The Weeknd’s “After Hours Til Dawn” tour has surpassed $1 billion, making it the top-earning tour by a male solo artist in history, cementing the Canadian superstar’s position among music’s most powerful live performers. This extraordinary achievement places The Weeknd—born Abel Tesfaye—in rarefied company, joining an elite circle of artists who’ve crossed the billion-dollar touring threshold while establishing unprecedented benchmarks for R&B and solo male artists worldwide.
The lengthy tour, which launched in Philadelphia in July 2022 and runs through September 2026, has officially grossed $1.004 billion with approximately 7.55 million tickets sold across 153 tour dates, the live entertainment company said Thursday. The Weeknd’s remarkable commercial success reflects not just his musical artistry but his evolution into a global touring phenomenon whose stadium-filling power rivals the industry’s biggest names.
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The Weeknd’s Historic Achievement: Breaking Down the Numbers
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour represents a multi-year triumph that transformed pandemic-delayed ambitions into record-shattering reality, demonstrating the enduring power of his dark, atmospheric R&B sound and theatrical live performances.
| After Hours Til Dawn Tour Milestones | Statistics |
|---|---|
| Total Gross Revenue | $1.004 billion |
| Total Tickets Sold | 7.55 million (approximately) |
| Number of Shows | 153 concerts |
| Tour Launch Date | July 14, 2022 (Philadelphia) |
| Tour End Date | September 6, 2026 (Lisbon, Portugal) |
| Tour Duration | 4+ years (2022-2026) |
| Regions Covered | North America (twice), Europe, UK, Latin America, Australia |
| Data Collection Period | March 4, 2022 – November 14, 2025 |
| Ranking | #1 male solo artist tour of all time |
Following the onsale of the singer-songwriter’s 2026 dates across Mexico, Brazil, Europe and the U.K., the tour has now sold over 7.5 million tickets thus far and has grossed more than $1 billion across 53 shows. This figure continues growing as The Weeknd prepares for his final tour legs spanning Latin America and Europe through September 2026.
Live Nation’s data is pulled from presales and ticket sales reports as well as VIP and platinum sales reports, collected from March 4, 2022 through Nov. 14, 2025, providing comprehensive insight into one of touring’s most successful campaigns.
After Hours Til Dawn: The Tour That Defined an Era
The After Hours Til Dawn tour represents the culmination of The Weeknd’s artistic vision across multiple album cycles, originally conceived to support his fourth studio album After Hours (2020) before pandemic delays forced extensive reimagining.
Designed to promote his fourth studio album, After Hours (2020), the tour was set to run in arena venues from June 11, 2020, in Vancouver, Canada, to November 16 in London, England. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, they were postponed to 2021 and 2022, respectively, before being cancelled in favour of a completely reimagined stadium production that incorporated material from Dawn FM (2022) and eventually his sixth studio album Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025).
Tour Evolution and Production Scale:
For the 2025 concerts, the tour had fully evolved into a stadium spectacle emphasizing scale and immersion. Productions featured dramatic set extensions, enhanced lighting rigs, and seamless visual transitions tying together older and newer material. Shows often began with the Weeknd masked, peeling it off at climactic points in the performance to highlight the contrast between persona and artist.
This theatrical approach transformed concerts into immersive narrative experiences rather than simple musical performances. The staging embraced maximalism: sweeping runways into the crowd, large LED arrays, choreographed theatrical cues, dynamic costume contrasts, pyrotechnics, and carefully timed reveal moments combined performance, narrative, and visual artistry into a cinematic experience.
The 41-song setlist showcased The Weeknd’s remarkable artistic range.
Variety’s Chris Willman wrote in his review of the Weeknd’s SoFi Stadium show in June, “There are many Abels in the back catalog that he is mining for this 41-song show. There is the Weeknd who has self-consciously draggy stretches of material where he sings about death and self-degradation, with all the levity of a Cure album; there is the callous and cocksure ‘Starboy’ who can out-braggadocio any hip-hop star; there is the people-pleasing, woman-satisfying R&B singer who is no Starboy, just your sweet lover boy; and there’s the synth-pop revivalist who can get 50,000 people to jump in unison to tunes that sound carefree, even if they might be a little depressive under the surface”.
The Weeknd’s Place Among Touring Giants
The Weeknd’s billion-dollar achievement places him in exclusive company, though understanding context reveals the competitive landscape of modern mega-tours.
