Burna Boy leads African stars as Grammys announce 2024 nominees

The Grammys spotlight and honour “artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position.”

Burna Boy scored four nods for Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Global Music Album, Best Global Music Performance and Best African Music Performance. Fellow Nigerian singer Davido secured three nods.

At the same time, Asake, Olamide, Ayra Starr and Tyla scored their first nominations in the Best African Performance category, newly introduced as part of a larger set of updates and amendments aimed at making the awards process “more fair, transparent and accurate,” according to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.

Back in February, South African artists Nomcebo Zikode, Zakes Bantwini and Wouter Kellerman emerged triumphant in the Best Global Music Performance category at the 65th Grammys. Nigerian singer Tems also took home her first Grammy in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category for her appearance on Future’s ‘Wait for U’ featuring Drake, 

Below is the list of categories featuring African nominees:

Best African Music Performance

• ‘Amapiano’ by Asake & Olamide
• ‘City Boys’ by Burna Boy
• ‘Unavailable’ by Davido ft. Musa Keys
• ‘Rush’ by Ayra Starr
• ‘Water’ by Tyla

Best Melodic Rap Performance

• ‘Sittin' On Top Of The World’ by Burna Boy ft. 21 Savage
• ‘Attention’ by Doja Cat
• ‘Spin Bout U’ by Drake & 21 Savage
• ‘All My Life’ by Lil Durk ft. J. Cole
• ‘Low’ by SZA

Best Global Music Performance

• ‘Shadow Forces’ by Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily
• ‘Alone’ by Burna Boy
• ‘FEEL’ by Davido
• ‘Milagro Y Disastre’ by Silvana Estrada
• ‘Abundance In Millets’ by Falu & Gaurav Shah ft. PM Narendra Modi)
• ‘Pashto’ by Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain ft. Rakesh Chaurasia
• ‘Todo Colores’ by Ibrahim Maalouf ft. Cimafunk & Tank And The Bangas

Best Global Music Album

• ‘Epifanías’ by Susana Baca
• ‘History’ by Bokanté
• ‘I Told Them...’ by Burna Boy
• ‘Timeless’ by Davido
• ‘This Moment’ by Shakti

The full list of nominees is available here.