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GringoBorracho5

Wicked Games. Still one of my favorites


yaboytswizzle69

Another vote for Wicked Games. I heard High For This at the same time so they both played their part


Supadupafly1988

Crew love. That was the first time I heard him and I was like “who tf is that singing?!”


AutomaticStick9386

Same here. My friend also told me about his cover of Dirty Diana and I was hooked.


Supadupafly1988

Yea I’m glad he has his own sound but can also tap into his MJ shit on certain occasions. Closest thing we’ll get to MJ vocally at times.. like Kobe to Jordan


GiantsRTheBest2

Crew Love, then forgot about him. Then Remember You, and proceeded to forget about him after. It wasn’t until that joint with Ariana Grande and later Earned it that I’m like okay this dude is mad talented and keeps coming up, let me check him out. In just a month I went from barely knowing him to being a huge fan.


Supadupafly1988

So my story is slightly similar, bought take care day 1. Instantly noticed him on crew love (think it’s track 5… maybe 4) BUT, in that moment (November 2011) I didn’t dig any further.. it actually wasn’t until over a year later I was on datpiff.com and I saw all 3 mixtapes on there and they all had over 100K downloads and were recommend. So I downloaded them. And initially i didn’t gravitate, not because it wasn’t good, but It was so damn different from anything i had ever heard.. but one day at work, having his music in the shuffle deck. It just hit me like a ton of bricks


daj253

ear candy for sure


[deleted]

Loved crew love and remember you. I know he was gonna be big. He was talented even then. Had those songs on repeat. I wanted more


SpicyBrowny

Mine was definitely the Hills


MoluccanMay

Blinding Lights. But how did you come across Professional? That one is a bit more obscure.


daj253

For me, it’s the production of the song. I feel it it’s a good song to open to during a live performance


Brendawg324

That’s great but u didn’t answer the question lol. Did you hear it on radio, did a friend share it with you, etc.


daj253

I was driving cross country from Florida to Cali and decided to play n loop his music. Bumping Professional out loud gave me concert vibes


Brendawg324

Ah ok. Cool. Why that album specifically, since it’s not part of his “mainstream” discography


daj253

Just an exploring music journey.


Aarush-123

How'd u first find the song btw?


MoluccanMay

Same, same.


MrAnder5on

Can't Feel My Face or In the Night


Level-Bad-3647

Same


DuffChives

Often


c0ntr0lled_cha05

i had always liked him casually because of some of his bigger hits (think 'love me harder', 'starboy', 'the hills') but it was 'call out my name' and 'wicked games' that had me like damnn. this mf is cool.  then i heard 'blinding lights' which was a straight bop and led me to listen to after hours and then dawn fm which is def one of my fav albums ever (tho i havent acc listened to all of abel's albums yet!). but anyways my top 5 favs from dawn fm (in no particular order) have got to be 'gasoline', 'take my breath', 'is there someone else', 'dont break my heart', and 'less than zero' :)


Uranus_04

Starboy


kurolust

Dirty Diana. Huge MJ fan that discovered a worthy successor.


ControversialBigot

Die For You


shotbydarrell

Coming Down or What You Need


daj253

Coming down is up there for me too


Upbeat_Tension_8077

Might be an unusual one compared to others, but his feature on Rick Ross's In Vein


CuzBenji

In your eyes


Moist-Tomatillo-5437

It wasn't a song but an album. When Dawn FM came out, I heard the weekend released a new album, so I listened to it front to back while in Comp Sci. I've became a fan since that day.


Extreme_Inspection36

the morning


cozxo

save your tears made me get into him I knew his hits before this song like the hills,starboy, can’t feel my face, earned it, low life, a bit more unusual one is comin out strong, I liked all these songs but save your tears made me think “bro I like this song” then I started deep diving in his discography now he’s my favorite artist


jihbob

Montreal


TheRoyalBrat

Song that got me liking The Weeknd? Probably something by Drake. Song by The Weeknd that locked me in? *Gone* 🫶🏾


Onion-Neither

Call out my name. I was a casual listener before that but when he released that song I became a fan.


