The year he turned 21, he released the mixtape House of Balloons and made his stage debut in Toronto. The year he turned 22, he played Coachella and released Trilogy, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The year he turned 23, Kiss Land debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and he opened dates on Justin Timberlake’s tour. The year he turned 24, “Love Me Harder,” a duet with Ariana Grande, reached No. 7 on the Hot 100.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 25, “Can’t Feel My Face” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first No. 1 on the chart.
The year he turned 26, he won two Grammy Awards and released Starboy, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The year he turned 27, “Starboy” spent a week at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The year he turned 28, he released a surprise album that debuted at No. 1 and headlined Coachella for the first time. The year he turned 29, “Heartless” became his fourth No. 1 on the Hot 100.
The year he turned 30, After Hours debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and “Blinding Lights” reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. The year he turned 31, he played the Super Bowl halftime show, and “Blinding Lights” spent a record 88th week on the Hot 100.
The year he turned 32, Dawn FM debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and placed 24 songs on the Global 200 in one week. The year he turned 33, he became the first artist with 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The year he turned 34, “Timeless” with Playboi Carti opened at No. 3 on the Hot 100.
The year he turned 35, Hurry Up Tomorrow became his fifth No. 1 album and the After Hours Til Dawn tour passed $1 billion. The year he turned 36, Billboard reported the tour’s biggest month yet, $124.4 million in July.
The Weeknd released his debut mixtape in 2011, the year he turned 21, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time on Aug 10, 2015, the year he turned 25.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.
Released House of Balloons, a nine-song mixtape, as his debut project. Drake linked to the Weeknd’s website from the OVO blog that month.
Source 01 · Vulture · House of Balloons reissue · opens in a new tabSource 02 · Complex · Everything we know before he blew up · opens in a new tabVariety reported that his stage debut was at a small Toronto club with Drake in attendance, followed a week later by an opening slot at an amphitheater show. The 21-year-old was also shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize that year.
Source 03 · Variety · Great days for Weeknd · opens in a new tab Variety gives the month as July and the shortlist in its Sept. 17 report.Released Thursday, his second mixtape, with Drake as a guest.
Source 04 · Complex · Thursday capsule collection · opens in a new tabPlayed Coachella for the first time, performing songs from House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence.
Source 05 · Pitchfork · Watch the Weeknd’s entire Coachella set · opens in a new tabReleased Trilogy, which collects the three 2011 mixtapes and was his first release on Republic. It debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 dated Dec. 1, 2012, with 86,000.
Source 06 · Billboard · Talking samples and touring for Trilogy · opens in a new tabSource 07 · Billboard · Keith Urban edges the Weeknd for No. 1 · opens in a new tab Date from Billboard’s Nov. 12, 2012 report that the album arrives Nov. 13.Released Kiss Land, his first full-length studio album. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 95,000, fewer than 3,000 behind Keith Urban’s Fuse.
Source 07 · Billboard · Keith Urban edges the Weeknd for No. 1 · opens in a new tab Billboard gives the sales week ending Sept. 15; the release day is not given.Announced that he would open six dates of Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience tour, starting Nov. 6 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Source 08 · Billboard · Weeknd to open for Justin Timberlake · opens in a new tabThe duet reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The New York Times wrote that until then he had been a cult act with almost no mainstream profile.
Source 11 · Billboard · Weeknd tops Hot 100 with “Can’t Feel My Face” · opens in a new tabSource 09 · The New York Times Magazine · Can the Weeknd become the biggest pop star · opens in a new tab Billboard’s Aug. 10, 2015 report says the song reached No. 7 in November, among three top 10s all in the past year.Debuted the single “The Hills,” which he had first performed at SXSW earlier that year. It reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October 2015 and stayed six weeks.
Source 10 · Vulture · The Weeknd debuts “The Hills” · opens in a new tabSource 17 · Billboard · Heartless hits No. 1 on the Hot 100 · opens in a new tabSource 13 · Rolling Stone · Inside the Weeknd’s dark twisted fantasy · opens in a new tabThe song rose from No. 2 to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first No. 1 on the chart. It replaced OMI’s “Cheerleader” after four weeks.
The album, released Aug. 28, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 412,000 equivalent album units, the second-biggest debut of 2015.
Source 12 · Billboard · Beauty Behind the Madness debuts at No. 1 · opens in a new tabSource 15 · Complex · The Weeknd now holds two Guinness World Records · opens in a new tabWon Best R&B Performance for “Earned It” and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Beauty Behind the Madness at the 58th Grammy Awards.
Source 14 · People · Grammys 2016, the Weeknd wins two awards · opens in a new tabComplex reported that the Guinness World Records 2017 edition lists Beauty Behind the Madness as the most streamed album on Spotify in one year by current listeners, and credits him with 45 consecutive weeks in the Hot 100 top 10, the most by a solo male artist.
Source 15 · Complex · The Weeknd now holds two Guinness World Records · opens in a new tabReleased Starboy, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 348,000 units, the third-largest debut of 2016.
