The Headies Awards has released its full nominations list for the 2026 edition, setting the stage for what organizers are billing as the show’s most geographically ambitious outing yet.
The 18th edition of Nigeria’s premier music honours, themed “Africa to the World,” will move its ceremony to Toronto, Canada, on October 25, a striking departure for a show that, after two turbulent years in Atlanta, had only recently found its footing back home.
The 2024 edition, themed “Back to Base,” marked the award’s return to Nigeria after two consecutive editions in Atlanta and was held at Lagos’s Landmark Event Centre in April 2025.
This year’s pivot north to Canada suggests organizers are once again looking to position the Headies and, by extension, Afrobeats on a bigger international stage, in keeping with the “Africa to the World” theme.
The nominations, unveiled via Instagram on Tuesday, span 213 nods across the show’s full slate of categories. At the top of the pile is Fola, the breakout artist whose 10 nominations, including entries for Afrobeats Single of the Year, Best R&B Album, Best Recording of the Year and Next Rated, make him the man to beat heading into October.
It’s a notable coronation for a relative newcomer and echoes past editions where a single artiste has dominated the conversation early: Burna Boy led with ten nominations at the 2023 ceremony in Atlanta, while Wizkid topped the list with ten of his own back in 2022.
Omah Lay trails Fola with eight nominations, buoyed in part by his Davido collaboration “With You,” which is up for both Song of the Year and Afrobeats Single of the Year.
Wizkid and Mavo round out the top tier with seven nods apiece, with Wizkid’s presence spread across Afrobeats Album of the Year (for Morayo) and Digital Artiste of the Year, among others.
On the women’s side, Tiwa Savage and Ayra Starr share top billing with five nominations each. Savage picks up recognition for her R&B project “This One Is Personal” and her vocal work on “You4Me,” while Starr is nominated in the Song of the Year and Best Performer (Live) categories, the latter for her Global Citizen Festival 2025 set.
The Song of the Year category itself is a tightly packed field, pitting Rahman Jago’s “Jago” against the Davido-Omah Lay collaboration “With You,” Fido’s “Joy Is Coming,” Ayra Starr’s “Hot Body,” Kunmie’s “Arike,” and the Asake-Wizkid pairing “MMS.”
Elsewhere, the Afrobeats Album of the Year race lines up heavyweight releases from Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, BNXN, Adekunle Gold, and Omah Lay, arguably the most competitive category on the card.
The show has also retained newer additions to its category list, including Best Performer (Live) and Best R&B Album, both introduced during the 2024 cycle, alongside long-standing fixtures like Best Female Artist, Best Male Artist, Rookie of the Year, and International Artist of the Year, the latter featuring a notably eclectic mix this year in Shenseea, Dave, Gunna, Jazmine Sullivan, Tiakola, and Ciara.
With the ceremony still two months away, attention now turns to how the Toronto setting will shape the night itself, from production values to the diaspora turnout organisers will be hoping to draw.
Given the show’s mixed history with overseas stagings, expectations will be cautiously optimistic.
For now, though, the conversation belongs to the nominees: Fola’s breakout year, Omah Lay’s continued rise, and a Best Female Artiste race that pits two of Afrobeats’ most bankable stars, Savage and Starr, squarely against one another.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Headies returns for its 18th edition with 213 nominations across the board, but the story is really about scale and shift: Fola’s stunning 10-nomination breakout leads the pack, with Omah Lay, Wizkid, and Mavo trailing close behind, while Tiwa Savage and Ayra Starr top the women’s field, setting up a genuinely competitive night.
The bigger headline, though, is location: for the first time, the ceremony heads to Toronto on October 25, a bold “Africa to the World” bet that will test whether Afrobeats’ biggest local awards show can thrive on an even bigger international stage.
