BIGGEST DEBUT EVER FOR A WESTERN MALE ARTIST ON QQ MUSIC
BIGGEST FIRST DAY FOR A SINGLE BY AN INTERNATIONAL MALE ARTIST + FIRST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST IN 5 YEARS TO REACH #1 ACROSS ALL THREE MAJOR NETEASE CHARTS (HOT SONG CHART, SURGING CHART, AND NEW MUSIC CHART)
UNPRECEDENTED IMPACT FOLLOWS THE LIVE PREMIERE OF THE HIT “HONG KONG” ON HIS AFTER HOURS TIL DAWN TOUR SETS THE RECORD AS THE HIGHEST-GROSSING TOUR BY A MALE ARTIST IN HISTORY SURPASSING $1.3 BILLION
APPROVED PHOTOS (FREE OF USE) HERE
HONG KONG PHOTOS HERE. CREDIT – SEBASTIEN NAGY
THE WEEKND HONG KONG LIVE VIDEO HERE – Credit: Evan Larsen
APPROVED VIDEO (FREE OF USE) HERE – Credit: Evan Larsen
APPROVED PORTRAITS HERE – Credit: Hyghly Alleyne
12 NOVEMBER 2026 (TORONTO, ON) – The Weeknd is making history across China. The diamond-certified global superstar’s “Hong Kong,” featuring Cantopop icon Faye Wong with cover art shot by Christopher Doyle, has set records across the country’s leading music streaming platforms since its surprise release on October 31. The song made its live debut on October 24, opening The Weeknd’s four-show run at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong.
The Weeknd has also just released a music video for “Hong Kong”. Directed by Evan Larsen, the video stars Chinese supermodel Ming Xi and was shot across Mong Kokand and Hong Kong Island. Watch it HERE
The single has already broken multiple records across China’s major music streaming platforms. On NetEase Cloud Music, it achieved the biggest first-day debut for a non-Mandarin song in the past five years across streams, likes, saves, comments and shares, while making The Weeknd the first international artist in five years to reach No. 1 on all three major charts (Hot Song, Surging and New Music) on release day. On QQ Music, the track earned the biggest debut ever for a Western male artist across streams, saves, comments and shares, and made The Weeknd the first Western artist in 2026 to top all three major charts on release day.
The Weeknd concludes the Asia dates of his After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour after 176 shows across 67 cities, 30 countries and five continents. The record-breaking tour sold more than 9 million tickets, grossed over $1.3 billion and became the highest-grossing tour by a male artist in history. He has also donated $8.5 million to the XO Humanitarian Fund and Global Citizen, supporting hunger relief and children’s education worldwide.
ABOUT THE WEEKND:
The Weeknd is a multi-platinum, 7x Diamond-certified artist who reshaped R&B and pop, making him one of the most listened-to, most compelling, and significant artists of the 21st century with 115 million monthly Spotify listeners and the first artist to have 31 songs each with over a billion streams. His After Hours Til Dawn tour is the most successful tour in history for a male artist and has surpassed $1.3 billion in ticket sales upon its four year completion in 2026. Named “The Most Popular Artist in the World” by Guinness World Records in 2023, his album After Hours is the most streamed R&B album of all time, while “Blinding Lights” is the Diamond-certified Billboard Hot 100 song of all time. In January 2025, he released Hurry Up Tomorrow, the final and most personal chapter in his acclaimed trilogy following After Hours (2020) and Dawn FM (2022).
Alongside impressive music stats, he’s Emmy and Oscar nominated and has graced the covers of TIME, Vanity Fair, W, Forbes, Variety, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, and GQ. His television performances include SNL, the 2020 Super Bowl, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, the MTV VMAs, the Grammys, and the AMAs. In 2022, he launched his first of three menacing mazes at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights.
Global Ambassador for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) and named Humanitarian of the Year by BMAC, he has donated over $12.6 million to various charities from 2020 to now. This includes $2 million to support WFP’s emergency food and nutrition assistance in the most food-insecure regions of Ethiopia and $4.5 million to help WFP provide over 18 million loaves of bread to feed families in Gaza through the XO Humanitarian Fund.
His continuous record-breaking charts, sales, and streams, headlining the biggest festivals and selling out stadiums globally, including the 2020 Super Bowl, along with his mysterious public persona, solidify The Weeknd as one of the most compelling and significant artists of the 21st century.
