The 31 Best Weeknd Songs

From 'House of Balloons' to 'Starboy,' we combed all of the Weeknd's projects to determine his 26 best songs.

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In November, Abel Tesfaye, who makes music as the Weeknd, released Starboy. That's six projects in five years, and all of them save one have been well-received. In 2011, the year of his debut, he put out three mixtapes and all would have been career-altering for other artists—especially House of Balloons, which remains his best, most focused release. In five years, he's gone from an anonymous voice at the edge of R&B to a global pop star, one calculated step at a time. He's used musical relationships with Drake, Ariana Grande, and Max Martin to his advantage, moving closer and closer to the center of popular music, with its big budgets and even bigger audiences. That he's done so while maintaining a low profile—no wild sound bites, little courting of splashy paparazzi opportunities—makes it all the more impressive.

Now that we've had some time to digest Starboy, here are his 31 strongest.

31. "Kiss Land"

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Album: Kiss Land (2013)

Producer: Silkky Johnson, The Weeknd, Danny Boy Styles, and Daheala​

Kiss Land may have been a brick, but it's not without some good moments. Take, for instance, the title track, a near eight-minute opus that stands out for its risqué language. "When I got on stage, she swore I was six feet tall/But when she put it in her mouth she can't seem to reach my"—you know how the last part goes. The second half of the song kicks into gear with a beat that hits hard and offers a portrait of all things XO; this ain't nothing to relate to. —Edwin Ortiz

30. "Earned It"

Album: 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack (2015) and Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Producer: Stephan Moccio and Jason Quenneville

Restraint doesn’t seem right for someone who’s made music about running trains, but for the soundtrack to the coy adaptation of E.L. James email novel Fifty Shades of Grey, Abel splashed some water on his face, checked his nostrils in the mirror, and straightened up. “Earned It,” a prim sex waltz, became his first song to crack the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first giant step on his journey from Tumblr libertine to global pop star. Musically, the song resembles little in his catalog, more adult contemporary than adult adult film. (Stephan Moccio, one of the producers and writers, has worked with Celine Dion, Sarah Brightman, and Josh Groban.) But variety has its charm and place, and the stately instrumental bed brings out something especially epicene in his voice. —Ross Scarano

29. "Wanderlust"

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Album: Kiss Land (2013)

Producer: Danny Boy Styles, the Weeknd, and Daheala

​The Weeknd went from covering Michael Jackson on Echoes of Silence ("D.D.") to rolling out his own music influenced by the King of Pop on Kiss Land with "Wanderlust." The performance isn't on the level of "Can't Feel My Face," but you can see him trying; what "Wanderlust" lacks in execution it makes up for in mainstream ambition: soul-baring falsetto, well-timed woos, and a big hook. In retrospect, it's surprising "Wanderlust" never caught traction; the two-step backdrop would have killed in 2016. Or maybe I just wasn't frequenting the right parties. Regardless, a one-night stand narrative never sounded so good. —Edwin Ortiz

28. "Gone"

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Album: Thursday (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo

During the year of the Weeknd’s debut, the most pointed criticism revolved around Abel’s abilities as a songwriter. I can recall music critics on Twitter complaining about rambling, structureless exercises in mood. They might’ve meant “Gone,” a song that Abel freestyled completely. At eight minutes long, “Gone” requires a real commitment to the Weeknd’s particular vibe. Lyrically, it does little to deflect that criticism, but the musical details—the hollow, echoing percussion that jump-starts the second half, the melody of “break it, drop it, drink it, spill it/Baby, touch your body”—make the experience worth submitting to. —Ross Scarano

27. "Die for You"

Starboy

Album: Starboy

Producer: Doc McKinney, Cirkut, the Weeknd, Cashmere Cat, Prince 85, Sir Dylan

The Weeknd embraced a new theme on Starboy: love, or something like it, creeps into songs like “True Colors,” “Nothing Without You,” and “Die for You.” The latter cut finds the Toronto singer laying it all out for his significant other over emotive synths, confessing that he “hate[s] it when you cry” and pushing his vocals into the red, mimicking R. Kelly’s delivery on “Feelin on Yo Booty.” He’s certainly come a long way from boasting with lines like “Baby I’m a pro at letting go/I love it when they come and go.” These are new feelings. —Edwin Ortiz

26. "Life of the Party"

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Album: Thursday (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo

Some substances take you up very suddenly, and that lift off can be scary and panic inducing and stomach churning. "Life of the Party" sounds like that moment when what you've ingested to have a good time starts to turn. You want to get off the ride. But of course you can't. "You're the life of the party," Abel sings, and the percussion goes off like jackhammers and the room spins. Why would anyone do this?, you may wonder.  —Ross Scarano

