With Drake and Taylor Swift Doing It in Back-to-Back Weeks, Are Four-Song Bonuses Now the Move for Pop Stars’ Deluxe Editions?

Trending on Billboard It was released as the third of the three-pack of new albums Drake dropped to stunned audiences this May. But now, HABIBTI is the first album from the triple-release to get its own deluxe edition, with four new tracks debuting two Fridays ago (Oct. 2). Explore See latest videos, charts and news The quartet of tracks comprising the bonus material on HABIBTI (FOMO) — subtitled after the hour-long visual Drake released in September, which featured the new tracks for the first time, along with several other HABIBTI cuts — all appear on this week’s Hot 100, led by the Don Tolliver-featuring (and Ella Langley-lifting) “Solar Eclipse” at No. 5. These tracks swarm the Hot 100 just a week after Drake’s fellow megastar Taylor Swift did the same with a quartet of new bonus tracks off her own recent deluxe edition, The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore. Is there something to the four-track-bonus release strategy? And can Drake now call it a wrap for his 2026? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below. 1. Drake notches four combined chart debuts and reentries this week from his HABIBTI bonus cuts, with “Solar Eclipse” with Don Toliver debuting at No. 5, “Quebec” at No. 11 and “Cold Shoulder” (also with Don Toliver, and Yebba) at No. 18, while “Classic” re-enters at a new No. 28 high following the release of the new “Classic Pt. 2.” Is this all better, worse or about what you would’ve expected from the performance of the new four-pack? Kyle Denis: This is exactly what I suspected. The “Choosin’ Texas” flip debuts the highest, the equally buzzy “Quebec” lands right outside the top 10 and the rest of the songs make the top 30. Business as usual for Drizzy Drake. Lyndsey Havens: About what I’d expect! A top five debut is admirable, and even more so when you realize the four songs ahead of it are all country or country-leaning. In a relatively sleepy year for hip-hop and rap on the Hot 100, Drake’s four-pack performance proves that the interest is still there. Carl Lamarre: I’m fine with this. Drake delivered an impressive 1-2-3 debut this past May on the Billboard 200. Led by ICEMAN, Drake leapfrogged Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums among solo male artists (15) and surpassed the King of Pop for the most No. 1s on the Hot 100 among male soloists. Skating past Jigga and MJ in the same calendar year is already bonkers. Some may call this a failure or a product of Drake fatigue, but at this point in his career, Drizzy is merely collecting sonic coins for the hell of it. Michael Saponara: I expected a little bit better, but Drake appeared to be hurt by premiering the four-pack in the FOMO short film a few weeks earlier, which took away from the allure of the set being brand new since fans knew what was coming and had already heard the tracks. Tucking the set at No. 12 through No. 15 on the track list as part of the HABIBTI (FOMO) deluxe didn’t do him any favors either. Andrew Unterberger: Four tracks in the top 30 and one in the top five is totally reasonable for Drake. Last year he released an entire (collaborative) album that didn’t have a single song debut in the top five! To do this with a quartet of bonus cuts tacked at the end of his third album of the year is just fine. 2. “Solar Eclipse” is the best-performing track of the four so far, with the Don Toliver collab debuting at No. 5 on the Hot 100. Does it feel like it will be a major success from the era, or is it more about the starriness of the collab (plus the added chart appeal of a “Choosin’ Texas” interpolation)? Kyle Denis: It absolutely feels like the latter; I don’t anticipate any of these bonus tracks sticking around once their novelty wears off. I think “Janice STFU” and “Shabang” will remain the defining hits of this triple-album era. Lyndsey Havens: I have to credit this to the “Choosin’ Texas” interpolation and curiosity listens. I’d never quite expect an R&B/rap remix of a country song to land… and I’m not sure it totally does? It’s interesting, for sure, and I applaud Drake for taking his fandom to this level. So while I don’t think it will be a major success from this era — nor should it be, really, when there are more classic Drake cuts to remember it for — I do think it will be a major talking point from this era, something that eventually we will look back on and say, “Huh, remember when he did that?” Carl Lamarre: Selfishly, I favor “Cold Shoulder.” Yebba’s addition is chef’s kiss, and I think the song has a chance to become the more enduring hit. Melodically, it feels cut from the same cloth as “God’s Plan,” and because of that, I’m hoping it picks up steam. I’m also not naive. Interpolating “Choosin’ Texas,” the biggest song out right now, and pairing it with a Texas superstar — and arguably the hottest rapper not named Drake — in Don Toliver makes “Solar Eclipse” a bonafide slam dunk. Michael Saponara: “Major success” is probably a bit hyperbolic given the extremely high bar Drake’s set for chart success. I think it’s more commemorative of the moment, with Drizzy and Don connecting after carrying mainstream rap on their backs for 2026. It’s also giving a torch-passing moment with Drake representing rap’s elder statesmen and Don making the leap to hip-hop’s A-list. Drake’s country kick has to be mentioned as well, wearing his Ella Fella ties proudly, while interpolating Langley’s record-breaking No. 1 Hot 100 hit. Andrew Unterberger: It might not be a particularly lasting hit — though I bet it’ll hang around a little — but if nothing else, it’ll endure as a major testament to the cultural impact of “Choosin’ Texas.” For anyone still wondering how a song they aren’t familiar with could be so chart-dominant, they could look at the biggest rapper of the last two decades not even waiting a full year to try to summon its powers for his own purposes and perhaps realize that their ignorance says more about them than the song itself. 