The Weeknd sets new Spotify streaming record

R&B superstar The Weeknd has set a new record for the most plays of his tracks in a single day on streaming service Spotify.

The musician, real name Abel Tesfaye, racked up the record numbers on Friday (25Nov16), the day his new album Starboy was released.

Monte Lipman, the co-founder of The Weeknd's label Republic Records hailed the achievement, as he told Billboard magazine, "Spotify's continued support of The Weeknd has now reached historic proportions and also reinforces the tremendous growth of global streaming."

Streams of tracks on Starboy, which feature contributions from Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar, helped the 26-year-old unseat previous record holder Justin Bieber, whose music was streamed 36 million times on 13 November last year (15).

Exact details of how many times the Can't Feel My Face singer's tracks were played are yet to be released by Spotify bosses.

In May (16), Drake became the service's most streamed artist of all time, also replacing Bieber as the previous record holder.

In October (16), his track One Dance became the Spotify's most listened to song ever, having been played over 880 million times by users.