Drake is of course no stranger to British music charts – he currently holds 6 UK Number One singles, and before this week 6 chart-topping albums. He’s won 5 Grammy Awards, 2 BRIT Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 3 of Canada’s Juno Awards, and a staggering 41 Billboard Music Awards. Last year, London’s Wireless Festival booked Drake as the sole headliner for all 3 nights due to his wild popularity.

In the last few years since eighth studio album ‘For All The Dogs’ dropped in 2023, he’s flown under the radar somewhat following a vicious high-profile rap beef with US hiphop artist Kendrick Lamar, which significantly harmed Drake’s reputation. 2025 saw him release collaborative album ‘Some Sexy Song 4 U’ with singer-songwriter PartyNextDoor, as well as solo single ‘What Did I Miss?’.

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His ninth album ‘Iceman’ has been hinted at as far back as 2024, but its promotional campaign packed with publicity stunts kicked off in April, when he encased the LP’s release date inside a gigantic ice sculpture in downtown Toronto. When the ice thawed, the date was revealed to be the 15th of May – however it wasn’t until yesterday, the 14th of May, that Drake would surprise-announce 10th and 11th albums ‘Habibti’ and ‘Maid Of Honour’ to also release at midnight.

Spotify revealed that on the release date, the trio of albums combined to make Drake the most streamed artist in a single day this year on the platform. Each album has significantly different styles and approaches, as well as a vast list of featured artists across their whopping 43 songs. When this week’s album charts were confirmed today, Friday the 22nd of May, ‘Iceman’ locked the rapper’s seventh Number One, with ‘Maid Of Honour’ sixth and ‘Habibti’ in seventh. The UK Official Charts Company confirm Drake is the first artist ever to debut three studio albums in the top 10 in one week, with the last similar feat being late pop king Prince’s compilation albums ‘The Hits / The B-Sides’, ‘The Hits 1’ and ‘The Hits 2’ all occupying the Top 10 in 1993.

Over in the UK Official Singles Chart, three singles from ‘Iceman’ have broken into the Top 10, but failed to dethrone Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s ‘Rein Me In’, which spends its 12th week at the top. ‘Janice STFU’ lands at second, ‘National Treasures’ at third, and ‘Make Them Cry’ settles for sixth.

The separate days of the festival had different themes – for the Friday (July 11), fans were treated to a day of R&B/soul music. Speaking to the crowd, Drake said, “You came to a very special night. It’s night one. It’s a celebration of all things R&B. All things melodies. All classics.” The audience enjoyed sets throughout the day from rising UK stars like Nippa and KWN, as well as American artists such as Summer Walker and Leon Thomas. During Drake’s set, he pulled through with a host of guests including Giveon, Bryson Tiller, Bobby Valentino and Mario.

@wirelessfestival We said we were making history this weekend @Rockstar Energy UK #drake #laurynhill #mslaurynhill #wirelessfestival #20yearswireless #wireless2025 #wireless ♬ original sound – Wireless Festival

One of the biggest surprises of the day came as Lauryn Hill took to the stage. A famously reclusive artist whose live appearances have been notoriously disorganized, she came out to perform “Ready Or Not” and “Ex Factor”, the latter of which transitioned into Drake’s hit “Nice For What” which samples the soulful classic.

The tempo and tone was changed for the Saturday show (July 12), as the mellow vibes of the previous night were switched for a high-energy day of hip-hop. ““London, tonight is different,” Drake said onstage, hyping up the audience. “All that sweetheart, singing sh*t? That sh*t is over tonight. This is for my motherf*cking dogs.” A lineup of homegrown UK talent was featured throughout, with experimental trap rapper Lancey Foux and grime collective Boy Better Know providing sets.

@wirelessfestival You asked for Dave & Cench, we delivered DRAKE SPECIAL GUESTS NIGHT 2 @Rockstar Energy UK @CentralCee #drake #dave #centralcee #cench #wireless #wireless2025 #20yearswireless #wirelessfestival ♬ original sound – Wireless Festival

When it was Drake’s time to take to the stage, he gave another star-studded set featuring guests like Dave, Central Cee, J Hus, Yeat, Skepta, Latto, Sexyy Redd, K-Trap, Headie One and 21 Savage.

