The Weeknd Sets New $1.3 Billion Touring Record, Passes Elton John

The Weeknd has set yet another colossal record, earning the highest-grossing tour of all time by a solo male artist.

On Thursday (November 5), the Canadian superstar played the final night of his After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour in Kuala Lumpur. In a press. release, Live Nation confirmed a final gross of more than $1.3 billion, with the tour selling over nine million tickets across 176 shows in 67 cities, 30 countries and five continents.

That total clears the previous benchmark set by Elton John, whose Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour grossed more than $939 million. The Weeknd's run also ranks third on the all-time list, behind only Taylor Swift's Eras Tour at over $2 billion and Coldplay's Music of the Spheres at over $1.5 billion.

Show No. 176 at TM Stadium Nasional was the second of two Kuala Lumpur nights. It closed a run that began at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on July 14, 2022.

The tour also piled up venue records. He became the first act to fill Stade de France six times on one tour. He played seven shows at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium, records for both performances and gross by a male artist, and six nights at Toronto's Rogers Centre, the most ever for a male solo act on one tour.

The fall swing through Asia was the tour's first visit to the region. It was announced in May with 11 dates and grew to 17 sold-out stadium shows. Four nights at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Stadium sold nearly 200,000 tickets, making him the city's top-selling international male solo act.

Those Hong Kong nights also produced "Hong Kong," a single with Cantopop icon Faye Wong that samples her 1993 song "Monsoon." He debuted it live on October 24, opening night at Kai Tak, and released it October 31.

The tour has given $8.5 million to the XO Humanitarian Fund and Global Citizen. That includes $3 million raised this year for the UN World Food Programme and Global Citizen, helped by contributions of €1 per ticket in Europe and £1 per ticket in the UK.