The Weeknd has broken a tour record that was previously held by none other than Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.
With $350 million in ticket sales, the Canadian crooner’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour reportedly became the best-selling tour in history by a Black artist.
MJ previously held the title with his 1987 Bad Tour, which brought in $311 million after accounting for inflation. It was the second-highest-grossing tour of the 1980s, after Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, and it was in support of his album of the same name.
The Weeknd recognized the accomplishment by sharing a video of himself performing an energetic cover of Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” on Twitter on Wednesday, July 12.
“My king,” then, now, and always. “Relax,” he captioned the photo.
Between July and November 2022, The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour traversed North America; its international leg got underway in Lisbon, Portugal, this past June.
The lengthy 64-date tour will come to a finish on October 25 in Guadalajara, Mexico, although there are still a few months left. After Doja Cat, the scheduled opener, was forced to cancel due to tonsil surgery, Kaytranada, Snoh Aalegra, and Mike Dean filled in as backup performers.
However, The Weeknd still has a ways to go before breaking the record for the highest-grossing tour ever, which is presently held by Elton John’s recently concluded Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which made an astounding $910 million across 320 concerts.
The announcement comes shortly after The Weeknd tied a different Michael Jackson milestone in March by becoming the only artist to have multiple No. 1 singles across multiple albums on the Billboard list.
According to Billboard, Jackson had numerous No. 1 singles on albums like 1979’s Off the Wall, 1982’s Thriller, and 1987’s Bad.