Billion-Dollar Tours Comparison:
| Artist | Tour Name | Total Gross | Timeline | Distinction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor Swift | Eras Tour | $2.2 billion | 2023-2024 | Highest-grossing tour ever |
| Coldplay | Music of the Spheres | $1.39 billion | 2022-2025 | #2 all-time |
| The Weeknd | After Hours Til Dawn | $1.004 billion | 2022-2026 | #1 male solo artist |
In 2023, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour became the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts. Not only was her landmark Eras Tour the No. 1 tour both worldwide and in North America, but she also brought in a whopping $1.04 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates.
Then she broke her own record. In December 2024, Pollstar announced Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour brought in $2.2 billion across its nearly two-year run, extending its lead as the highest-grossing tour of all time. In September, Pollstar reported that cumulative grosses from Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres” tour reached $1.39 billion. It also launched in 2022 and ran through 2025.
While The Weeknd ranks third overall, his achievement as the highest-grossing male solo artist carries particular significance. In August 2025, Billboard reported the After Hours til Dawn Tour had grossed $635.5 million in revenue and sold 5.1 million tickets since its 2022 launch, becoming the biggest R&B tour in history, beating previous record holders Beyoncé (Renaissance World Tour, 2023) and Bruno Mars (24K Magic World Tour, 2017–2018).
This R&B touring record underscores The Weeknd’s genre-defining impact—surpassing even Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour to claim the crown as R&B’s most commercially successful live performer.
Record-Breaking Venue Achievements
The Weeknd’s dominance extended beyond overall grosses to individual market performance, establishing new benchmarks across North America’s most prestigious venues.
The 2025 North American stadium leg alone featured more than 40 sold-out shows, during which the Weeknd became the top-grossing Black male artist in the history of venues in New York, Denver, Santa Clara, Seattle, Edmonton, Montreal, Orlando, Arlington and Houston.
These venue records demonstrate The Weeknd’s drawing power across diverse markets—from major coastal metropolises (New York, Seattle, Santa Clara) to interior cities (Denver, Edmonton, Arlington) and southern markets (Houston, Orlando). His ability to sell out multiple stadium shows in these varied demographics reflects truly pan-demographic appeal.
The 2025 North American stadium leg alone featured over 40 sold-out shows, setting attendance records for an R&B male artist in cities like Boston, Denver, and Orlando, and breaking multiple venue records across the U.S.
The tour surpassed US$148 million in gross sales and sold more than one million tickets in its first leg across North America, establishing commercial momentum that sustained across subsequent international legs.
Philanthropic Impact: The XO Humanitarian Fund
Beyond commercial achievement, The Weeknd leveraged his tour’s massive scale for significant humanitarian impact, demonstrating how celebrity touring can serve causes larger than profit.
From the “After Hours Til Dawn” tour, the Weeknd has donated more than $8.5 million to the XO Humanitarian Fund and Global Citizen.
The Weeknd’s Humanitarian Commitments:
In March 2022, the Weeknd launched the XO Humanitarian Fund in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) in an effort to bring 44 million “back from the brink of famine”. As part of this effort, he donated US$500,000 into the fund, and pledged to donate US$1 per every ticket sold from the tour.
This per-ticket donation model ensured his humanitarian impact scaled proportionally with commercial success. With 7.55 million tickets sold, the $1-per-ticket pledge alone generated $7.55 million for hunger relief—beyond his additional direct donations.
That June, Binance announced they were donating US$2 million to the Fund, and by November, it was reported US$5 million had been raised and presented to the WFP. In April 2024, via the foundation, he pledged US$2 million to the WFP in an effort to assist Gaza on the ongoing war within the country. In January of the following year, the Weeknd donated US$1 million in relief funds to Los Angeles wildfire relief following the Southern California wildfires that same month; he also teamed up with Global Citizen, and pledged US$1 from every ticket told in his recently announced concert dates to support vulnerable children in various communities.
2026 Tour Dates Humanitarian Partnership:
As part of the After Hours Til Dawn 2026 Tour, The Weeknd will partner with Global Citizen to raise funds to provide access to quality education for children around the world through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. He will also continue to partner with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide funds to the XO Humanitarian Fund, which supports the organization’s response to the unprecedented global hunger crisis. €1 from each ticket sold across Europe, £1 in the UK and the $1 equivalent in Mexico and Brazil will be donated to these two organizations.
This commitment ensures his final tour legs continue generating humanitarian impact alongside commercial revenue, potentially raising millions more for education and hunger relief.
Live Nation’s Perspective: Industry Validation
“The Weeknd continues to redefine what it means to be a global touring artist,” said Omar Al-joulani, Live Nation’s president of touring. “Crossing the billion-dollar mark is a testament to his staying power and the incredible demand for his live show. Year after year, he sells out stadiums around the world, and the ‘After Hours ‘Til Dawn’ tour now stands as one of the biggest of all time — a true reflection of his artistry and impact”.
