The Weeknd has just broken the record for the most streams within a 24-hour period on Spotify, according to the world's most popular streaming service. The pop star has surpassed the previous record - achieved by Justin Bieber in 2015 - and his just-released Starboy album is set to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
The Weeknd Breaks Streaming Record
The Weeknd is certainly on a roll. Last month, the R&B pop star shot to the top of the U.S. Spotify weekly streaming charts with the first single off his then-upcoming album of the same name, "Starboy." The song managed to do what no other track could achieve for months, which was topple The Chainsmokers' massive worldwide smash "Closer," which had held the top position for 10 weeks, slaughtering all contenders.
Now that The Weeknd has released the Starboy album, he is lining up for a whole new list of accolades. Spotify has just reported that upon the album's release on Friday Nov. 25, The Weeknd broke the record for the largest amount of streams in one day on the streaming service.
The previous record was held by Justin Bieber, who received more than 36 million plays when his Purpose album was released on Nov. 13, 2015. The exact number of streams that The Weekend amassed on his record-breaking Black Friday debut has not yet been revealed.
"Spotify's continued support of The Weeknd has now reached historic proportions and also reinforces the tremendous growth of global streaming," announced Monte Lipman, Republic Records chairman and cofounder.
Spotify Global Head of Creator Services Troy Carter seconded the sentiment: "We're proud to have partnered with The Weeknd, his management and Republic Records on a phenomenal album."
Starboy Set To Top Album Charts
Meanwhile, the Starboy album is also on track to hit the top of the Billboard album charts when the full chart is revealed on Dec. 4. The record is poised to achieve sales of at least 350,000 album equivalent units in Billboard's measurement system, which includes the aforementioned Spotify streams. That puts The Weeknd in line for the third largest album debut of the year, which is still well behind Drake's Views, which sold 1.04 million units and Beyoncé's Lemonade, with 653,000 units.
One chart that The Weeknd has not been able to top yet with his new music has been Billboard's Hot 100, which measures sales and radio airplay in addition to streams.
Despite achieving No. 1 on the U.S. Spotify streaming chart, The Weeknd's "Starboy" single was held to the No. 2 spot on Billboard by The Chainsmokers' "Closer," which now sits at No. 2 behind chart-topper Rae Sremmurd's Mannequin Challenge theme "Black Beatles," with "Starboy" ranking third.
Whether the streaming surge induced by the album's release could belatedly lift the song to the top remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the music from The Weeknd's new Starboy album will remain a presence at the top of the charts for a long time to come.