25. "True Colors"

Starboy

Album: Starboy

Producer: Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco, Jake One, Swish, the Weeknd

Starboy is, without a doubt, the Weeknd’s prettiest album. And “True Colors,” is a delicately constructed, straightforward plea for a lover to become just a little bit more. To say it’s an outlier in the Weeknd’s catalog would be an understatement—this is the rare time that Lothario breaks character to play Romeo—and it comes off as sweet rather than debauched. That it’s convincing after hearing the details of so many late-night coke binges automatically qualifies it as one of the Weeknd’s best. —Brendan Klinkenberg

24. "The Zone" f/ Drake

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Album: Thursday (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo 

During life before wartime, the Weeknd and Drake were a dynamic duo not to messed. On "The Zone," a sprawling Thursday cut, the two Canadians trade notes over the slinky, guitar-heavy production. The sound mimics the fact of Abel's existence at this time—he's veiled by the beat, setting the scene for Drake's big entrance. Things between the Weeknd and Drake seem copacetic these days but haven't made music together recently. For that feeling, fans need to go back in time. —Zach Frydenlund

23. "Often"

Album: Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Producer: Ben Billions, the Weeknd, and DaHeala

It made sense for the Weeknd to include "Often," a one-off single turned platinum hit, on Beauty Behind the Madness. Though it technically was not a part of the official rollout—"The Hills" acted as the lead single a year later—"Often" captures his ability to straing total debauchery through sweet melody, which became the hallmark of his second studio album. Also, that sample flip of Nükhet Duru's "Ben Gene Sana Mecburum" is haunting in a "let's get fucked up" kind of way. —Edwin Ortiz

 

22. “I Feel It Coming”

Starboy

Album: Starboy

Producer: Daft Punk, Doc McKinney, Cirkut, the Weeknd

Most of the old people you know have gotten into some shit. They’ve screwed someone over, said something nasty, fucked licentiously. But they’re old now, and it’s tougher to imagine that colorful, profane past for these droopy, slow, baby-like people. “I Feel It Coming” is Abel Tesfaye trying on the loafers, high socks, and “nice” collared shirt of an elderly cruise patron to create a song so pleasant and sunny, you forget about the stalactites of coke in runny nostrils and the molly scares. “Tell me what you really like,” he sings, and it doesn’t sound like he’s about to insist that you really like anonymous sex in a cramped bathroom stall followed by a crying jag. This is...nice. There’s nothing uncanny about the filtered vocals from Daft Punk embellishing the chorus—these robots are friends. What’s coming might be an orgasm, or it might be a bright future where we can’t remember past wrongs and old, bad habits. —Ross Scarano

21. "Secrets"

Starboy

Album: Starboy

Producer: Doc McKinney, Cirkut, the Weeknd, Sir Dylan

With a chorus cribbed from the Romantics' "Talking In Your Sleep," Weeknd could've easily made his "Can't Feel My Face" and furthered his shameless and well-deserved transition into pure pop. Instead, he got weird, and the result is a groovy success that sounds like it came from an entirely different portion of the '80s than the Romantics. Abel's deeper delivery may be off-putting at first, but it doesn't take long for this song to worm its way in. Try your best not to do an interpretive dance when you hear it bang at the function. —Frazier Tharpe

20. Ariana Grande f/ the Weeknd "Love Me Harder"

Album: My Everything (2014)

Producers: Ali Payimi, Peter Svensson, and P. Carlsson

"Last year, I did all the politickin," the Weeknd intones without a trace of emotion on his cotillion moment, Beauty Behind the Madness. If anything is representative of playing the industry game, it's a feature on the single of a Nickelodeon princess turned pop princess. And if there was ever proof that our boy Abel could survive the transition from mysterious to mainstream, "Love Me Harder" was it. And Abel didn't suddenly become PG—more like he turned Ariana Grande from Nick to, say, FX. Just shy of TV-Mature rated HBO fare. The Weeknd isn't just equipped to play the game...he can bend it to his will. —Frazier Tharpe

19. "The Fall"

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Album: Echoes of Silence (2011)

