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It may have been three years since The Weeknd last released an album, but that hasn’t put a dent in his popularity according to Spotify Wrapped 2024. The annual ranking of both global streaming trends and individual listening habits released its data today, including a list of the 10 most-streamed artists of the year — and Toronto’s own Abel Tesfaye almost topped the list, just behind (to no one’s surprise) Taylor Swift.
The artist popped up all over the Spotify Wrapped 2024 rankings, including his collaboration “One Of The Girls” with Jennie Kim and Lily-Rose Depp (a single from the much-talked about HBO show The Idol starring all three artists) taking spot number eight on the list of the 10 most-streamed songs of 2024.
Impressively, one of his albums also made the list of the 10 most-streamed albums of 2024 — but it wasn’t one of his more recent releases. Fans of The Weeknd clearly still have a soft spot for his 2016 album Starboy, as it squeaked in at number 10, after Fireworks & Rollerblades by Benson Boone and Lover by Taylor Swift.
His streaming numbers might be partially due to fans listening in anticipation of his upcoming album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, set to release Jan. 25, 2025. There’s plenty of fanfare building up to the release, thanks to his upcoming one-night-only Rose Bowl concert to celebrate the new album that sold out in under an hour, as well as a film by the same name starring Tesfaye alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan that’s in the works. The release date for the movie hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s set to have a worldwide theatrical release via Lionsgate.
The Weeknd also broke a Spotify record in November, becoming the artist with the most songs on the music streaming app with over 1 billion streams — surpassing Drake. The fellow Toronto artist was the only other Canadian singer to make the list of the most-streamed artists, coming in at number four behind Bad Bunny.
But Tesfaye is no stranger to breaking records — last year, Streets of Toronto reported that The Weeknd was named the most popular artist in the world by Guinness World Records.
Once he releases his new album in the new year, we can only guess that those streaming numbers will continue to skyrocket!
