Abel Tesfaye Earns $298 Million, Joins Forbes Iconoclast 50 List
Musician Abel Tesfaye, performing as The Weeknd, earned an estimated $298 million in the past year. His After Hours Til Dawn Tour sold more than 7.5 million tickets across 153 shows.
decider.comForbes created the list to identify leaders across finance, business, technology, media, entertainment and philanthropy who have made measurable impacts within the past two years. The 50 honorees collectively hold more than $2.5 trillion in wealth. Tesfaye ranked as the highest-paid musician of 2025.
His tour generated the highest gross revenue among male solo artists, according to the same report.
Forbes required each honoree to appear previously on a Forbes ranking such as the Forbes 400, the Midas List or The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes. A second screen examined recent activity, including new strategies or marketplace disruptions. The list includes ten women and roughly one-quarter immigrants.
Educational backgrounds vary: 13 honorees did not complete college and two left school before earning a high school diploma.