Producer: Clams Casino and Illangelo

Like John Milton, Abel Tesfaye ain’t scared of the fall. In fact, as we came to learn, he’s the king of the fall; he comes alive in the fall time. But before it became his brand, the fall was the back-half of a bender, the scraped out feeling when the drugs start to lose their hold on you. Being the fun-loving guy that he is, that part did not bother Abel. Over a patient, handclap driven beat, co-produced by New Jersey’s own Clams Casino, Abel sort of apologizes to his mom, and mentions that his friends will “test drive” a woman he knows named Lexus. (The amount of consecutive group sex in Abel’s pre-pop music is staggering.) The song finally splits open with a minute left, with a beautiful unfurling of percussion. Listen to Slim K’s screwed version for the best experience. —Ross Scarano

18. "Starboy"

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Album: Starboy (2016)

Producer: Daft Punk, Cirkut, and Doc McKinney

"Starboy," the Weeknd's first single from his upcoming album, is peak Weeknd. Like "Can't Feel My Face," it's a Billboard-ready pop blend of drug talk and expensive production, courtesy of Daft Punk. "Starboy" really signals the fact that Abel has his formula figured out. He's still singing about cocaine and side chicks, but in a way that won't stop him insane play on the radio. The Weeknd is a hit machine in 2016 and "Starboy" only proves that he isn't slowing down anytime soon. —Zach Frydenlund 

17. "Lonely Star"

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Album: Thursday (2011)

Producers: Illangelo and Doc McKinney

What a way to start a project. How could you not be all in on Thursday with Weeknd flowing over one of the hardest beats Illangelo and Doc have ever produced? This sounds like the opening score to a fire Baz Luhrmann movie that promises sordid melodrama. Some overlook Thursday but it's far from his weakest project, and this song is just one reason why. —Frazier Tharpe

16. "D.D."

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Album: Echoes of Silence (2011)

Producer: Illangelo

“These kids, you know, they don’t have a Michael Jackson,” Tesfaye told the New York Times last year. He had a goal: the Weeknd wanted to be as big as MJ, and he was going to do it by sounding like MJ. The mission didn't come out of left field. The opener for his third mixtape, Echoes of Silence, had already provided a blueprint. The vocals are close to a pitch-perfect cover of “Dirty Diana,” but the beat is something else entirely, a churning, furious beat tempered by periods of near-silence. While “Can’t Feel My Face” saw the Weeknd in full-on Michael Jackson mode, “D.D.” proved that he was just as adept at pulling the King of Pop into his world. —Brendan Klinkenberg

15. Drake f/ the Weeknd "Crew Love"

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Album: Take Care (2011)

Producers: Noah '40' Shebib, Illangelo, and the Weeknd

Drake gets heat for "Crew Love" basically being a Weeknd song—and not without reason. Abel told Complex that the song was supposed to be on House of Balloons. However, how can anyone argue that Drake didn't make it his own when his verse contains Take Care's thesis statement? Of course, Champagne himself admits he couldn't have made this album—his best album—without Abel and it shows. The tone, the beat, vibe...it's all unmistakably Weeknd. When Take Care dropped it was easy to chalk this up as a hallmark of OVO's emerging sound. Five years later, with OVO and XO, having gone their separate ways, though, it's just a bittersweet—and incredibly fire—glimpse of the magic that pairing could've yielded had they stayed together. Guess we'll never know what OVOXO gets us. —Frazier Tharpe

14. "King of the Fall"

Album: N/A 

Producer: DaHeala and the Weeknd

There’s nasty, and then there’s exclaiming “all my hoes are trained, I make all of them swallow” like 15 times in a row, which is how the Weeknd’s July 2014 loosie “King of the Fall” concludes. This is one of Abel’s wordiest songs, three verses crammed with ferocious determination and drug talk. Over knocking percussion, Abel comes in singing, “I’m Add’d up, Add’d up/I just ate a plate for breakfast,” and he sounds it, feverishly running through syllables like items on a finals week checklist. There’s little sex in the song, the ending notwithstanding, and that moment more to do with control—which is the song’s true theme. “I make my own luck,” he declares, as cool as a cucumber, or a divinely ordained despot. There is Abel’s sound, and then there’s your sound, which can get fucked and dumped off the Scarborough Bluffs. “King of the Fall” has more swagger and purpose than any other song in Abel’s catalog. Now, we all kneel. —Ross Scarano

13. "Tell Your Friends"

Album: Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Producer: Chrisotpher Pope, Kanye West, Omar Riad, the Weeknd, Illangelo, Mike Dean, and Noah Goldstein

