Drake celebrates 40th birthday with Backstreet Boys onstage in New York

Drake celebrated his 40th birthday at New York's Casa Cipriani on the night of 23 October, hours before turning 40 on 24 October, at a party with more than 400 guests. According to Billboard, the Backstreet Boys performed for the crowd, and Drake joined them onstage for their 1999 hit “I Want It That Way”.

According to TMZ, guests received luxury giveaways including Chanel and Hermès handbags, and a game show during the night offered cash prizes from tens of thousands of dollars up to $1 million. Drake told the room the night was not about a tour, an album or videos, but about being alive.

The celebration began in Toronto earlier in the week, where Drake gathered with friends at the CN Tower and was shown a collage of photos and memories. Popcaan was among those present. He then flew to New York with his mother and members of his entourage on Air Drake, his customized Boeing 767.

The Backstreet Boys had brought Drake onstage before, in July 2022 at Toronto's Budweiser Stage, introducing him as their “sixth member”. He said then that the song had soundtracked a memory from his bar mitzvah.

The same day, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded him 30 new certifications, making him the first artist past 350 million certified units in the U.S. Views reached Diamond and “God's Plan” 2x Diamond; Drake now holds 18 Diamond-certified releases, more than any other artist. mbuzz reported on the certifications in October.

Drake is a Canadian and American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor, born in 1986 in Toronto. His newest studio album, according to MusicBrainz, is “MAID OF HONOUR”, released on 15 May 2026.