Music

The Weeknd Named Apple Music's Global Artist of the Year

The Apple Music Awards honour global achievements in music across five categories including Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and more.

The Weeknd with his apple music award
Image via Apple Music
Apple Music

Apple revealed the winners of the third annual Apple Music Awards, and The Weeknd took home one of the top honours as Global Artist of the Year.

“I’m so grateful for this huge honour and want to thank Apple for all its support, not only for my work but also for great music by newer artists, where it matters so much for creators to be found and supported,” he said of the award.

The Weeknd’s album After Hours exploded on the music streaming platform to become the most pre-added album of all time by a male artist with over a million pre-adds. It also holds the record for being the most streamed R&B/Soul album in its first week in 73 different countries.


The Apple Music Awards honour achievements in music across five categories including Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Top Song of the Year, and Top Album of the Year.

Aside from The Weeknd winning Artist of the Year, other musicians who took home awards included Olivia Rodrigo, who won Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year, and H.E.R., who was named Songwriter of the Year. Outside of North America, Wizkid was named Artist of the Year (Africa), Aya Nakamura was named Artist of the Year (France), RIN won Artist of the Year (Germany), OFFICIAL HIGE DANDISM won Artist of the Year (Japan) and Scriptonite who was named Artist of the Year (Russia).

The Apple Music Awards celebration takes place on Dec. 7 and includes with interviews, original content, and more streaming on both Apple Music and the Apple TV app.

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