“Tell Your Friends” could be the song at the heart of a deranged musical—telling us about the no holds barred lifestyle of the protagonist, exploring his pill- and coke-fueled life while he and his friends have uninhibited sex with models. So, a fitting introduction to the Weeknd. But it’s not that straightforward. On the surface, it’s Abe Tesfaye kneeling at the altar of hedonism—his only religion—exploring his newfound fame but stressing that it’s not fame that made him a nightmare—he's been this guy since he was robbing guys for Jordans to pay for drugs. The song's sound is big—grandiose a bit gaudy and more than sinister—it’ll make you want to spontaneously dance like Audrey Horne in Twin Peaks. But the subtext of the song is that maybe Abel hasn’t quite convinced himself that the models and the drugs is really what he wants. When he repeats “they told me not to fall in love/that shit is pointless” again and again, it feels more like a reminder for him than anything for us. —Kerensa Cadenas

12. "Reminder"

Starboy

In 2016, the Weeknd became a straight-up pop star, and there's nothing wrong with that. His pop-leaning slappers make you appreciate it even more when he goes back to his darker, House of Balloons roots. We don't see it as often now, but Abel taps into that old, familiar energy on the Starboy standout "Reminder," on which he serves up a fresh message to his peers. As he points out on the hook, R&B in 2016 still runs through him, whether they like it or not. —Zach Frydenlund

11. "Coming Down"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo

“Coming Down” is like a hazy dream off the pills, weed, and Henny. If you're constantly high, appreciate the people who tolerate your dumb ass because those are the people that truly love you. And bless you if you find a significant other who can tolerate you when the drugs start to wear off, which is wear this song begins. —Angel Diaz

10. "High for This"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Dream Machine 

I remember listening to House of Balloons for the first time in 2011. Like most, Drake's OVO blog post led me to the mixtape, and I dove in blind. "You don't know/What's in store," he sang, like he was reading my mind. That unique voice and booming production blasted through my speakers, and by the time the chorus hit, I knew this was something special. "You want to be high for this," he sang. Yep. —Zach Frydenlund 

9. "Wicked Games"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo 

The central appeal of the Weeknd lies in his willingness to sing, plaintively, about doing something bad; and then trying, earnestly, to cast himself as the real victim. “I left my girl back home/I don’t love her no more,” is a phrase about leaving someone, but he’s singing like he just got dumped. Then, it gets worse. “And she’ll never fucking know that/These fucking eyes that I’m staring at.” This felt like a new sort of R&B when it hit. Music that moved the center of the genre, which had hit, reliably, the same tropes for over a decade, with specific voices. The Weeknd joined Frank Ocean as a singular talent moving toward something new. His new? Being a shitty person who you just can’t stop listening to. It says it right there in the title. —Brendan Klinkenberg

8. "The Birds Pt. 1"

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Album: Thursday (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo.

“Don’t make me make you fall in love,” is a quintessential Weeknd line. Confident in its self-loathing and magnetic at the same time, alluring and repulsive and sung beautifully. A standout track from Thursday, “The Birds Pt. 1” was a continuation of the Weeknd’s essential conceit—the drug-addled lothario struggling with trace amounts of a conscience—but, this time, it sounded different. It still had Tesfaye's clear voice, but now it was over something other than dark, pulsing synths. A martial barrage of snare drums remade the push and pull of the lyrics into something new, a motivational march to nowhere, that proved that the initial appeal of the Weeknd was something more multifaceted than once assumed. —Brendan Klinkenberg

7. "The Party & The After Party"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Jeremy Rose, the Weeknd, and Rainer

Coming back to bed after having got up for water in the early morning, that voyeuristic glimpse of the person sharing your bed beginning to stretch out in the freshly vacated space, moving their heavy limbs under the sheets and arching their back—that’s how this song elongates at around the three-minute mark. That unhurried song song structure, pushed slowly forward by a simple guitar riff, makes “The Party & The After Party” one of the sexiest songs in the Weeknd’s catalog. Abel’s voice, so boyish it’s almost snotty, makes it the sexiest. Creepy and alluring, like stories of ‘70s swingers, the Beach House sample that drives the first half of the song is great, but the second half is where you want to be. Five minutes in, when Abel belts, “Baby if you knewwww, the feeling I would give to youuuu”—that’s heart-stopping. You’ll search for that feeling forever. —Ross Scarano

6. "What You Need"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Jeremy Rose and the Weeknd

Uploaded to YouTube in Dec. 2010, "What You Need" was the first Weeknd song many of us heard. The Aaliyah-sampling instrumental, cold and calm, is intriguing, but it's the Weeknd's delivery that stands out. Instead of being front and center, his lyrics are wrapped up nicely in the beat; they travel through the track like a ghost, like you're catching pieces of him singing into the wind. He pours his heart out about being better for his love than the zero she's with. While others might get wrapped up in the Xan'd out Weeknd, "What You Need" embodies the hopeless romantic at the project's core. —khal

