Watch The Weeknd Solidify His ‘Starboy’ Status on ‘SNL’

The Weeknd’s impressive promotional rollout for his forthcoming STARBOY album continued with a killer performance on SNL late Saturday. After Alec Baldwin pretty much transformed into Donald Trump and Margot Robbie brought aditional laughs, the pop-star kept the entertainment going with a performance of his barely a week old single, “Starboy.” Featured French duo Daft Punk were missing in action, not that their absence affected Abel’s show any less.

Weeknd’s performance is also a bittersweet consolation prize for The Meadows Festival ticket holders. The starboy previously cancelled his set at the Queens festival before uncancelling only to cancel again at the very last minute. “Due to the new curfew changes and scheduling I can no longer perform at meadows,” Abel tweeted on Saturday. “New York, I’ll make it up to you.”

Meanwhile, “Starboy” continues to climb up the Billboard Hot 100 chart. After debuting at No. 40 24 hours after its global release with 28,000 one-day sales, the catchy tune is expected to land somewhere in the Top 10 its second week.

Based on industry forecasts, the song could sell 80,000 downloads in its first full week of tracking. It also could draw 35-40 million in radio audience and more than 15 million U.S. streams, based on Billboard projections according to preliminary Nielsen Music data. Those figures could add up to a top 10 rank for the song on the Hot 100, which blends sales, airplay and streaming data. The song’s streaming sum should surge thanks in part to the arrival of its official video Sept. 28.

Great! And we can forget all about that “False Alarm” nonsense…even though The Weeknd refuses to.

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