The Sunday (July 13) saw the styles travel from London to around the world for a “global” themed day, featuring afrobeat and dancehall artists legends like Vybz Kartel, Burna Boy, Spice and Popcaan. Unfortunately, Drake only managed to perform for 40 minutes, due to a strict 9:30pm curfew, as he opted to give the other acts more stage time.

@wirelessfestival VYBZ X DRAKE @Rockstar Energy UK #wireless #20yearswireless #wireless2025 #wirelessfestival #drake #vybzkartel ♬ original sound – Wireless Festival

During the Saturday night, Drake seemingly weighed in on the debate brewing as to who would reign victoriously in a clash between UK and US rappers. He said to a supportive crowd, “London rappers are the best lyricists in the world. No disrespect to America, but nobody in the world can out-rap London rappers. This is the highest level – this is what I aspire to be.”

To read more into the growing UK vs US battle debate drawn up by Skepta, click here.

The Canadian hip-hop superstars have added two stops at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on July 20 and 21, and two more stops at Manchester’s Co-op Live on July 25 and 26. Afterwards, the tour will continue throughout Europe from the end of July to late September, starting out in the Netherlands and travelling through countries like Sweden and Italy, before closing out in Germany at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg.

This tour will be Drake’s first run of live shows in the UK and Europe since his 2019 ‘Assassination Vacation’ tour. Earlier in 2025, he toured through Australia on his ‘Anita Max Win’ tour, but had to cancel several dates with short notice due to scheduling conflicts.

In February, Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR dropped their collaborative album, ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’. While the album gathered mixed reviews, it managed to take the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and peaked at No. 3 on the UK Album Charts.

Before his Birmingham and Manchester dates, Drake is still set to headline all three nights of Wireless from July 11-13. The Finsbury Park festival is celebrating its 20^th anniversary, with the Toronto titan closing the concert out on each day.

It seems that Drake is planning a different setlist and style for each night. For the first night he will be joined by R&B artists like Summer Walker and PARTYNEXTDOOR. ‘The Mandem’ will be joining him on the second – this has been confirmed as the grime collective, Boy Better Know. And on the last night, he’ll be joined by the king of dancehall, Vybz Kartel, and afrobeats superstar, Burna Boy.

Drake has a strong history with Wireless – he first headlined the London event in 2012, and since then has made special guest appearances over the years. After the announcement of this year’s lineup, the festival sold out in record timing, with its 135,000 tickets gone within minutes.

@thhguru #Drake shows love to #CentralCee in #Toronto and announces #OVOFest will be returning this summer! : @Alex Henein ♬ original sound – TheHipHopGuru

Earlier in May, Drake also appeared at a Central Cee show and promised the return of OVO Fest after its absence for a few years. The festival, founded and curated by Drake himself, is held in his hometown of Toronto and has featured guests such as Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj as headliners. You can read more MXDWN coverage on that here.

‘$ome $pecial $hows 4 UK EU’ 2025 Dates:

JULY
20 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
21 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
25 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
26 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
31 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome

AUGUST
7 – Antwerp, Belgium – Sportpaleis
11 – Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion
15 – Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena
16 – Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena
21 – Stockholm, Sweden – Avicii Arena
22 – Stockholm, Sweden – Avicii Arena
24 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
25 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
29 – Milan, Italy – Unipol Forum
30 – Milan, Italy – Unipol Forum

SEPTEMBER
7 – Paris, France – Accor Arena
8 – Paris, France – Accor Arena
11 – Berlin, Germany – Uber Arena
12  – Berlin, Germany – Uber Arena
16 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
18 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
22  – Hamburg, Germany – Barclays Arena
23  – Hamburg, Germany – Barclays Arena

A pre-sale for Three customers begins at 12pm on Monday (Feb 17), and other customers can sign up to the Wireless pre-sale for 12pm on Tuesday (Feb 18). General sale will open at 12pm on Wednesday (Feb 19) – tickets can be seen here.

Every night will see him perform a different setlist and bring out different guests – on the Friday (11 July), he’ll be accompanied by long-time collaborator PartyNextDoor and R&B star Summer Walker. This night could see him cater to the R&B crowd – he’s always incorporated R&B/soul sounds into his music since his first mixtapes, carving out his lane as one of the first rappers to really popularize the melodic style that’s prevalent today.

On the Saturday (12 July), there’s been no confirmed guests yet, only ‘Drake & The Mandem’. It’s a good guess that this will see a set tailored to UK rap fans. Drake’s been a long-time admirer of British emcees, since his ‘More Life’ tape where he took influence from UK grime and hip-hop, featuring artists like Giggs on ‘KMT‘ and Skepta on ‘Skepta’s Interlude‘. Recent years have seen him collaborate with newer names like Dave, Headie One, and Central Cee.