5. "Initiation"

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Album: Echoes of Silence (2011)

Producer: DropxLife and Illangelo

This is an evil song. The subject matter makes your skin crawl, and the non-stop manipulation of Abel's vocals, pitch-shifting that moves steadily up and down like how a snake writhes from a bird's-eye view, is so extreme it's surprising the song is listenable at all. "Initiation" is the most challenging moment in his entire catalog and maybe there's no justifying it. "Something that I need from you/Is to meet my boys/I got a lot of boys." Still, the song sounds awesome—in the way that you might use that word to describe the fall of someone powerful, filling you with apprehension and fear at its immense and thoughtless uncaring. —Ross Scarano

4. "Can't Feel My Face"

Album: Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Producers: Max Martin and Ali Payimi

The flagship song for Weeknd's takeover, and a year later, still a comforting reassurance that Abel's grand scheme to fit in doesn't mean he's changing fundamentally. Our boy grabbed Max Martin, pop's best radio alchemist, and managed to create a Michael Jackson-lite song your grandparents will enjoy, with lyrics that are about coke. The brand remains intact. With "Can't Feel My Face," Abel proved you can put the Weeknd in the spotlight, but you can't take away his drugs. Subversive pop perseverance at its best. —Frazier Tharpe

3. "The Hills"

Album: Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Producer: Million Dollar Mano and Illangelo

It’s fun to imagine the person who bought Beauty Behind the Madness because “Can’t Feel My Face” had a good beat. Imagine the first time they listened to “The Hills.” The dissonant chords of static that open the song. The bass that pushes your stomach low into your hips. The sheer confusion about who would be up using their phone at that hour of the morning. “When I’m fucked up, that’s the real me”: This song is not nice. It’s inconsiderate, shallow, careless, reckless, damaged. The feeling of, “I know I shouldn’t sleep with this person, but here we go,” bottled up into four minutes. In the same year as “Uptown Funk,” “See You Again,” and “Cheerleader” (among others), this song was a No. 1 hit—for weeks. That's fun too. —Ross Scarano

2. "The Morning"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo

In the Weeknd's entire catalog, there is perhaps no moment more satisfying than when the chorus of "The Morning" first arrives. It's over a minute and a half into the song, kicking in after the mood has been properly set with lines like "got the walls kicking like they're six months pregnant" and "codeine cups paint a picture so vivid." Just when you think this whole song might be a meandering mood board for the Weeknd's brand, the drums drop in on some Phil Collins shit.

It's a moment that can't be reproduced. This song was released before the Weeknd had any hits, and we were still figuring out what he was capable of. We're no longer surprised by radio sing alongs and massive hooks, but "The Morning" was one of the first times we really heard that potential. Even half a decade ago, the Weeknd's hit-making ability was on full display—we just had to wait for the drop. —Jacob Moore

1. "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls"

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Album: House of Balloons (2011)

Producer: Doc McKinney and Illangelo 

“House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” isn’t the Weeknd’s best pop song (“The Morning”), and it's not his catchiest (“Can’t Feel My Face”), or his biggest hit (“The Hills”). It is, however, the most Weeknd song; the one you’d play for someone who needed to understand the artist with one listen.

When he arrived, fully formed and anonymous, the Weeknd asked a simple question: what if pop music felt dangerous? The titular track from House of Balloons serves as a mission statement, a coke-fueled manifesto, answering the question unequivocally. It would sound really cool.

“House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” describes a world where the bodies are faceless and the drugs only numb. Where there’s sorrow, sure, but no admissions of guilt. It’s not fun. Which makes Tesfaye the unlikeliest of pop stars under normal circumstances. But the thing is, we like things that are bad for us.

There’s a lot going on in “House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls.” It’s two songs, for one. Two of the best tracks on a debut project, jammed into one file—an ostentatious move for someone like Kanye West, let alone someone we’d never heard from before. The first song is crowded, unafraid to muddy its waters with disorienting drums and distorted vocals made to sound like muted screams. It interpolates Siouxsie & The Banshees, insisting, to the contrary of every musical cue, that he’s singing about a “happy house.” Then we get the menacing “Glass Table Girls,” a buzzsaw about a high that could go wrong at any second, and might already be turning.

It’s a nightmare pairing that’s impossible to keep from getting swept up in. It's the thesis statement, a story, a distillation. A high. —Brendan Klinkenberg

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