The Weeknd breaks Guinness World Record for most popular artist

The Weeknd
The Weeknd
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It’s shaping up to be a good year for The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye). Just three months into 2023 and the “Blinding Lights” crooner is already set to star as the lead in an upcoming HBO drama series. But that’s not it; the Canadian-born superstar just broke a Guinness World Record.

According to the outlet, The Weeknd is officially the world’s most popular artist. Guinness shared the news yesterday (March 20). The famed record-keeping publication chalks the results up to statistics, noting the “Earned It” hitmaker has the most monthly listeners on Spotify at 111.4 million fans as of yesterday. He also broke a second record — becoming the first musician to surpass 100 million monthly listeners on the streaming service.

On social media, fans applauded his victory. “Ya [faves] could NEVER,” one person who included the feat shared on Twitter. Another user responded, “I don’t care for popularity usually [because] popular artists these days don’t [have] good music, but Abel having top-tier music AND being the most popular feels unreal.” Guinness added a list of other chart-topping artists that The Weeknd beat out in order to take the coveted spot. Shakira’s fanbase got her to 81.6 million, Ariana Grande is closely behind at 80.6 million, with an almost microscopic decrease is Taylor Swift with 80.2 million, and the 2023 Super Bowl halftime performer Rihanna brings in an impressive 78.5 million monthly listeners.

Ed Sheeran is the 33-year-old’s closest male runner-up, with 77.5 million fans tuned in per month. Guinness partially credit’s The Weeknd’s boost in streams to his recent “Die For You” remix featuring pop songstress Grande that went viral on TikTok. That’s not enough to have him sitting comfortably, though — over the weekend, he partnered with Metro Boomin, Diddy and 21 Savage to drop the “Creepin” (Remix) music video. The song is a remake of Mario Winans’ 2004 hit, “I Don’t Wanna Know.”

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