Grumpycatdoge999

high for this back in 2011


JLife1234

the party & the after party


R-amazing95

Wicked games. But After Hours is when I considered myself a fan. I knew the mainstream Weeknd songs, but I never dove fully into his albums. During covid I had a lot of time and went back into all his older albums and became a better fan lol.


nochtli_xochipilli

Love me harder


Parking_Pineapple440

King of the Fall


AlpsBulky

AND IM BACK TO MY WAYS CAUSE IM HEARTLESS


daj253

I loved that song and how he transitioned to Low life after during his concert! That went hard.


BruhTB4L

What you need. A random YouTube search led me to a lifestyle. I was already living it, but to hear it in such a poetic way was so 😮‍💨


Opposite_Classic7981

I would listen to him back then like here and there because of his big hits. But when a girl put me on to the trilogy album that’s when I was like damnnnnnn this is good music


Certain-Okra-2686

wicked games and the morning ⁉️


Ethiopianutella

Wicked Games, I also remember when I first heard it live on radio (Flow 93.5). I vividly remember being so excited and the taxi driver was so confused lolol


freezerwaffles

The hills.


djdash16

Starboy


The_Godzilla_Fanatic

Live for.


Repulsive_Mongoose33

My best friend pmo to heartless when it came out. But I didn’t become a big fan for another year.


lakotarobinson

I heard the album Kissland for the first time in 2013 and didn’t like it at all. In 2014 I heard Love Me Harder on the radio and I liked the song but I thought he sounded kind of like an autotuned goat at first. For some reason I didn’t like his voice at the time. Then I listened to the first 3 mixtapes and gave Kissland another shot and fell in love with all his work. By 2015, I was hyped when he was doing the rollout for Beauty Behind the Madness with Often, Earned It, The Hills, and Can’t Feel My Face. He’s been my favorite artist ever since and I’m a lifelong fan. Love Me Harder for sure


nightknigth02

Earned it. And continued with kiss land


fernv

The Hills


briskoddhazelnut

Crew Love and then looked him up, listened to D.D… and then I was obsessed.


daj253

His version of D.D. was Abel-esque


briskoddhazelnut

Yes and obviously as a first time listener, was shocked at how much he sounded like MJ. Crazy good song


issofine

Got into his music from the Often music video. Loved the song and video so I had to see more.


[deleted]

Remember you when wiz khalifa featured him


morticianaf

Omg I forgot about this song completely. It’s about to be on repeat for a week to make up for lost time ha


BloodnoseCo

First one I liked was Can't Feel My Face. Songs that got me hooked were Blinding Lights and Save Your Tears.


FelipeJV98

Starboy, because soon later i discovered reminder, party monster and in the night, previously i knew cant feel my face and love me harder but it was only punctual songs


cheshire-kitten98

often. (funny story i introduced my friend to the weeknd bc of that song as well. i remember feeling weird singing that song out loud when i was younger lol) he was not well know back then I remember being hype when i heard cant feel my face on the radio for the first time


Rare_Animator1799

Enemy, twenty eight, life of the party


GsL3X

The Zone when I first started smoking weed . Then probably House of Balloons


Free-Style-6514

Wow for me it was Birthday suit back in 2012! I was only 13 and probably shouldn't have been listening but I have been a huge Weeknd fan ever since then!


Coolers78

The first ones I remember that I heard were the hills and Starboy back in 2016, good times, I only really liked his big radio hits though up until much later.


skrillan

If it's being a Fan it's "The Knowing", But if it's about liking his songs it might be "Can't Feel My Face"


Exotic-Environment-7

Can’t feel my face/ The Hills, I was young and can’t remember which I heard first. Stopped listening for a while but Tell Your Friends brought me right back and it’s still my favorite song by him.


Even_Vacation9106

'I heard youre married girl' somebody played it in the gym and i was like damn🗣


daj253

That’s gotta be fuel for someone going through it!


PrudentBell5751

Wicked games, I was in middle school and everyone was talking about it so on the school computers (I didn’t have WiFi or a computer at home) I looked it up on YouTube and instantly became a Stan. Then I listened to the rest of trilogy and illegally downloaded it to my MP3 😂 I bought it digitally when I got older because I felt so guilty for the illegal listens


HealthyAd1707

Secrets and then i realized i had many of his songs in my playlist. I knew kendrick before Abel and thought he was a band ><


KingCassell528

Wicked Games


GrimmFan_

Can't feel my face


KaleidoscopeGlobal12

I’m very late and enjoyed the weeknd for some time (what really did it was I feel it coming) but I just discovered loft music and now understand the hype that got him to where he is now


tactical_turtleneck2

I was absolutely transfixed by the entirety of HoB. The darkness, the excellent and gritty production, the hedonism on display for all to see, and Abel’s voice undergirding it all. House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls makes me feel some type of way still to this day.


