his poppiest album. Not only that, it’s the one from The Weeknd’s catalog that has the most comparison to The King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Starboy may not have produced the biggest hits from his career, but it’s still an album every fan of The Weeknd should listen to. This is especially true of people who want to gain insight into the mysterious singer through his lyrics.
‘My Dear Melancholy’ From 2018
My Dear Melancholy is the 2018 EP from The Weeknd. While a solid body of work, many see it as more of a shortened rehash of his first mixtape. Because of this, many have disregarded it since they could simply listen to the original tape. It has fan-favorite songs such as Wasted Times and Hurt You, but it’s really not one of his more popular works, nor is it his best. Of course, most forgive this because he produced some of his best work after. Still, it’s an album that could shift places in a ranking of The Weeknd’s albums.
‘Echoes of Silence’ From 2011
Echoes of Silence is the last of The Weeknd’s pre-fame mixtapes. It continues his legacy of being music’s experimental sad boy. In addition, he makes references to Michael Jackson that really show his versatility as an artist. Though lower on the list than most of his studio albums, this mixtape is essential listening for the Weeknd fans and casual listeners alike. Standout tracks on Echoes of Silence include XO and Montreal.
‘Kiss Land’ From 2013
The Weeknd’s first studio album was Kiss Land. He described the album as similar to his trilogy of mixtapes but set in different places. On the trilogy, he was mostly confined to one room regarding the themes of the songs. However, despite still being a contemplative album, this one is a bit more friendly to general listeners. On the ranking of The Weeknd’s best albums, Kiss Land comes in last. All of The Weeknd’s albums and mixtapes are well-received, but an artist’s debut studio album is always special.
At the end of February, HBO released The Weeknd: Live at SoFi Stadium. The special was a look inside of the sold-out concert that intimately showcased The Weeknd’s most adored hits over his career. Following the performance, the 33-year-old artist released After Hours (Live at SoFi Stadium), which marks his first live album effort. The project curates 31 tracks from his five studio albums, presenting them in the raw manner that only in-person performances can exude.
Hopping from Starboy to After Hours, and even to Dawn FM, Live at SoFi Stadium reveals just how many hits this acclaimed artist has brought to life over the years. Beauty Behind The Madness, which was the Canadian’s second studio project, recently just earned the remarkable achievement of being the first album in history with three diamond singles. With four Grammy awards to his name, and dozens of other recognitions (including six AMA wins), The Weeknd has boasted a celebratory career since he first started secretly releasing YouTube videos of his music.
The Weeknd’s “Live At SoFi Stadium” Walks Listeners Through His Career
Next on the list of his upcoming projects is his series creation debut with The Idol. The Idol, which stars Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd himself, was recently met with controversial opinions. However, this hasn’t stopped the award-winning artist from expanding into the screen world. The Weeknd is also credited as a writer in the upcoming Trey Edward Shults movie starring Jenny Ortega and Barry Keoghan.
Although Live at SoFi Stadium is a compilation of The Weeknd’s previous songs, he has hinted at more music coming in the future. When asked in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year if he has been working on new tracks, he responded, “I’ve definitely been inspired. I’ve been in the studio.” For more news related to hip-hop and pop culture, don’t skip out on HNHH.
The top ranks of Spotify’s most-streamed songs of all time don’t change too often. The last time we got a new song at No. 1 was in September 2017, when Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” passed Drake’s “One Dance” to become the new champion. Sheeran’s hit had about 1.3 billion plays at the time and since then, it became the first song to pass 2 and 3 billion streams on the platform.
Meanwhile, The Weeknd released “Blinding Lights” in November 2019 and it has been making its way up the list since then. Now, it has found the very top: On the evening of December 31, 2022, Chart Data noted that “Blinding Lights” had passed “Shape Of You” to become the most-streamed song in Spotify history. As of this morning (January 2), “Blinding Lights” has 3,332,163,962 streams and “Shape Of You” has 3,332,016,196.
.@theweeknd‘s “Blinding Lights” is now the #1 most streamed song in Spotify history, surpassing @edsheeran‘s “Shape of You” (3.332 billion).
