The Weeknd

Abel Tesfaye known by his stage name The Weeknd, is a Canadian PBR&B singer, songwriter and record producer. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name "The Weeknd". He released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011: House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed. The following year, he released a compilation album Trilogy, consisting of remastered versions of the mixtape material and three additional songs. It was released under Republic Records and his own label XO. In 2013, he released his debut studio album Kiss Land, which was supported by the singles "Kiss Land" and "Live For".

The Weeknd has received praise from several music publications, including Pitchfork, MTV, BET, Rolling Stone, XXL and The Source.

On May 27, 2015, The Weeknd released a music video for a new song "The Hills". The song was later released as a digital download as the first single from The Weeknd's second studio album dubbed, "Chapter III". "The Hills" debuted at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the week's "Hot Shot" debut; it later reached number 10. In addition to the single's official release, a further three songs were leaked online in the corresponding days. On June 8, "Can't Feel My Face", one of the leaked tracks, was officially released as a second single following a performance of the song by The Weeknd at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on the same day. The song debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached number 2 on the Hot 100, making it his third top 10 hit and his highest peaking single to date. On July 4, The Weeknd headlined FVDED in the Park in Surrey, BC, Canada. On July 9, The Weeknd's second studio album, Beauty Behind the Madness, was announced for a release of August 28, 2015. The Weeknd continued to promote his 2015 album by headlining summer music festivals, including Lollapalooza in Chicago, the Hard Summer Music Festival in Pomona, the Summer Set Music and Camping Festival in Somerset, Philadelphia's Made in America Festival, Austin City Limits in Austin, and Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival.

In Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart for the week of July 25, 2015, The Weeknd held down all of the top three spots, with "Can't Feel My Face" at #1, "The Hills" at #2 and "Earned It" at #3. This made him the first artist in the history of that chart to earn this distinction.

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