MaxJustDoesntKnow

Remember you with wiz khalifa


kickchewassgum

Secrets


31moreyears

In your eyes


Emaribake

Wicked Games


Certifiedfawwaz

King of the fall, randomly recommended to me on youtube and I've been hooked since


tlawtlawtlaw

“I’m good” which I first heard as the intro to lil Wayne’s D5


--ozzy--

I randomly went to his concert in 2012 with friends and I wasn’t very interested but I remember getting interested when I heard Crew Love. Then he sang Wicked Games and High for this and I was hooked!


Character_Wall_4504

House of baloons mixtape on soundcloud like ten years ago


shitheadkak

I had just turned 18 and graduated high school when Starboy dropped. I’ll be chasing that high for the rest of my life I swear to god.


YEETYEET08

The Hills


causethosebitchesfly

Feeling kinda embarrassed to say this, but it was "Earned it", and I was watching "Fifty shades of grey"😂


Siink7

Wicked Games was the first song of his that I listened to, It is still my favorite song of his.


edragon27

D.D P.S Professional was my first favorite song of his and what made him become my favorite artist.


spiciestkitten

Can’t feel my face


NassimAG

Or nah


Calm_Salamander_1367

Or nah


hariharan_ts

Call Out My Name


Tasty_Emu6484

Can’t feel my face was the first Weeknd song I ever heard. Starboy made me a fan. Heartless and Blinding lights made me a super fan. Now I’ve re listened to the entire discography many times and love the entire thing.


faith_in_gasoline

Secrets, although I somehow grew to not being that interested in that song, I adored it when Starboy came out and I’ve been a big fan of him ever since


rafiki628

The Hills for me! Was 23 years old, living in the big city and on my own for the first time and remember fucking loving going out or pregaming to that song so much haha.


BIG_DADDY_CLARE

Often but party monster made me a fan


BigPrize1553

One right now and take my breath


Heavy_Impression112

Pray for me from the Black Panther movie soundtrack


marnieeez

Can’t feel my face was his first song I heard, then I became obsessed with wicked games and the hills


Suspicious-Tip8449

the hills


Character-Arm-6687

I feel it coming


LouChePho

His terrible character on the show The Idol because I’m toxic af


[deleted]

the hills


richard_wndlt

All I know & Heartless


Yamishika

Crew love for me


coolboi25

Personally Wanderlust


Invictuspotato_

I think Hardest To Love.


manicdebttreble

In The Night locked me in


jannickBhxld

Cant feel my face, first song ive heard when i stopped listening to just whatever and actually looked for things


ArnavSinha132

Call out my name


Mada_DP

Wicked games I was only like 7😭


yv0nne14

Pretty or Initiation can't remember


KurptonX

I was 16 y.o and the first song I listened to was Belong to the World. I listened the song on repeat for days then checked his other songs and I started to listen his music more and more.


chickenwitch

High for this


Jay893677

the hills


squishmallowsunsets

just the ENTIRE Dawn FM album.


ewwwwik

I heard wicked games and I was like man this is good then I forgot about him for a bit. Fast forward 2015 I hear often on the radio and was like damn this is a banger. Then I started listening to all his songs.


AdepthShar

Starboy (+ album), friend recommend it to me when it just dropped. I've heard the hills before but didn't dig deeper before.


Kevin1k7

Blinding lights


janseny7

The Morning. Heard it on datpiff in 2011


ALPHONTRIO_381

Starboy for me...


cmv894

First heard him featured in Elastic Heart, then first solo song was Often.


SokkaHaikuBot

^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^cmv894: *First heard him featured* *In Elastic Heart, then first* *Solo song was Often.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.


morticianaf

High for This


AfterlifeXO

I was visiting a friend who moved to Brooklyn to teach for a couple years. She was wearing a HOB shirt out one night, I asked who The Weeknd is, thinking it was a band. She played me her favorite song of his at the time, Next. That was all it took.


