The change comes on the same day The Headies updated its Song of the Year nominees to include Olamide’s “99” featuring Young Jonn, Asake, Seyi Vibez and Daecolm.
The previous list featured Kunmie’s “Arike”, Poco Lee, Shoday and Rahman Jago’s “Hey Jago”, Ayra Starr’s “Hot Body”, FIDO’s “Joy Is Coming”, Wizkid’s “MMS” and Davido and Omah Lay’s “With You”.
The update brings the category to eight nominees and comes alongside changes to other categories, including Best Male Artiste.
The nominees for the 2026 American Music Awards have been announced with Burna Boy, Wizkid, Tyla, Rema and MOLIY scoring nominations.
Tyla is the most nominated Afrobeats artist this year. She’s up four awards including Best Afrobeats Artist, Best Social Song of the Year and Best Music Video of the Year both for “Chanel” and Best R& B Female Artist.
American Music Awards Best Female R&B Artist Nominees:
— Afrobeats Head Loves Timothee Ideh (@AfrobeatsHead) April 14, 2026
Nigerian-American artist Shaboozey is also nominated in three categories including Collaboration of the Year, Best Male Country Artist and Best Country Song for “Goodnews”
The nominees for the 2026 Grammy Awards were announced today and as expected, some of Afrobeats biggest names are in the running for the music industry’s biggest awards
Burna Boy’s No Sign of Weakness is up for the Best Global Music Award along with Youssou N’Dour’s World and The Eclairer le monde : Light the Mind Explosion (50th Anniversary Tour Live) album by Shakti
No Sign of Weakness – Burna Boy World – Youssou N'Dour Eclairer le monde : Light the Mind Explosion (50th Anniversary Tour Live) – Shakti Sounds Of Kumbha- Siddhant Bhatia pic.twitter.com/3w1swOl4KC
— Afrobeats Head Loves Timothee Ideh (@AfrobeatsHead) November 7, 2025
While the nominees for Best African Music Performance include Davido, Tyla, Ayra Starr and Uganda’s Eddy Kenzo
Ghanaian Afrobeats artist Twicy won two awards at the 2024 Central Music Awards, topping off an impressive year.
The “Live it Up” singer was named Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year at the ceremony which was held Friday, November 29th in the Ghanaian city of Cape Coast.
Twicy was nominated in an impressive eight categories including Songwriter of the Year, Video of the Year.
This caps an impressive year which saw the rising star take over the airwaves in Nigeria, Ghana and the UK with two hit songs “Lotto” and “Live it Up”
Shortly after the release of his debut album Far Away, the singer went on a media tour in Lagos, the entertainment capital of Africa where he had a growing fanbase.
He opened up about his life and career during interviews with some of the country’s most popular media personalities including Osi Suave at the Beat FM, and Melissa at Vybz FM.
He also appeared on Silverbird TV, Soundcity Radio and ESplash on TVC.
The award-winning singer has also been praised for his performance of “Live it Up” on the Glitch Africa stage.
With such an impressive outing in 2024, the singer is no doubt poised to extend his lead as one of the most talented emerging artists in the Afrobeats scene.
As for the Prince of Afrobeats, Rema, he’ll be hoping to beat mega stars like Billie Eilish, Doja Cat and Olivia Rodrigo to win the Song of the Year award for his global hit “Calm Down”
While the British rapper Little Simz clenched three nods at this year’s edition of the UK’s biggest music award: Artist of the Year, Grime/Hip Hop/Rap Artist of the year and Album of the Year for her album “No Thank You”,
The 2024 Brits Awards will air on Sat 2 March on ITV1 and ITVX.