And lastly, on Sunday (13 July), Burna Boy and Vybz Kartel are confirmed as special guests. Perhaps this night will see Drake showcase some more international sounds. On ‘Views’, he started experimenting with West Indian and African styles, with dancehall song ‘Controlla’ and the afrobeat-inspired track ‘One Dance’ becoming big hits.

Last week on Valentine’s day, Drake and PartyNextDoor teamed up to release a joint album, titled ‘Some Sexy Songs 4 U’. A 21-track release that features both collaborative and solo songs from the Canadian pair, it swayed further into slow-jam/R&B territory than the hip-hop/rap style fans might have expected from Drake. The two of them have collaborated previously on classic songs like ‘Recognize‘ and ‘Come And See Me‘.

On Spotify, the album earned 56.6 million first-day streams on the global chart, becoming the second-biggest album debut of 2025 so far. It’s also broken the record for the biggest R&B/soul album in Apple Music’s history by first-day streams worldwide.

While a commercial success for the two OVO artists, the project has garnered mixed reviews. The Hollywood Reporter said: “The intention seems to have been to make a record to sleep with someone to. In practice, it’s more like a record to put you to sleep.” Clash Magazine wrote: “On first listen, ‘$ome $sexy $ongs 4 U’ isn’t terrible, but it equally isn’t a vintage release for either artist.”

So far, Drake and his guests are the only confirmed acts for Wireless Festival 2025. More info on the event can be found here.

TikTok is a short-from video sharing platform that allows content creators to use copyrighted music in their videos. This feature is central to TikTok’s appeal, with viral trends on the platform often featuring copyrighted music. One such trend involved Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ which became one of the most used tracks on the app after its feature in Emerald Fennel’s 2023 film Saltburn. As a result, the 2001 dance track shot up the UK top 100 as well as charting in the US for the first time. In light of TikTok’s reliance on copyrighted music, much of which is owned by UMG, the label has said: “Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”

UMG’s open letter states concerns over artist compensation, the use of AI songs, a topic that UMG has been critical of before, and the poor moderation on the platform. Although all these issues are common on TikTok, the timing of UMG’s open letter would suggest that an inadequate licencing deal was the catalyst for UMG’s dissatisfaction with the platform. UMG stated that the social media company’s offer was “worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their [TikTok’s] exponential growth.”

The same day that UMG released their open letter, a representative from TikTok responded, saying: “Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” TikTok’s response aimed to portray the platform as one that “serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their [UMG’s] talent.” Although it is true that artists often see an increase in attention from exposure on TikTok, this increased traffic is rarely sustained on a long-term basis.

Artists on TikTok are paid per video rather than per view. According to the music promotion company, SoundCampaign, artists with an 100% share of their own royalties receive $0.003 (£0.0024) per video that features their music. Artists receive no payment with regards to views on individual videos that include their work.

UMG has accused TikTok of “selectively removing the music of certain… developing artists, while keeping on the platform… audience-driving global stars.” In response to these poor negotiations, UMG has pulled some of its music from TikTok. Aiming for maximum disruption UMG has, at time of writing, removed both Drake’s and Taylor Swift’s official music from TikTok.

Universal’s actions have already been received poorly by many TikTok creators. TikTok creator Evan Cronin, who spoke to The New York Times today, has had music retroactively removed from his videos, making his content an “essentially a dead post”.

Artists have responded with their own reactions to the UMG dispute, with indie singer Beabadoobee acknowledging the removal of her work from TikTok. In her response, Beabadoobee posted a video that includes a version of her song ‘Talk’ played at two times speed in order to circumvent automated copyright recognition on the platform.

Whether this dispute reaches a resolution or not, it is clear that, for now, many of the world’s largest artists will have their music entirely removed from TikTok. With UMG having no current disputes with other short-form video platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, it remains to be seen whether TikTok creators will end up migrating to other platforms which have working relationships with UMG.