Al-joulani’s statement emphasizes several key themes: staying power (multi-year sustained demand), global reach (selling out stadiums across continents), and artistic impact (not just commercial success but cultural influence).
The tour’s scale reflects ongoing demand for blockbuster live entertainment even as consumer spending and ticket pricing remain hot-button issues across the industry. The Weeknd’s shows have leaned heavily into elaborate production, including an expansive set design inspired by the singer’s After Hours and Dawn FM eras, helping fuel high fan interest.
This production investment proved crucial—audiences weren’t just paying for music but for immersive theatrical experiences justifying premium ticket prices in an era of inflation concerns and pricing backlash.
The Weeknd’s Career Context and Cultural Impact
The After Hours Til Dawn tour success represents the culmination of The Weeknd’s decade-plus evolution from mysterious mixtape artist to global superstar commanding stadium audiences.
Filtering R&B and pop through an ambitious widescreen lens, The Weeknd took over popular music and culture on his own terms. His refusal to compromise his dark, often melancholic aesthetic for mainstream acceptance paradoxically made him more appealing—offering alternative to conventional pop optimism while remaining accessible through undeniable melodies and production innovation.
Career Highlights Supporting Touring Power:
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 four menacing mazes at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights.
The 2020 Super Bowl halftime show proved particularly crucial for expanding his audience beyond core fans to casual listeners—a cultural moment reaching 100+ million viewers that translated into increased touring demand.
The Canadian singer-songwriter is one of the most talked-about artists of all time. He’s received 176 awards and over 500 nominations, from Grammys to Billboard and AMAs. In 2025, he received the award for Favorite Male R&B Artist and Favorite R&B Album at the AMA. On streaming, Blinding Lights is a juggernaut with 5.1 billion plays.
“Blinding Lights” represents The Weeknd’s mainstream apex—a song that transcended R&B categorization to become universal pop phenomenon, topping charts globally and becoming one of the most-streamed songs in Spotify history. This crossover success directly fueled touring demand, bringing pop audiences to shows anchored by darker material.
What’s Next: 2026 Tour Legs and Beyond
The tour, which spans North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australia, ends on Sept. 6, 2026 at Estádio do Restelo in Lisbon, Portugal. The Weeknd’s 2026 dates across Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and the UK promise to further extend his billion-dollar total, potentially pushing final gross revenue significantly higher.
In support of his 2025 effort Hurry Up Tomorrow, The Weeknd still has a large stretch of tour dates to come in 2026, including shows in Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and the UK. This new album provides fresh material to integrate into setlists already spanning his career catalog, offering returning fans new experiences while maintaining the trilogy concept that defined the tour.
A Touring Legacy Secured
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour crossing the billion-dollar threshold cements his status among music’s touring elite while establishing new standards for solo male artists and R&B performers. His achievement demonstrates that genre-specific artists can compete commercially with pop juggernauts when combining artistic integrity, production ambition, and consistent quality.
The four-year journey from pandemic delays to historic milestone showcases resilience, vision, and The Weeknd’s refusal to compromise—qualities that define his career beyond this single tour. As he completes his final 2026 dates, his billion-dollar benchmark stands as testament not just to ticket sales but to cultural impact: millions of fans worldwide embracing his dark, cinematic vision of R&B reimagined for stadium scale.
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FAQs
How much has The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour grossed?
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour has grossed $1.004 billion across 153 shows with approximately 7.55 million tickets sold, making it the highest-earning tour by a male solo artist in history. The tour launched in July 2022 and continues through September 2026.
Is The Weeknd’s tour the highest-grossing tour ever?
No, The Weeknd’s $1.004 billion After Hours Til Dawn tour ranks third all-time behind Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ($2.2 billion) and Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour ($1.39 billion). However, it is the highest-grossing tour by a male solo artist and the biggest R&B tour in history.
How many shows are in The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour?
The After Hours Til Dawn tour consists of 153 shows across North America (twice), Europe, UK, Latin America, and Australia. The tour features over 40 sold-out stadium shows in the 2025 North American leg alone, with additional 2026 dates in Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and the UK.
What charitable causes does The Weeknd support through his tour?
The Weeknd has donated more than $8.5 million from the After Hours Til Dawn tour to the XO Humanitarian Fund and Global Citizen. He pledged $1 per ticket sold to combat global hunger through the UN World Food Programme and supports education initiatives through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.
When does The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour end?
The After Hours Til Dawn tour concludes on September 6, 2026, at Estádio do Restelo in Lisbon, Portugal. The tour spans over four years from its July 2022 launch, with final legs covering Mexico, Brazil, Europe, and the UK throughout 2026.
