Drake

Drake is a Canadian rapper and singer from Toronto. His records come out on OVO Sound with Republic Records, a Universal Music Group label.^[2][10] In 2025 he put out '$ome $exy $ongs 4 U' with PARTYNEXTDOOR, a No. 1 album, and the single 'What Did I Miss?', which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1][2] He turns 40 on 24 October 2026.^[12]

Three albums in one night

'ICEMAN' had been teased for months, but the two albums that came with it, 'HABIBTI' and 'MAID OF HONOUR', were only announced in a livestream on 14 May 2026. All three came out the next day.^[1] On the Billboard 200 dated 30 May they entered at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, the first time one act had held the top three since the chart began weekly publication in 1956.^[1] ICEMAN opened with 463,000 equivalent album units in the United States, the biggest week of 2026 for an R&B or hip hop album, while HABIBTI earned 114,000 and MAID OF HONOUR 110,000.^[1] ICEMAN was his 15th No. 1 album, the most for a man and level with Taylor Swift for the most by a soloist.^[1] It later spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, his longest run there.^[17]

'Janice STFU'

'Janice STFU', from ICEMAN, entered the Hot 100 at No. 1 on the chart dated 30 May 2026, with 40.7 million official streams in the United States in its first week.^[2] It was his 14th Hot 100 No. 1, which broke his tie with Michael Jackson for the most by a male soloist.^[2] That same week he placed 42 songs on the chart, the most by any act in one week, and raised his record total of top 10 hits to 90.^[2] The song spent two weeks at No. 1 and was still at No. 19 in its 19th week, on the chart dated 3 October.^[3] On Hot Rap Songs it had not left No. 1 since its debut, and its 19th week there made it the longest-running leader of his career on that chart.^[4]

Fear of Missing Out

From August he posted teasers, first family photos captioned 'FOMO 2026' and then an image of a CD cover titled 'Fear of Missing Out', and on 12 September he called the project a 'not so short film'.^[5] 'Fear of Missing Out' premiered on YouTube on 15 September at 9 p.m. Eastern time.^[6] It runs about an hour and mixes videos for songs from HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR with unreleased music, including new songs with Yeat, PartyNextDoor and Don Toliver, and Drake described it as self-funded.^[7] After the premiere he said in an interview that he would tour the world in 2027, his first North American tour since 2023.^[7]

HABIBTI (FOMO)

On 2 October 2026 four songs from the film were added to HABIBTI, reissued as 'HABIBTI (FOMO)' with 15 tracks instead of 11.^[8][9] They are 'Quebec', 'Classic Pt. 2', 'Cold Shoulder' with Don Toliver and Yebba, and 'Solar Eclipse' with Don Toliver, the first two songs the pair have released together.^[8][9] 'Solar Eclipse' is built on Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas', which has spent a record 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100.^[3][8] We compared the two recordings in Drake's 'Solar Eclipse' and found his version about 8 percent slower and in a minor key.^[13]

Kendrick Lamar and the UMG lawsuit

In 2024 Drake and Kendrick Lamar traded diss tracks. Lamar's 'Not Like Us' became a No. 1 hit and won five Grammy Awards.^[11] In January 2025 Drake sued Universal Music Group, the company behind his own label, claiming it had defamed him by releasing and promoting the song; Lamar was not named as a defendant.^[10][11] On 9 October 2025 a US district judge dismissed the case, ruling that the lyrics were opinion and could not be treated as statements of fact.^[10] Drake appealed, and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has set arguments for 4 December 2026.^[11]