More recently, UMG has set its sights on AI assistant Claude 2, developed by American tech startup Anthropic PBC. Instead of focusing on supposedly stolen voice talent, UMG has joined Concord Publishing and ABKCO Records to contest the AI assistant’s use of copyrighted lyrics. The complaint filed by the three music labels argues that “Anthropic unlawfully copies and disseminates vast amounts of copyrighted works—including the lyrics to myriad musical compositions owned or controlled by Publishers.” When the AI assistant Claude 2 is asked to recite lyrics from copyrighted music, they are regurgitated by the program. While websites like Genius, a large music lyric database, serve a similar function, they seek licensing agreements from the owners of the copyrighted material used on their site.

Even outside of music, AI companies have been in hot water over copyright law, with The Times filing a lawsuit against OpenAI, the operator of Chat GPT. The Times cites a similar claim to UMG, stating that their copyrighted materials are displayed by the program without permission. However, there is a deeper issue at the heart of both of these lawsuits. Copyrighted material is used to train these AI models. Understandably, both UMG and The Times are not thrilled by their material being used to improve the product of another business without credit or license. This is an issue posed by AI assistants across all mediums, with artists, musicians, and writers essentially having their work scraped from the internet and fed into a program that presents stolen work as original. 

ghotstwriter977’s ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ was a novelty designed to outline how producers and writers are often treated as disposable when compared to big-name artists like Drake. Speaking to CNN, ghostwriter977 said: “I was a ghostwriter for years and got paid close to nothing just for major labels to profit”. ghostwriter977 flipped this narrative on its head, producing and writing a compelling Drake song without involving the artist himself. In the case of Claude 2 and Chat GPT, the use of copyrighted content serves a less noble cause as many see the rise of generative AI programs to be reliant on the mass theft of other people’s work. This is an attitude expressed by UMC and associated parties in their filing against Anthropic. 

The UK-born Atlanta-based rapper announced the show via social media, showcasing childhood photos from his youth living in London, soundtracked to Skylar Grey’s “Coming Home”. The video in the post concluded with the words: “London, I’m coming home”. Drake has hinted towards making an appearance by making a comment underneath the post by simply responding: “*We’re.”

The 02 Arena show is a one-off show that isn’t a part of any specific tour for the rapper. Opening support for the show will be provided by Baby Drill and 21 Harold. The ticket pre-sale will be held on Wednesday, October 11^th at 9am, whilst general presale will be open on Friday, October 13^th. Tickets can be found here.

21 SAVAGE HOMECOMING
THE O2
NOV. 30 pic.twitter.com/wDU32Fl3WS

— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) October 9, 2023

The announcement for 21 Savage’s first show follows the news that the rapper has been declared a “lawful permanent resident” of the United States and is able to freely travel around the world, including to his native United Kingdom. 21 Savage was touring for Drake’s “It’s All A Blur” tour, but was unable to join him for shows outside of the United States until very recently as a result of immigration complications dating back to 2005.

21 Savage (real name: Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph), has been fighting a four year legal battle since 2019, as he was arrested for immigrating to the United States and overstaying his Visa, having arrived in the country in 2000 when he was 7 years old. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested unlawfully present United Kingdom national Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph AKA ‘21 Savage’ during a targeted operation with federal and local law enforcement partners early Sunday in metro Atlanta,” were the words of ICE spokesperson Brian Cox at the time of arrest, however Savage’s lawyer at the time exclaimed: “We are working diligently to get Mr Abraham-Joseph out of detention while we work with authorities to clear up any misunderstanding,”

The investigation concluded that Savage had immigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States from the age of 7 in 2000, but then returned to the United Kingdom for his uncle’s funeral in 2005, aged 12, without any knowledge that his visa would expire in 2006. Savage would attempt to renew his visa in 2017 after learning it was a legal requirement.

Benn, in referencing the stage changes, told NME, “There are always changes in the artists, but there will be to the stages as well. It’s a mix of all sorts of things, really. I’m not quite ready to announce it yet, but I’m really very excited about it.”

As for the possible headliners for next year’s Reading & Leeds festival, Benn was quick to rule out the likes of Yungblud, Paramore, Dua Lipa, Drake and Queens Of The Stone Age, lightheartedly replying, “You’ve lost a lot of money” in response to the interviewer’s claim of betting on the aforementioned acts to perform at next year’s event.

Others, though, may be well in the mix, including Central Cee, whom Benn has said of, “The trajectory of Central Cee is just incredible. He played Wireless Festival last year and it was an explosion in that sense with a really big crowd compared to what he’d been having. He’s really worked it since then. He’s getting breakthroughs in the US and working with some really important artists, and it just feels like he’s got a great future. I’m not going to say he’s going to be a future headliner because I don’t want to give anyone that burden. I felt like it was a burden I’d given to Foals. They came through with it, but I don’t want to do that again.”