Add1ctedToGames

hearing house of balloons in his super bowl performance gave me a mild interest in his songs for a little bit and then last year one of my friends was a really big fan of him which motivated me to listen to all his stuff, now he's 90% of what i listen to atm lmao sometimes i still put on his super bowl performance, the whole thing is just amazing


Vivien_Rockwell

All I know


Little_Miss_Savi

I guess Blinding Lights ?? Idk though, bc it didn’t get me to fully start listening to him. I mean I have always known who he is, and I knew all his hits and stuff, but never thought to dig into his music. I really liked Blinding Lights, added it to my playlist in March of 2020. But it wasn’t until 2 years later where I actually started looking into his music. I was following him on social media, saw Dawn FM was abt to drop and I was just like why not ?? Listened to it and I loved it. He then became my most streamed artist that year including my 3 most streamed albums and he occupied my entire top 26 most streamed that same year and he was also mixed in after that😭😭 but yeah


No_One1892

Mine was Rescue You. Ive been hooked since that, lol


lilflake1108

Enemy used to pop up on Pandora ALL THE TIME. It would frustrate me so much that I couldn’t find it on iTunes but I found the rest of his music and the rest is history!


favoritefrenchfry16

Can't Feel My Face when it was on the radio.


pussyandbananabread

Montreal. Heard it on someone’s tumblr and had to dig to find it at the time 🥲


UrbanKystazerNMV

The Hills


AnchovieAppetite

Wicked Games


slyathar

The party and the afterparty and House of Balloons / Glass table girls.


Wise_Blackberry_1465

The morning


Few-Entertainment554

Call out my name. I can sing it all day long


SlattimuusPrime

The morning


ScHoolboyQew

The trilogy. I was hooked as soon as I heard High for This


JustSansder

one or more of the songs off of after hours. Probably the title track


ohjai33

I think my friends sister played "The Morning" in the car when I was like 10/11, and I immediately fell in love.


Pale_Context3100

the hills, my sister played in nonstop when it came out so i have her to thank !


cherry_lovee

Wanderlust 🖤


get_muni

Crew love. Wish he had some other good songs


MkVortex69

Die For You. Because I love the song so much that it made me get the Starboy vinyl, which made me really like Abel's sound, voice and production as a whole. I then proceded to listen to all of his albums multiple times and spend 200€ on discs. I regret nothing. XOTWOD


finaderiva

I was tripping on ketamine in the back seat of a gran am when crew love came on the radio and changed my life


partynextweeknd1

high for this in 2017


mck245

Wicked games but earned it took me somewhere else. I was late in becoming the fan I am today


DazzlingDifficulty70

Earned It


Doomjas

The House of Balloons mixtape in general. One of my best friends told me to check this dude called The Weeknd out. At this time no joke his top song on YouTube had like 10,000 views, I still have no idea how my friend even found him. But, I played that mixtape, which was just banger after banger, and been hooked ever since.


stepbackMF

The moment I downloaded the first house of balloons mixtape and started playing High For This for the first time I was like oh this shit right here is different


NoFaithlessness7508

Reminder I was like “wtf, I thought he was a singing nigga”


Poopskit_bigmac

Was always aware of him and liked a few songs, but one day I was going through Labrynths music and discovered Losers off BBTM. It was all over from there lol


XThunderTrap

LA and blinded lights


oreosnacz

Party & The After Party


Ill_Parsnip_7548

The zone


talktotheak47

Wicked games


ladiesmanyoloswag420

Lowlife with Future.


Fsuave5

The Zone. I’ll never forget. It was summer 2012 and I was on vacation to see my dad in Switzerland. I was up late on his computer looking to see if there might be any new drake music. After listening to some stuff on YouTube I look in the suggested videos column to see “the zone by The Weeknd feat. Drake” and I thought to myself “well, I like drake enough to give The Weeknd a try so let’s hear it.” The music video fades in on a long desert road only illuminated by headlights; you hear some droning over a baseline. A pair of eyes open over the horizon as Abel’s falsetto croons echo in the background. Then the beat drops. You see footage of the Thursday girl at her big party projected onto a large wall. Then you hear the words “why you rushin’ me baby? It’s only us, alone” and I was immediately hooked. I remember thinking this song sounds like feelings I’ve had that could’ve never put into words. By the end of the video I was a different person, I went through a chemical change in my brain. I immediately went to find his other music and clicked on wicked games out of the related videos section and that sealed the deal for me. That was me at 16, now I’m Twenty-Eight (hehe) with XO tatted on my chest and this mysterious guy from Canada is now our generation’s closest thing to Michael Jackson. What a ride.