As for other songs that perhaps have a shot at someday taking over No. 1, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” is the most-played 2020 song with about 2.2 billion streams, The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” is the top 2021 hit with 2.3 billion, and Harry Styles’ “As It Was” is currently the only 2022 song in the all-time top 100, with 1.7 billion.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The pandemic made it so The Weeknd couldn’t tour behind 2020’s After Hours immediately following its release, but he didn’t want that to stop him from putting out another album. He ended up doing just that, dropping Dawn FM earlier this year. That didn’t put an After Hours tour to rest, though. Instead, The Weeknd is supporting both albums on his ongoing After Hours Til Dawn tour.
The trek kicked off in mid-July and so far, The Weeknd has six shows under his belt (as of August 4). At those concerts, what songs has he been performing most?
The answer right now is all of them, according to data from Setlist.fm, the most comprehensive resource for concert setlists available online; For each show, he’s had the exact same 29-song setlist, which makes sense given how early into the tour he is.
Setlist.fm also has an “average setlist” for the After Hours Til Dawn tour, which is based on setlists from previous shows, so it’s an indication of how an upcoming The Weeknd show might be structured. This one was probably pretty easy to figure out.
As for album-by-album representation on the setlist, Dawn FM has the most songs included, followed closely by After Hours. Then, it’s Starboy, Beauty Behind The Madness, House Of Balloons, My Dear Melancholy, and Kiss Land. If all the “covers” (songs The Weeknd performs on but isn’t the primary artist of on the album version) were considered an album, they’d go after Starboy in the rankings and before Beauty.
Find The Weeknd’s most played songs on After Hours Til Dawn tour below, as well as the tour’s average setlist. Check out The Weeknd’s upcoming tour dates here.
T1. “After Hours” (6 performances for all songs)
T1. “Alone Again”
T1. “Blinding Lights”
T1. “Call Out My Name”
T1. “Can’t Feel My Face”
T1. “Crew Love” (Drake cover)
T1. “Die For You”
T1. “Faith”
T1. “Gasoline”
T1. “Heartless”
T1. “How Do I Make You Love Me?”
T1. “Hurricane” (Kanye West cover)
T1. “I Feel It Coming”
T1. “I Was Never There”
T1. “Is There Someone Else?”
T1. “Kiss Land”
T1. “Less Than Zero”
T1. “Low Life” (Future cover)
T1. “Often”
T1. “Or Nah” (Ty Dolla Sign cover)
T1. “Out Of Time”
T1. “Party Monster”
T1. “Sacrifice”
T1. “Save Your Tears”
T1. “Starboy”
T1. “Take My Breath”
T1. “The Hills”
T1. “The Morning”
T1. “Wicked Games”
“Alone Again”
“Gasoline”
“Sacrifice”
“How Do I Make You Love Me?”
“Can’t Feel My Face”
“Take My Breath”
“Hurricane” (Kanye West cover)
“The Hills”
“Often”
“Crew Love” (Drake cover)
“Starboy”
“Heartless”
“Low Life” (Future cover)
“Or Nah” (Ty Dolla Sign cover)
“Kiss Land”
“Party Monster”
“Faith”
“After Hours”
“Out Of Time”
“I Feel It Coming”
“Die For You”
“Is There Someone Else?”
“I Was Never There”
“Wicked Games”
“Call Out My Name”
“The Morning”
“Save Your Tears”
“Less Than Zero”
“Blinding Lights”
Fans of The Weeknd have described his earlier sounds as “haunted strip club music.” While this may be a fair assessment, the singer has announced he will be taking his music to the realm of haunted houses. Beginning this September, The Weeknd will launch “After Hours Nightmare,” a series of Universal Studios parks’ Halloween Horror Nights series.
The houses will take inspiration from The Weeknd’s After Hours album era and will be set to music from the album. According to a press release, visitors to either of the haunted houses at Universal Studios in Orlando or Universal Studios in Hollywood will be “stalked by slashers, bandaged maniacs, gruesome toad-like creatures and other unfathomable horrors from the mind of the artist.”
“I always wanted my own Halloween Horror Nights haunted house as Halloween has always been significant to my music, so this is a total dream come to life,” said The Weeknd in a statement. “I feel like my music videos have served as a launching pad for a collaboration like this, and I cannot wait for people to experience this madness!”