Lewis Calpaldi, who unfortunately had to pull out of this year’s festival, and who was ultimately replaced by The 1975, is always welcome back to perform a headline show at Reading & Leeds, with Benn stating, “I think there will always be an open offer, but at the same time the only thing that needs to be thought about is Lewis’ health. We certainly wouldn’t be having a discussion prior to Lewis’ health being right.”

Rage Against The Machine, however, are a band that are unlikely to feature after cancelling last year, as Benn spoke about their potential return, “It’s not an agenda item at the moment, let’s put it that way. Rage are a US-based act and would very rarely do one-off shows, so it would need to fit in to a lot more scheduling.”

Additionally, Benn has also confirmed that a headliner has in fact been chosen for 2024 already, stating, “We have one of the headliners confirmed, and have had them confirmed for a little while actually. They’ve headlined in the past so we know their strength with it and we’re pleased with that.”

Listen to “Who Told You” below:

In an Instagram post, he announced with him reacting to Drake’s verse on his song. He captions it: “When I First Heard @champagnepapi verse. Who Told You Out Now Ft. Drizzy.” In the second verse, the Canadian artist makes a reference to his 2016 hit “Controlla”. He raps, “Let me hold your controlla, I’m not one of the controllin’ guys. I want you to touch road with the girlsdem, and socialise.” 

Watch J Hus’ reaction to Drake’s verse on “Who Told You” below:

J Hus, also known by his real name Momodou Jallow, released his debut album “Common Sense” in 2017. Since then, it has been three years since his last album “Big Conspiracy”. The album featured 14 songs collaborating with talented artists including Burna Boy, Ella Mai, Koffee, and iceè tgm. Both albums are available to listen on Spotify.

Listen to J Hus’ album “Common Sense” (2017) below:

Listen to his 2020 album “Big Conspiracy” below:

A year before that, J Hus famously made a surprise appearance at Drake’s concert at London’s O2 Arena hours after being released from jail on a knife possession charge. Now, the East London rapper has returned with more music with his is recent release “It’s Crazy” as his first track of the year. The song dropped on Friday 26 May, which is also the date of the rapper’s birthday. An official video, produced by Fumes and The Elements, for “It’s Crazy” was released where J Hus can be seen cruising around town in a black Mercedes Benz.

Watch the official video for “It’s Crazy” from J Hus below:

Following these two new releases, fans are expecting an upcoming album titled “DON’T SAY MILITANCY” from him.

On June 2, J Hus posted a video on Instagram beginning the clip with, “Don’t say militancy”. He captioned the video: “I’ll tell you a lot but there’s certain things that I won’t say, I’ll just do. That’s why I always speak in riddles. I do this shit for the people who can read. But I also do it for the people who are believers but can’t read. Just believe in yourself & u got this.”

Watch the video from his Instagram below:

The artist has not released an official tracklist for his new album yet. However, after two songs released, fans are expecting an album soon.

Despite this causing a stir, the system has actually been in place since 2011 and was set up to battle touting by ensuring fans have access to the the most in-demand tickets. The Ticketmaster website says “The prices are adjusted according to supply and demand. The goal is to give fans fair and safe access to in demand tickets, while allowing the artists and everyone involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true value.” Some have speculated that this approach is preferable to lining the pockets of those purchasing tickets to only resell. However, in the UK it has been illegal for people to sell tickets for live events, matches, and concerts for more than face value Since 31 July 2021.

Though some artists may welcome the dynamic pricing structure, others claim to have had no knowledge of it and are said to disagree with its practices. Back in 2020, Australian rock band, Crowded House released a statement on Twitter indicating that they were not aware of the system and had not approved the program. They approached Live Nation and requested that any ticket holders who had paid over face-value were to be reimbursed. 

pic.twitter.com/YGH9hNany5

— Crowded House (@CrowdedHouseHQ) November 17, 2020

There’s no doubt that since the pandemic, fans are thrilled that music has come back with a bang. A Wall Street Journal investigation from 2019, found the average ticket price to attend the Top 100 US tours increased up 55% in the last ten years and with the ongoing effects of inflation, and the pandemic, it is no surprise that music’s comeback will come at a cost.