The Weeknd overtakes ‘The Twist’ on Billboard’s all-time charts

‘I don’t think [it] has hit me yet,’ artist said

The Weeknd’s hit song “Blinding Lights” has overpassed Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” to take the number one spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songs of All-Time chart.

In this chart, Billboard magazine compiles a ranking of the 100 best-performing songs on the Songs of All-Time chart for over 50 years, along with the best-performing artists who have performed splendidly on other Billboard charts in general.

This year, the magazine revised the rankings again upon the ascendance of “Blinding Lights” to the top spot on the list.

The Weeknd’s 2019 track jumped to number one on Tuesday (23 November), becoming one of nearly 30,000 songs to have hit the chart in approximately 63 years.

“I don’t think [it] has hit me yet,” The Weeknd told Billboard after learning the news. “I try not to dwell on it too much. I just count my blessings, and I’m just grateful.”

He added: “I feel like I’ve been making that [chart] record for a decade.”

“From the first time I met Abel, it was clear that he was destined for global stardom,” Republic Records co-founder/CEO Monte Lipman told the outlet.

“And it’s just one of those cases where the stars aligned. ‘Blinding Lights’ went into the zeitgeist and became one of those songs that just had this emotional impact on so many people around the world,” he added.

Earlier this year, The Weeknd played the Super Bowl half-time show and broke the single-song record for longest time spent in the Billboard Hot 100 top 10.

Despite announcing his plans to boycott the Grammy awards, the Canadian artist also secured three nominations for the 2022 ceremony for tracks in which he contributed.

The artist is featured on the track “Hurricane” by Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — which received a nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance. He is also a featured artist on two album-of-the-year nominees: Ye’s Donda and Doja Cat’s Planet Her (Deluxe).