The Weeknd Sets New Record with Nearly 1M Pre-Adds of His New Album
The music industry may be facing tough times but amidst setbacks, one artist has still managed to set a new record. That honor is bestowed upon The Weeknd and label partner Republic Records. The team managed to break an all time record for pre-adds on Apple Music.
For those not in the know, pre-adds are basically the equivalent of pre-orders in Apple Music speak. As of March 19, the pre-adds for The Weeknd’s album totaled 975,000 coming very close to the million mark.
The album is called After Hours and it officially released today, March 20.
The Weeknd, aka Abel Makkonen Tesfaye is a Canadian singer songwriter and record producer. He rose to fame when he anonymously uploaded his songs on YouTube in 2010. The songs started getting mainstream recognition due to their dark-wave R&B style and the mystique surrounding the songwriter’s identity.
Since then, The Weeknd’s music has continued to grow in popularity. His previous album, Starboy, which was released in 2016, was a number one U.S. hit. He has accumulated 12bh streams in the U.S. to date and 10.4 equivalent album sales in the market.
Having the backing of Republic Records isn’t hurting the artist either. The company is known for signing artists that set streaming benchmarks such as Drake, Post Malone and Ariana Grande.
The pre-adds the Weeknd’s album received surpasses the previous record which was held by Billie Eilish for her Darkroom/Interscope release When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? which came out in April of 2019.
After Hours contains the single Heartless which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of last year. Another single, Blinding Lights was a number one hit in several countries around the world including the UK, Germany, France and Australia.
The album features many of the Weeknd’s longtime collaborators such as Martin, Metro Boomin, DaHeala and Illangelo but he also brings new blood into the mix with appearances by electronic musician Oneohotrix Point Never, Oscar Holter (of Taylor Swift and Tove Lo fame), Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, producer Frank Dukes and Ricky Reed.
The album is being described as featuring heavy synthesizers and electronic beats that contrast with the singer’s angelic voice. It starts off soft but then explodes with drum and bass percussion.
Lyrically, the album tells the story of the singer’s life. It tells tales of his growing up without much to his triumphant success as a singer. But it all ends on a sad note with the track, Until I Bleed Out.
The Weeknd brings something unique to the world of music and it’s important that his talent is being recognized during this difficult time. We wish the artist success in his ongoing career.
