The Weeknd has been declared the most popular musician on the planet, according to statistics collected by Guinness World Records.
Apparently, The Weeknd blew all the competition away. Guinness said that “no one else even comes close.” He has 111.4 million monthly listeners as of March 20. This achievement has gotten him two Guinness World Record titles: Most monthly listeners on Spotify, and first artist to reach 100 million listeners on Spotify.
The next closest artist is Miley Cyrus, at 82.4 million monthly listeners — almost 30 million behind The Weeknd.
Behind Cyrus are Shakira (81.6 million), Ariana Grande (80.6 million), Taylor Swift (80.2 million), Rihanna (78.5 million) and Ed Sheeran (77.5 million).
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, recently released a remix of his 2016 song “Die For You,” recorded with frequent collaborator Ariana Grande, which shot up the Hot 100 charts after it came out Feb. 24. It has also seen a resurgence in popularity on TikTok.
You can listen to the remix below.
The Weeknd previously received Guinness World Records in 2016 for the most streamed Spotify album (“Beauty Behind the Madness,” with its uber-popular single “Can’t Feel My Face,” which was listened to by 60 million people in one year) and most consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 solo male artist list.
The artist first came into the public eye in 2011 when he published songs on YouTube with very little information attached. As the buzz grew, The Weeknd’s identity was revealed, he played Coachella for the first time in 2012, and more tracks rose in popularity before his song “Earned It,” was featured in the “50 Shades of Grey” movie in 2015. His star only rose from there.
Tesfaye, 33, is from Ontario, Canada, where his Ethiopian immigrant parents moved before he was born. He grew up speaking Amharic and English and also went to a French immersion school. He originally thought he’d like to go to film school before pursuing music.
His music has been influential ever since his first moody mixed tapes came out — and clearly, The Weeknd is not done making waves.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
