Drake Turns 40 in Toronto
Toronto's biggest export hits a milestone birthday after a year where he held the top three spots on the album chart at the same time.
A Birthday Week Split Between Two Cities
Drake turns 40 on October 24, and the celebrations started days before the date itself. Reports from XXL, carried by several outlets on October 23, place the first gathering at the CN Tower in Toronto on October 21, a private night with close friends that included Popcaan. Friends there presented him with a collage built from shared memories, a personal touch in a week that could easily have been all spectacle.
The party then moved south. He travelled to New York with his mother and his entourage aboard his private plane, and he was seen dining at Mamo, an Italian spot in SoHo, on October 22. Two cities, two different energies. Toronto got the hometown room, New York got the industry room, and the actual birthday lands on a Saturday with the story already told.
The Year Behind the Milestone
The birthday does not arrive in a quiet year. In May he released three albums at once, Iceman, Habibti and Maid of Honour, and Billboard reported that the three debuted at numbers one, two and three on the Billboard 200 dated May 30. That made him the first artist in the chart's 70 year history to hold all three positions at the same time. Iceman led the group with 463,000 equivalent album units in the United States, according to Luminate figures cited by Billboard, and became his 15th number one album.
The catalogue keeps moving even when he is not releasing. A separate RIAA update reported this week put his certified total at 350 million units, with God's Plan recognised as the first solo hip hop song to reach double Diamond status, while One Dance moved to 15 times Platinum. Those are back catalogue records stacking up in the same week as a 40th birthday, which tells you the older music is still working as hard as the new music.
What Comes Next at 40
XXL also reports that he has promised a 2027 tour in support of the three May albums, and other reports have placed his name in discussion for a 2027 Coachella headline slot, more than a decade after he first headlined that festival in 2015. None of that is a victory lap schedule. A tour built on three albums at once is a working artist's plan, not a farewell.
Turning 40 used to be a ceiling in rap. That idea has been fading for years, and a Toronto artist reaching 40 while holding chart records most younger artists never touch is the clearest proof yet. The next chapter is not about proving he belongs. It is about how long the run can stretch when the catalogue, the touring and the new releases are all active at once.
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