Source 16 · Billboard · Starboy bows at No. 1 · opens in a new tabThe title track, featuring Daft Punk, led the Hot 100 for one week.
Source 17 · Billboard · Heartless hits No. 1 on the Hot 100 · opens in a new tab Billboard’s Dec. 2019 report gives the month and the one-week run.Released the surprise six-song album My Dear Melancholy, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 169,000 units, his third consecutive No. 1 album.
Source 18 · Billboard · My Dear Melancholy is his third No. 1 album · opens in a new tabPlayed the headline slot at Coachella for the first time, on Friday, April 13.
Source 19 · Billboard · Weeknd headlines Coachella · opens in a new tabThe song moved from No. 32 to No. 1 in its second week on the chart, his fourth No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Source 17 · Billboard · Heartless hits No. 1 on the Hot 100 · opens in a new tabReleased After Hours, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 444,000 units, the year’s biggest week for any album at that point.
Source 20 · Billboard · After Hours debuts at No. 1 · opens in a new tab Released March 20; chart report dated March 29.The song rose from No. 2 to No. 1 on the Hot 100, his fifth No. 1 on the chart.
Source 21 · Billboard · Blinding Lights hits No. 1 · opens in a new tabDonated $500,000 CAD to the network’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund, from sales of his XO face masks.
Source 22 · Scarborough Health Network · The Weeknd donates $500,000 · opens in a new tabPerformed the Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa. Billboard reported that his U.S. streams rose 41% and music sales 385% afterward.
Source 23 · Billboard · Streams up 41% after Super Bowl halftime show · opens in a new tabSource 24 · Billboard · Sales up 385% after Super Bowl halftime show · opens in a new tabThe song passed “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons, which had spent 87 weeks on the chart.
Source 25 · Billboard · Blinding Lights spends record 88th week · opens in a new tabBillboard named “Blinding Lights” No. 1 on its Greatest Songs of All Time Hot 100 chart.
Source 26 · Billboard · The new No. 1 song of all time · opens in a new tabReleased Dawn FM, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 148,000 units. It put 24 of his songs on the Global 200 in one week, the most for a solo male performer.
Source 27 · Pitchfork · Dawn FM out this week · opens in a new tabSource 28 · Complex · Billboard Global 200 record with Dawn FM · opens in a new tabSpotify said he became the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners.
Source 29 · Billboard · First artist to hit 100 million monthly Spotify listeners · opens in a new tabThe song went to No. 1 on the Hot 100 after Ariana Grande joined him on a remix.
Source 30 · Billboard · Die for You leaps to No. 1 · opens in a new tabThe HBO series The Idol, created by Sam Levinson and Tesfaye, premiered at Cannes. Variety described it as the first TV show to officially debut there, ahead of its June 4 HBO premiere.
Source 31 · Variety · The Idol at Cannes · opens in a new tabThe song opened at No. 3 on the Hot 100, his highest career debut and 19th top 10 entry, according to Billboard figures reported by Hypebeast.
Source 32 · Hypebeast · “Timeless” debuts at No. 3 · opens in a new tabReleased Hurry Up Tomorrow via XO and Republic. Billboard described it as the end of his final trilogy.
Source 33 · Billboard · Hurry Up Tomorrow album out · opens in a new tabThe album became his fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 490,500 equivalent album units in the week ending Feb. 6.
Source 34 · Billboard · Fifth No. 1 album with Hurry Up Tomorrow · opens in a new tabThe film Hurry Up Tomorrow, directed by Trey Edward Shults and starring him with Jenna Ortega, opened in theaters, Deadline reported.
Source 35 · Deadline · Final Destination Bloodlines, Hurry Up Tomorrow Sunday box office · opens in a new tab Opening Friday from Deadline’s Sunday, May 18, 2025 report on its Friday/previews gross.Variety reported that the tour, which began in 2022, had grossed more than $1 billion and sold over 7.5 million tickets, the top-earning tour by a male solo artist.
Source 36 · Variety · After Hours Til Dawn tour passes $1 billion · opens in a new tabComplex reported that he became the first artist with 30 songs above one billion streams on Spotify.
Source 37 · Complex · First artist with 30 songs at 1 billion Spotify streams · opens in a new tabBillboard Boxscore reported that the tour grossed $124.4 million and sold 892,000 tickets across 16 shows in July, its biggest monthly take yet.
Source 38 · Billboard · Weeknd leads record-breaking monthly Boxscore report · opens in a new tabEND OF SELECTED RECORDSSelected records, 2011–2026 · not a complete list of work. “Key moment” is an editorial label, not a measure of success.
What did they do, and at what age?
AgeTrail lines up the key moments of a life by age.
Debut and breakthrough are marked separately, and every record has a source.
Music · Canada
Feb 16, 1990 —
Ages are counted from the birth year 1990: the year of the event minus 1990, birthdays aside. “Key moment” labels and the connecting story are AgeTrail's editorial reading.
Fact-checked: 2026.09.30 · An independent archive, not affiliated with the person or their agency.