Abel just hit a new milestone that places him a notch above JB -- at least as far as Spotify numbers are concerned. The Weeknd has become the #1 artist with the most monthly listeners on the music app ... clocking in at about 85.6 million.

That's a healthy amount more than where the Biebs was last year, when he claimed the top spot at 83.3 mil ... and having held the record since for a consecutive 190 days.

Of course, if you've been following along ... you know Abel's been hot on Justin's tail for a minute -- even when the latter hit that benchmark, The Weeknd was #2 at the time ... and with the release of his new hit album, "Dawn FM," it seems to have put him over the top.

The record is getting rave reviews, and is soaring on the charts too -- this not too long after 2020's wildly successful run with "After Hours" ... which is still helping Abel to this day, we're sure.

Now, while The Weeknd is technically deserving of the Prince of Pop title with the achievement ... some say he's still got some work to do, because Justin's got a little leverage on him with an all-time high Spotify record that no one seems to have matched just yet.

While TW has surpassed Justin's average monthly listeners ... it looks like Bieber might hold the ultimate honor, after hitting a peak of 94.6M listeners at one point during his reign.