2014–2017: American Teen Khalid began writing and creating music in high school; he posted his early works to
SoundCloud. Shortly after graduating from Americas High School, Khalid reached number two on the
Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart in July 2016. His single "Location" began charting, which led to his being featured in many publications, including
Billboard,
Yahoo!,
BuzzFeed, and
Rolling Stone. With production from Syk Sense, Tunji Ige, and Smash David, "Location" finished the year 2016 at number 20 on the US Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart The music video for "Location" premiered on
The Fader's website. The album's second single "
Young Dumb & Broke" became a sleeper hit, becoming a hit at rhythmic formats and crossing over to pop radio into early 2018. In January 2017,
Alina Baraz's single "Electric", featuring Khalid, was released. His collaboration with
Brasstracks, called "Whirlwind", was part of the Yours Truly &
Adidas Originals Songs from Scratch series, and received over 700,000 SoundCloud plays. Khalid contributed uncredited vocals to Kendrick Lamar's song "
The Heart Part 4", released on March 24, 2017. On April 28, 2017,
Logic released the single "
1-800-273-8255", which featured Khalid and Alessia Cara; the single peaked at number three on the
Billboard Hot 100, making it Khalid's highest-charting single. He sold out every venue on his 21-city January–February 2017 Location Tour, including the 1,500-capacity Tricky Falls in El Paso. Following the completion of the tour, his debut studio album
American Teen was released on March 3, 2017. The album received critical acclaim and
Grammy Award nominations for
Best Urban Contemporary Album and
Best R&B Song (for "Location"), at the
2018 ceremony. In 2017, Khalid won a
VMA Award for
Best New Artist. Khalid made his television debut performing "Location" on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 15, 2017, backed by
the Roots. His song "Angels" was featured on the ABC drama series ''
Grey's Anatomy'' in the episode entitled "Don't Stop Me Now", which aired April 27, 2017. In September 2018, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo Friday presented Khalid with the key to the City of El Paso. Khalid's next single was a collaboration with American DJ
Marshmello titled "
Silence", which was released on August 11, 2017, via
RCA Records. The song appeared on the Top 200 in over 28 countries. It topped the Dance charts in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and charted in the Top 10 of more than fifteen countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway. It also appeared on the year-end charts of Hungary, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Additionally, it was certified 5× Platinum by the
RIAA and platinum or multiplatinum in many countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Australia, and others.
2018–2019: Suncity and Free Spirit Khalid's song "The Ways" with rapper
Swae Lee was featured in the Marvel film
Black Panther. As of February 23, 2018, the song peaked at number 63 on the
Billboard Hot 100. In 2017, he collaborated with
Lorde,
SZA, and
Post Malone on Lorde's "
Homemade Dynamite" remix. He released a
duet with singer
Normani, called "
Love Lies", recorded for the
Love, Simon film soundtrack, which reached the top ten of the
Billboard Hot 100 in 2018. "Love Lies" was each artist's first number one on the US Pop Songs chart, and finished in the top 20 of the 2018
Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart. In May 2018, he wrote "
Youth" in collaboration with Canadian artist
Shawn Mendes. The song was featured on Mendes' self titled album and contains references to the social and political climate at that time. Mendes and Khalid performed "Youth" at the
2018 Billboard Music Awards on May 20, 2018, as a tribute to the victims of gun violence. The performance featured the show choir from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Khalid wrote and provided vocals for DJ/producer
Martin Garrix's song "
Ocean", released through
Stmpd Rcrds on June 15, 2018. It peaked at number 78 on the
Billboard Hot 100, number 5 on the
Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and finished at number 16 on its 2018-year end chart, then number 81 the next year. He collaborated with
Billie Eilish on the song "
Lovely". It was played on the popular Netflix series
13 Reasons Why in Season 2 Episode 13. In July 2018, he was featured alongside
Halsey on
Benny Blanco's debut single "
Eastside". The song charted in the
Billboard Hot 100's top ten and reached number one on the US Pop Songs chart, after a record 30-week climb. He also released a song called "
Better" on September 14, the first day of two hometown shows. The song topped the Rhythmic Songs airplay ranking and charted in the top five at pop radio. In October 2018, Khalid released an EP,
Suncity, on October 19, 2018, through
RCA Records. The EP debuted at number 8 on the
Billboard 200. The album also spawned the song "
Saturday Nights", later remixed to feature country artist
Kane Brown. In February 2019, Khalid released the single "
Talk", and he made his debut on
Saturday Night Live on March 9, 2019, performing "Talk" and "Better". His second studio album
Free Spirit was released on April 5, 2019, along with an accompanying short film. It debuted atop the US
Billboard 200 with 202,000 album-equivalent units (including 85,000 pure album sales) in its first week, becoming Khalid's first US number-one album. On April 20, 2019, Khalid made history by becoming the first and only artist to occupy the entire top 5 of the
Billboard R&B Songs chart. On April 25, 2019,
Billboard magazine reported that since March 2018, Khalid had landed a 59-week straight streak of hits (and counting) on the
Hot 100 since his
Normani collaboration
"Love Lies" debuted on the chart. He charted 12 tracks (both solo hits and features) on the Hot 100 throughout the last year. To promote the album, Khalid embarked on his fourth concert tour titled the
Free Spirit World Tour on June 20, 2019. The tour visited North America, Europe, and Oceania and concluded on December 5, 2019. An Asian 9-show leg of the tour was announced on December 2, 2019, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the release of
Free Spirit, Khalid was reported to have become the
biggest global artist on Spotify, hitting 50.4 million monthly listeners on the streaming platform, and subsequently surpassing
Ariana Grande. In October 2019, Khalid and Major Lazer released a single titled "
Trigger" which was also featured on
Death Strandings soundtrack.
2020–present: Scenic Drive and Sincere Khalid co-wrote
Zayn's song "Outside" from his album "
Nobody Is Listening" which released on January 15, 2021. On July 11, 2021, Khalid premiered his single "
New Normal" during
Richard Branson's
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 spaceflight at
Spaceport America,
New Mexico. He released his first mixtape
Scenic Drive on December 3, 2021. On November 20, 2021, Khalid previewed a new song titled "Backseat", which serves as the third track on the mixtape. His song "Silver Platter" was featured on the
soundtrack album for the film
Barbie later that year. On April 5, 2024, he released the single "Please Don't Fall in Love with Me". It was the first single on his third studio album,
Sincere, which was released on August 2, 2024. On August 15, 2025, Khalid released the single "In Plain Sight." It was the first single on his fourth studio album,
After the Sun Goes Down, which was released on October 10, 2025. == Personal life ==