African stars score nominations for 2025 Grammys

The nominees hail from Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, and South Africa. Leading the charge for Africa is Tems from Nigeria, who has received three nominations – Best African Music Performance for ‘Love Me JeJe’, Best Global Music Album for Born in the Wild, and Best R&B Song for ‘Burning’.

Other African nominees include Nigeria’s Burna Boy, Asake, Davido, Lojay, Yemi Alade, and Rema, five-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo, Ghana’s Rocky Dawuni, Nigerian-American Shaboozey, and Nigerian-rooted Jordan Adetunji, with Shaboozey nominated across five categories.

Burna Boy and Asake are again in the Best African Music Performance category, with Burna Boy’s ‘Higher’ and Asake’s Wizkid-assisted ‘MMS’, both nominated. Davido secured his second nomination for his work on Chris Brown’s ‘Sensational’ and Lojay made his debut with the same song. Yemi Alade earned her first solo nomination for ‘Tomorrow’. In Best Global Music Performance, Angélique Kidjo is up for ‘Sunlight to My Soul’ featuring legendary South African group Soweto Gospel Choir, and Rocky Dawuni scored a nomination for ‘Rise’.

Additionally, Shaboozey, the breakout country artist, picks up five nominations, and Jordan Adetunji is nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance.

In February, South African singer Tyla, behind last year’s global viral hit ‘Water’, emerged as Africa’s sole Grammy winner at the 66th edition, taking home the firstBest African Music Performance trophy.

Meanwhile, US popstar Beyoncé leads this year’s nominations with 11 total nods for her album Cowboy Carter, making her the most-nominated artist in Grammy history with 99 nominations, followed by Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, and Charli XCX, who each earned seven nominations, while Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter each secured six.

The full list of nominees is available here.

Below is the list of categories featuring African nominees:

Best African Music Performance

• “MMS”– Asake & Wizkid
• ‘Higher’ – Burna Boy
• ‘Sensational’ – Chris Brown ft. Davido & Lojay
• ‘Love Me JeJe’ – Tems
• ‘Tomorrow’ – Yemi Alade

Best Global Music Performance

• ‘Sunlight to My Soul’ – Angélique Kidjo & Soweto Gospel Choir
• ‘Raat Ki Rani’ – Arooj Aftab
• ‘A Rock Somewhere’ – Jacob Collier featuring Anoushka Shankar & Varijashree Venugopal
• ‘Kashira’ –Masa Takumi featuring Ron Korb, Noshir Mody & Dale Edward Chung
• ‘Rise’ – Rocky Dawuni
• ‘Bemba Colorá’ – Sheila E. featuring Gloria Estefan & Mimy Succar

Best Global Music Album

• Historias de un Flamenco – Antonio Rey
• Paisajes – Ciro Hurtado
• Alkebulan II – Matt B & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• HEIS – Rema
• Born in the Wild – Tems

Best R&B Song

• ‘Burning’ – Tems
• ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’ – Coco Jones
• ‘After Hours’ – Kehlani
• ‘Ruined Me’ – Muni Long
• ‘Saturn’ – SZA