3. HABIBTI has received significantly less attention and chart success than Drake’s simultaneously released ICEMAN. Do you think this will help the set be viewed more on even viewing with ICEMAN or will it still lag well behind? Kyle Denis: Habibiti will likely continue to lag behind ICEMAN. The new additions are fine songs, but they don’t magically make HABIBTI a better album, let alone one that can stand toe-to-toe with ICEMAN. At best, it’ll help pad the album’s chart statistics. Anything more than that is a bonus. Lyndsey Havens: ICEMAN was the mainstream offering while HABIBTI, I think, will continue to grow with time — and sure, this set could help speed that up. But, for me, the softer spotlight on HABIBTI has been part of its charm all along — and highlights the risk in releasing three albums at once. That they can’t all really match each other’s momentum, acclaim and attention. But, if this set helps more listeners join the HABIBTI pool, then great. Thoguh I don’t think the original album was lacking to begin with. Carl Lamarre: Previously, I was of the mindset that HABIBTI would lap ICEMAN, but I’m not so sure anymore. Revisiting ICEMAN reminded me why Drake is the LeBron James of his generation. This album was his 3-1 comeback after watching his career nearly flatline. The comeback narrative surrounding ICEMAN might ultimately overshadow whatever praise HABIBTI receives in the years to come. Michael Saponara: ICEMAN will always be the main attraction for me and serves as his mission statement, answering the questions left following the 2024 battle against Kendrick Lamar. It’s also his most rap-heavy album in a decade. However, essentially releasing a HABIBTI deluxe has made me revisit tracks from the project that fell out of my rotation or I didn’t fully appreciate while attempting to digest the 40-plus songs from the May trifecta. Andrew Unterberger: I doubt it’ll catch up with ICEMAN anytime soon, exactly, but I do appreciate Drake giving it its own spotlight moment like this. It does feel like the album of the three that will continue to grow the most in fan estimation over the years, and this seems to be Drake signaling that he himself recognizes there’s something a little special about the album. 4. Drake’s own four-song bonus EP of sorts arrives just a week after Taylor Swift’s does — does this particular reissue strategy feel like a logical one for two of the biggest artists in the world to be using in such quick succession? Do you think more big-name artists will follow with their latest albums? Kyle Denis: The strategy makes sense; it allows for rejuvenated interest in a months-old project, revives the conversation around it and boosts its overall commercial success. I’m sure other big-name acts will follow suit with their own spin on deluxe reissues, but I wish more of these bonus tracks felt more vital to their parent albums than some of these recent offerings. I’ll give Drake some credit for ensuring HABIBTI — and hopefully Maid of Honour, too — don’t get lost in the wake of ICEMAN‘s domination. Lyndsey Havens: I am sure more artists will follow, but should they? The strategy only adds to the ongoing conversation over albums today — is it really ever done? Does it have to ever really be done? In many cases, the post-release cycles are starting to eclipse the pre-release cycles. Plus, in a consumer-driven industry, artists know and trust their fans to, well, consume — especially in the case of artists like Drake and Taylor. Carl Lamarre: Let’s be fair: Drake has been delivering bite-sized releases like FOMO for years. His Scary Hours series thrived on this strategy well before Taylor entered the mix with her four-pack. As for revisiting albums, I think it’s a clever play, but I’d be lying if I said FOMO made me revisit HABIBTI in its entirety. I’ve primarily been living with the four new tracks rather than returning to the full project. This strategy does make me wonder what a bite-sized portion of GNX could have sounded like or even a curtailed deluxe version of SOS. Michael Saponara: Yeah, I could definitely see this becoming a strategy deployed by labels in the future. It allows artists to release a pack for fans without the pressures that come with a full-length project, and brings the albums back to the mainstream conversation with a fresh coat of paint. With a generation of listeners boasting shorter attention spans and having a glut of releases at their disposal, projects tend to get discarded within weeks, and this kind of move can help alleviate that. Andrew Unterberger: Four tracks seems like a good bonus quantity for a deluxe — enough so that it feels like a substantial addition, but not so much that it feels like a needless deluge. I do hope for the artists who continue to do this, they follow closer to Drake’s HABIBTI schedule — coming between 4-5 months after the original release — rather than nearly waiting a full year like Swift did with Encore, by which point it feels like fans are less excited to have reason to revisit Showgirl and more ready to move on to whatever’s next. 5. Between the triple-album-release, the #FOMO film, and now these bonus tracks, has Drake done everything you think he needs to to really reestablish his 2026 superstardom? Is there anything else you think he should still make a point to do by year’s end? Kyle Denis: He’s got the hit album, a handful of hit songs, new radio and chart records and presumably a newer, younger legion of fans sourced from his… questionable… stream appearances. The only thing left for Drake to do is to shake off the air of desperation that’s clouding his most recent moves (the goth baddie mess is so unbearably corny); it’s unbecoming of a superstar. Lyndsey Havens: I think an epic one-off performance could seal the deal. Drake popping up unexpectedly as a performer somewhere, for one song, could travel far online, and I don’t think I’ve seen that from him yet this year. Carl Lamarre: Feel free to torch me for this upcoming statement: Aside from 2018, 2026 was the best year of Drake’s career. The end. Michael Saponara: Yeah, Drake blanketed the year and represented for hip-hop in a year where it’s been scarce on the charts. He became the first artist to hold the top three slots of the Billboard 200 simultaneously, while “Janice STFU” topped the Hot 100 to give him the most No. 1s of any male soloist and his longest-running No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. Visually, I think this is Drake’s best era, as he turned live streams and short films into albums full of music videos, which feels unprecedented in modern rap. When the greats have their back against the wall, they tend to deliver and Drake did just that two decades into his career. The only thing missing now is connecting with his OVO faithful again, which he plans to do with a tour in 2027. My prediction: Drake embarks on his first-ever stadium tour next year with Don Toliver. Andrew Unterberger: It’s been a great year for Drake, though I wish he could find a way to sneak one big performance in before year’s end, since it does feel like that’s been the one thing missing from his 2026. I’ll cosign the 2027 stadium prediction, though.