“After Hours Nightmare” kicks off September 2 at Universal Orlando Resort and September 8 at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Fans of The Weeknd have been waiting more than two years to see him on tour. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to wait a little bit longer. The long-anticipated “After Hours ‘Til Dawn Tour” was set to kick off at the Rogers Centre in Toronto tonight, however, due to an outage at Rogers Communications, the kickoff date has been postponed.
“We regret to announce that The Weeknd tour stop at Rogers Centre has been postponed due to service outages impacting venue operations,” read a tweet from the official account of the Toronto Blue Jays, who frequently play at Rogers Stadium. “A new show date will be shared ASAP and tickets will be honored. We understand how disappointing this is and apologize for the inconvenience.”
We regret to announce that The Weeknd tour stop at Rogers Centre has been postponed due to service outages impacting venue operations. A new show date will be shared ASAP and tickets will be honoured.
The outage has affected venue workers’ ability to scan tickets and maintain security. The Weeknd has since taken to social media to mourn the show’s postponement with fans.
“I’m crushed & heartbroken,” he said in an Instagram story. “Been at the venue all day but it’s out of our hands because of the Rogers outage. Operations and safety are compromised and I tried my absolute best. This one hurts the most, and we will make this show happen, but unfortunately not tonight. I know how long you’ve been waiting and how hard a lot of you worked to make it to the show to experience this special moment with me. I can’t wait to see you all.”
Just days before his hotly anticipated “After Hours ‘Til Dawn” tour is set to kick off, The Weeknd has announced new openers who will support him throughout the trek. Joining The Weeknd for the 19-date North America leg are Mike Dean, Snoh Aalegra, and Kaytranada, as reported by Variety.
Rapper and singer Doja Cat was originally set to open for The Weeknd on the tour. However, she is currently recovering from a tonsil surgery she underwent last month. The tour kicks off Friday, July 8 in Toronto, where Dean and Kaytranada will open. Dean will appear on all 19 dates of the North American leg. Aalegra’s will join them beginning August 11 at Mercedes Stadium in Atlanta.
“Unfortunately I have to have surgery on my tonsils ASAP. The surgery is routine but the recovery is going to take awhile due to swelling,” Doja said in a since-deleted Instagram post. “That means I have to cancel my festival run this summer as well as The Weeknd tour. I feel horrible about this but can’t wait for this to heal and get back to making music and create an experience for y’all.”
“The entire show is conceptual,” said The Weeknd’s creative director La Mar Taylor to Variety. “There is a linear story between After Hours and Dawn FM, and I think the audience will walk away with different interpretations of the show. To us, that’s the whole point.”
Whether that’s the case or not, Dawn FM is truly the gift that keeps on giving, and Abel seems ready to continue rolling out content and videos supporting the record for the next little while. Today, he took to Twitter to let fans know that his “Out Of Time” video would be coming early next week. “Just a heads up: out of time music video drops next Tuesday,” he posted this afternoon.
just a heads up: out of time music video drops next tuesday
Keep an eye out for more teasers, Abel’s been in a giving mood lately. Except when it comes to the Grammys of course — after some messiness around his performance at the award show and the Super Bowl created some kind of conflict, he’s now boycotting the show. Definitely their loss on that one.
In the piece, co-producer Max Martin notes of the song, “Abel came with the vision of what the song should be, which was a very different tempo and vibe than what is usually done. He took a risk, and that was very impressive to us. We all felt this song was very special even early on in the process.” The Weeknd then added, “GTA: Vice City really opened my eyes to a lot of ’80s music, so there was a nostalgia for when I was a kid playing video games and listening to Hall & Oates and Michael Jackson while driving through the city.”
The Grand Theft Auto games are well known for their soundtracks, which players experience through in-game radio stations. Vice City has nine stations and they all cycle through their own playlists of about 15 songs each (except for the one station that doesn’t play music). Since the game is set in 1986, all of the songs included are from that year or earlier. Hall & Oates has one song in the game, “Out Of Touch,” while Jackson has two: “Billie Jean” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”
