Abel Tesfaye (born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye; February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Regarded as an influential figure in popular music, he is known for his light-lyric tenor vocal range and falsetto, alternative R&B sound, and dark aesthetics, as well as the cinematic visuals and storytelling of his music videos. His accolades include 4 Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 Juno Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Awards, and a Latin Grammy Award.
Tesfaye began releasing music anonymously in 2009. After co-founding the record label XO, he released three mixtapes—House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence—in 2011. He signed with Republic Records to compile the mixtapes into the compilation album Trilogy (2012), before releasing his debut studio album, Kiss Land (2013). Following collaborations and film soundtrack contributions from 2013 and 2014, Tesfaye blended alternative R&B with pop on his second and third studio albums, Beauty Behind the Madness (2015) and Starboy (2016); both debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Can't Feel My Face", "The Hills", "Starboy", and "Die for You". His debut extended play (EP), My Dear Melancholy (2018), featured the US top-ten single "Call Out My Name".
Tesfaye began an album trilogy based on three time points, starting with the dream pop– and new wave–inspired album After Hours (2020), which spawned the chart-topping singles "Heartless" and "Save Your Tears", as well as "Blinding Lights"—the best-performing song in the Billboard Hot 100's history and the most-streamed song on Spotify. The trilogy's latter two installments, Dawn FM (2022) and Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025), featured the US top-ten singles, "Take My Breath" and "Timeless".
Tesfaye is one of the best-selling and most-streamed artists of all time. He has amassed eight diamond-certified singles from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The first artist to ever surpass 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify and the highest-paid musician in 2025, he ranked among the world's 100 most influential people by Time in 2020. His After Hours til Dawn Tour (2022–2026) set the record for the highest-grossing tour by a male soloist in history. Tesfaye also co-created and starred in the HBO drama series The Idol (2023), and the film Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025). His other ventures include hosting the Apple Music 1 radio show Memento Mori (2018–2022), being appointed goodwill ambassador for the World Food Programme in 2021, and advocacy for racial equality and food security.
Abel Tesfaye (born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) was born on February 16, 1990, in a city in Ontario, variously reported to be Toronto, or Scarborough. The only child of Ethiopian immigrants Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu, who separated shortly after his birth; he was raised in the suburb of Scarborough by his mother and grandmother. During his childhood, his mother worked several jobs, including in nursing and catering, while attending night school. Tesfaye's patronymic is spelled "Makkonen" instead of the traditional Ethiopian name "Makonnen". The similarity with the Finnish surname Makkonen is pure coincidence. The spelling of Tesfaye's patronymic might be the result of a typographic error or a new form of the traditional name. In 2024, he legally removed his middle name. Tesfaye grew up speaking Amharic, and is also fluent in French, as he attended a French immersion school. He was further educated at West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute.
At seventeen, Tesfaye dropped out of school and relocated to an apartment in the neighbourhood of Parkdale with two friends, one of whom was La Mar Taylor—his best friend and now creative director. They lived a hedonistic lifestyle, and paid their $850 monthly rent using welfare checks. Later, Tesfaye earned money by selling cannabis and folding clothes at an American Apparel store in downtown Toronto, where his coworkers played his early music without realizing it was his. He also experienced homelessness and was incarcerated on several occasions during this time, which encouraged him to "smarten up, to focus". Tesfaye frequently engaged in drug use, including substances such as ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, magic mushrooms, and cough syrup, stating that drugs were a "crutch" for him when he wrote music. He adopted his stage name because he moved to Parkdale on a weekend; he removed the last 'e' in 'weekend' to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian pop rock band the Weekend. Before releasing music under his current stage name, he went under the alias "Kin Kane", as part of a hip-hop duo called "Bulleez n Nerdz", and was part of a production team called 'the Noise'.
2009–2014: Trilogy and Kiss Land
In August 2009, Tesfaye began anonymously releasing music on YouTube. The following year, he met the producer Jeremy Rose at a party. Rose asked Tesfaye if he wanted to work together as a dark R&B project after hearing him freestyle over an instrumental. After creating multiple songs and parting ways due to creative differences, Tesfaye was allowed to use the songs they made together under the condition that Rose received production credits. In December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded "What You Need", "Loft Music" and "The Morning" to YouTube under the username "xoxxxoooxo". His identity remained undisclosed initially. These songs gained attention online and were later acknowledged in a blog post by the rapper Drake. The songs subsequently received coverage from various media outlets, including Pitchfork and The New York Times.
In 2011, Tesfaye met music executives Wassim "Sal" Slaiby and Amir "Cash" Esmailian, with whom, along with Taylor, he founded the XO record label; earlier in 2009, Tesfaye and Taylor, along with friend and later photographer and collaborator Hyghly Alleyne formed a multimedia collective, She's So Lovely via Tumblr. On March 21, Tesfaye released his debut mixtape, House of Balloons, which featured production from Illangelo and Doc McKinney. The mixtape also included tracks produced by Rose, although he did not receive production credits. House of Balloons was named as one of the ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. Tesfaye started working with Drake in May, eventually earning a spot at the latter's OVO Fest on July 31. That month, Tesfaye held his first live performance at The Mod Club in Toronto, which received media attention for Drake being in attendance. He also participated in concerts hosted by the Black Student Association at the University of Toronto. In summer 2011, he also received media attention in the United States when his song "High For This" was featured in an ad campaign for the final season of HBO's "Entourage." On August 18, Tesfaye released his second mixtape, Thursday, which garnered usually positive reviews. Tesfaye contributed to four songs on Drake's second studio album, Take Care, released on November 15, as a songwriter, producer and a featured artist on the album's seventh single, "Crew Love". He released his third mixtape, Echoes of Silence, on December 21. It was a long-listed nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize.
In April 2012, Tesfaye began performing at more shows, such as the Coachella Festival, and two sold-out shows at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. He also performed at various European festivals, such as Primavera Sound in Spain and Portugal and the Wireless Festival in the United Kingdom. In September, Tesfaye signed with Republic Records; XO was assumed as a subsidiary label. That same month, he embarked on his first concert tour, the Fall Tour, which included his own headlining shows and some opening shows for the English band Florence and the Machine. The tour was performed in North America in September to November. On November 13, Tesfaye released Trilogy, a compilation album comprising re-mixed and remastered versions of his 2011 mixtapes, and three additional tracks. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies, and has received platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and double-platinum from Music Canada. It also earned Tesfaye a nomination for the Sound of 2013 poll award by BBC.