--- description: Find out why The Weeknd is one of the 100 most influential people of 2020. title: The Weeknd: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8ed7b68135fd62e/698a126bdb29879498265d44/time-100-The-Weeknd-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 22, 2020 # The Weeknd by Elton John  Nabil Elderkin for TIME This year, I met Abel Tesfaye, who performs as [the Weeknd](https://time.com/collection-post/5277969/the-weeknd-next-generation-leaders/ "undefined"), at an Oscars party. He said I would be excited when I heard his [new album, _After Hours_](https://time.com/5807428/best-new-songs-weeknd/ "undefined"), but didn’t tell me why. That seemed to sum him up. He’s a mysterious figure in an era when mystery is rare in pop. And you never know what to expect next. He plays with personae in his music and presentation: on the [_After Hours_ cover](https://www.instagram.com/p/B8uW47ghxES/ "undefined"), he’s dripping in blood; you’re never sure if he’s singing about himself, or if he’s in character. He’s got an incredible imagination. It turned out he’d used the chorus of “Your Song” on a track called “[Scared to Live](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzsU%5Fsn2aIE "undefined")”—he was right, I was excited—but he’ll also sample the Smiths and Ethiopian singer Aster Aweke. “[Blinding Lights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NRXx6U8ABQ "undefined")” is 2020’s best pop single, very ’80s-influenced, but it’s from an album that’s otherwise very introspective. He has so many different types of music tucked up his sleeve that he incorporates into his vision. He’s not interested in commerciality for commerciality’s sake, but he’s one of the biggest-streaming artists on Spotify. Like [Prince](https://time.com/4303977/prince-dead-music-business-pioneer/ "undefined"), he marches to his own beat. That’s an exemplary way for an artist to be. _John is a Grammy-, Tony- and Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter_ [_Buy a print of TIME’s The Weeknd cover._](https://timecoverstore.com/featured/time-100-the-weeknd-photograph-by-nabil-elderkin-for-time.html "undefined") _The Weeknd was part of TIME’s_ [_2018 Next Generation Leaders_](https://time.com/collection-post/5277969/the-weeknd-next-generation-leaders/ "undefined") _series._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888500/the-weeknd/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888500/the-weeknd/"},"headline":"The Weeknd","datePublished":"2020-09-22T23:25:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:15.534Z","description":"Find out why the \"Blinding Lights\" singer is one of the most influential people of 2020, according to Elton John.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888500/the-weeknd/","keywords":["TIME 100","T100 2020","T100 2020 Artists"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8ed7b68135fd62e/698a126bdb29879498265d44/time-100-The-Weeknd-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8ed7b68135fd62e/698a126bdb29879498265d44/time-100-The-Weeknd-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888500/the-weeknd/","name":"The Weeknd"}}]}] ```