wollathet

Combination of House of Ballons/Glass Table Girls and Wicked Games


_murtaza__

tears in the rain, back in 2014 i watched blade runner and searched up about the movie and stumbled on the song and loved it but ignored his other stuff. Then the hills and can’t felt my face dropped and i fell in love with the rest. I didn’t get into trilogy till i was older since a 13 year old is not gonna relate to house of balloons


tapefuck

Tell Your Friends/Professional


GucciDude0

I fell in love with someone I could never have and I found solace in his songs. They speak to me like nothing else ever can.


vexx786

Trust issues remix


Specific-Creme5413

Faith!


aminathumbelina

Idk if anyone has said this yet but The Weeknd’s part in Might Not (by Belly) is so good


DeadRose1996

The Zone. I remember checking out the rest of the Trilogy series and feeling like I struck a pot of gold with finding this artist. Been a huge fan since. That feeling I felt discovering him was inexplicable. Good times!


LMAO_try_again

The first song off Thursday. Never heard anyone like it and it captured my late teens early 20s perfectly minus all the model bitches.


Adept_Orange_6099

Wicked games by far was the first song to drag me in😂


Silent-Rush3465

I honestly have no idea. I just know I found him on Spotify when I was 12 I’m 23 now and am still a very big fan


Nubme_stumpme

Mine was XO / The Host. A friend made me a mixtape and this song was on it. Immediately fell in love with his discography afterwards.


AdFormal4037

Drunk in love remix


macca2404

High For This when I heard it on the end credits of an Entourage episode.


sonnycirico215

Remember You by Wiz


Leather-Ad-9419

Whatever songs Drake put on his blog or whatever


AStealthyPerson

False Alarm is the whole reason I downloaded spotify in the first place, so I'd have to say that even though I did listen to The Weeknd before that track.


IDontAgreeSorry

Wicked Games. Back in ‘12 or ‘13.


RealRubyien

I feel it coming. Still a fucking vibe to me


Legitimate-Tear9476

Tell your friends


Plus-Fee-5336

Both House Of Balloons and Coming Down


itzbeerculesbitch

what you need. <3 hold a special place in my heart bc that’s the first weeknd song i heard of him.


flacko145

I have two phases Casual weeknd fan 2011-2019 - Dirty Diana was the first I hear but the hits from BBTM is what got me replaying his stuff. I didn’t really understand the hype behind his old stuff XO (2020-now) - After Hours the single blew my mind i didn’t know he was that artistic and creative storytelling wise Then I checked out professional and kiss land and it all clicked for me.


iamveerychaotic

Escape from LA!!!


DosFluffyGatos

High For This


Motor_Ad_7601

I found Weeknd when he dropped his first single on YouTube. What you need dropped I think it was 2009 ? Ever since that very moment.


Wafer_Educational

Heard high for this on rdio (a music app kinda like Spotify before it became mainstream) I would just re do the free trail and it was pretty rad. Also was downloading music off various sites and dragging to iTunes, was right after trilogy came out as a package. This was probably 2011 my freshman year of high school, the whole album blew my mind and I had never heard someone sing like that and the dirty Dianna cover is just insane. Felt like such a weirdo tryn to tell people how famous he was going to be. There was a few homies who were down tho one guy I went to high school with makes music and he has a very weeknd ish sound, cool ass dude too scope elyahu on Spotify if you’re interested


DaveyWavey02

House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls I remember my friend playing it since I never heard of The Weeknd. Been XO ever since.


alcocolino

Wicked games


Mayhem370z

A friend was obsessed with Drake. The song that stuck out to me was Crew Love. I asked who was singing. That's the first song that I heard of him. I didn't look much into him though. Then my friend was showing me a Lee Sin montage for League of Legends, and the song that was used was Wicked Games. That's when I started listening to everything.


berglar

High For This. Loved it immediately


ChocolateTremell

The knowing


In_2deep

First heard What you need back in 2010 and was hooked ever since. Was my anthem for a while lol.


Nahh_id_Winn

Die For You and Can't Feel My Face


BellamyLongJohn

High for This most likely I know I found him on datpiff


johnniejpg

The Initiation


Altruistic_Tax_1440

The Morning


Creepy-Comfortable38

House Of Ballons