Drake, Ella Langley, and Kacey Musgraves Featured on "Greatest Pop Stars" Podcast

The fifth month of 2026 was mostly about one artist: Drake . The embattled rap superstar returned not just with his highly anticipated Iceman album, but two additional albums in Maid of Honour and Habibti , taking the top three spots on the Billboard 200 , swarming the Billboard Hot 100 in unprecedented fashion, and generally dominating discourse and discussion like no other artist so far this year. The Drake eclipse largely overshadowed the rest of the month in pop stardom — but plenty of other artists still did make their presence felt with big hit songs, impactful albums, spotlight award-show moments and hype-building drops from upcoming projects.

This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast , we catch up with everyone — yes, of course including and led by Drake — who defined May 2026 in pop stardom. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Rebecca Milzoff to share and debate our respective May top five lists, while also naming some honorable mentions, some disappointments, and some artists who we’re looking forward to in the next few months of the year. (If you want to listen back to our first four 2026 recaps, or any of our 2025 episodes, you can check them all out here .)

And of course, we ask all the most pressing questions about the month in pop stardom: Did Drake really need to drop three albums at once to get back to where he was? How are we currently stacking Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide up against its predecessor Stick Season ? Is Kacey Musgraves on her way to being accepted back into the country mainstream? Is Michael Jackson really about to have one of the summer’s breakout hits with a decade-old posthumous song? Did we get what we wanted from Gracie Abrams’ first new single of 2026? Which ’90s alternative reference point are we currently citing for Olivia Rodrigo’s “The Cure”? And perhaps most importantly: What is up with that Role Model album title ?

Check it out above, and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts ) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!

And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:

Transgender Law Center

Trans Lifeline

Destination Tomorrow

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area

Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org .

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/greatest-pop-stars-may-2026-podcast-drake-ella-langley-1236263923/)._