Cynthia Wilson
Journalist student. Art and music lover. Fan of writing by the pool while drinking iced-tea. + info
The Weeknd is known in the music industry as a multi-faceted artist. He is the singer, songwriter and producer of his own music that goes from Pop-music to Alternative-Blues. The ‘Blinding lights’ singer made it to the spotlight in 2010 through a series of songs he uploaded to YouTube under the name ‘The Weeknd’. Today, his net worth is around the $100 millions. How did he make it? Read below.
The Weeknd's first earnings
As an artist, he gained a lot of his fortune through music. It was a gradual process for Abel to be where he is now. The Weeknd first made worldwide recognition in 2010 with his studio records ‘What you need’, ‘The Morning’ and ‘Loft Music’. With the help of the producer Jeremy Rose, he learned about the R&B dark style he was going develop.
The real success came when he released ‘House of Balloons’, his first record album. He started gaining more and more recognition by being the opening act of Drake’s 2012 national tour ‘The Fall’. The Weeknd performed at Coachella Festival and finished with shows in New York. In September 2012, Abel signed with the acclaimed label Republic Records. His first certified platinum album by the RIIA was with his album ‘Trilogy’. ‘Trilogy’ was the first album to sell 1 million copies.
In 2013, fame and fortune continued growing with the album ‘Kiss Land’. The album made it to N.2 on Billboard 200 in the United States and sold 96.000 copies that week.
He set a new Guinness Record!
‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ came out in 2015 and made it to N.1 of US Billboard 200, selling 2 million copies around the world. The album also set a new Guinness World Record for the ‘Most streamed on Spotify in one year’ with 60 million listeners in just one month.
He didn’t stop there! The year after, Abel released the popular album ‘Starboy’. The single ‘Starboy’ continues to be the most streamed song of The Weeknd since 2016. However, with his next album in 2018 called ‘My Dear Melancholy’, The Weeknd sold only 245.000 copies.
His last album ‘After Hours’ released in 2020, contains the hit single ‘Blinding Lights’ which sold 5.7 million copies only in 2020. The song broke the record for the most weeks on number one Billboard’s all-format Radio songs with 19 weeks in the first position. Abel shadowed Goo Goo Dolls song ‘Iris’ that in 1998 set the mark on 18 consecutive weeks as the number one. Incredible!
He collaborates with companies
We can also say that his fortune don’t come only from his amazing music, but from his collaborations with several prestigious companies too. Even though music gave him this opportunity, Abel has been doing some great job as a collaborator to fashion and product designs.
He worked with the renowned Alexander Wang, H&M, Kidult and Puma. He has helped with the creation of Pax Labs customized vaporizers, ONE’s condoms and his own record label OX. His creativeness seems to be unstoppable!
Conclusion
Can you see how The Weeknd earned most of his fortune? The artist had set new records with his remarkable music. His style transcends barriers of culture, eras and languages. Now that you know more about The Weeknd, go check him on Spotify!