The 18th Headies Awards will be staged in Canada, marking another international staging of one of Nigeria’s most prominent music award shows.

By Emmanuel “Waziri” Okoro

Nigerian music heavyweights Davido, Wizkid and Burna Boy are among the leading nominees for the 18th Headies Awards, following the unveiling of the 2026 nominations on Tuesday. The ceremony is set to take place in Canada, marking another international staging of one of Nigeria’s most prominent music award shows.  The year under review for this edition is from August 1st 2024 to April 30th 2026. 

Davido, Wizkid and Burna Boy feature across several of the ceremony’s major categories, including Afrobeats Album of the Year, Best Male Artiste, Song of the Year, Afrobeats Single of the Year and Best Headies Collaboration.

Davido earned multiple nominations for his collaboration with Omah Lay, “With You”. The song is in contention for Song of the Year, Afrobeats Single of the Year, Best Recording of the Year, Best Headies Collaboration, and Viewers’ Choice. Wizkid also secured a strong showing. His collaborations with Asake: “MMS” and “Jogodo”, earned nominations in major song categories, while his album, Morayo, is nominated for Afrobeats Album of the Year. The singer is additionally nominated for Digital Artiste of the Year, Best Male Artiste, and Viewers’ Choice.

Burna Boy’s “Bundle by Bundle” received an Afrobeats Single of the Year nomination and is also recognised in the Music Video of the Year category. His album, No Sign of Weakness, is nominated for Afrobeats Album of the Year, while the singer is in contention for Best Male Artiste. The Next Rated category reflects a growing crop of Nigerian artistes, with Fido, FOLA, Llona, Mavo, and Shoday receiving nominations.

Check out the full nominees list below:

Song of the Year

• “Arike” — Kunmie
• “Hey Jago” — Poco Lee, Shoday & Rahman Jago
• “Hot Body” — Ayra Starr
• “Joy Is Coming” — Fido
• “MMS” — Asake & Wizkid
• “With You” — Davido & Omah Lay

Afrobeats Single of the Year

• “Fun” — Rema
• “Jogodo” — Asake & Wizkid
• “Laho” — Shallipopi
• “Joy Is Coming” — Fido
• “With You” — Davido & Omah Lay
• “You” — FOLA
• “Bundle by Bundle” — Burna Boy

Best Performer (Live)

• Adekunle Gold — Live at the National Theatre, Lagos
• Asake — Red Bull Symphonic
• Ayra Starr — Global Citizen Festival NYC 2025
• Johnny Drille — Johnny’s Room Live 6
• Ruger — Live at Indigo at The O2, London (2025)

Best R&B Album

• Before We Became Strangers — Kunmie
• Catharsis — FOLA
• I Am the Blueprint — Qing Madi
• Love Is a Kingdom — Tems
• Reflection Station — Tay Iwar
• This One Is Personal — Tiwa Savage

Best Recording of the Year

• “Arike” — Kunmie
• “How Do You?” — Amaeya
• “Baby (Is It a Crime)” — Rema
• “Coping Mechanism” — Omah Lay & Elmah
• “With You” — Davido & Omah Lay
• “You” — FOLA

Best Alternative Album

• Afrika Magik — SDC
• Detox — Sewa
• Duplicity — BOJ
• Healers Chapel — Wizard Chan
• Olorin Pack — Scottyolorin
• then 1t g0t crazy — Zaylevelten

Digital Artiste of the Year

• Asake
• Ayra Starr
• BNXN
• Chella
• FOLA
• Mavo
• Seyi Vibez
• Wizkid

Next Rated

• Fido
• FOLA
• Llona
• Mavo
• Shoday

Afrobeats Album of the Year

• 5ive — Davido
• Captain — BNXN
• Clarity of Mind — Omah Lay
• Fuji — Adekunle Gold
• Morayo — Wizkid
• No Sign of Weakness — Burna Boy

Music Video of the Year

• Director Pink — “10 Kilo” — Davido
• Dammy Twitch — “With You” — Davido
• TG Omori — “Afroculture” — Flavour ft Baaba Maal
• Jyde Ajala — “Kai” — Olamide ft Wizkid
• DK — “Bundle by Bundle” — Burna Boy
• Meji Alabi — “Who’s Dat Girl” – Ayra Starr ft Rema

Best Female Artiste

• Ayra Starr
• Qing Madi
• Sewa
• Tems
• Teni
• Tiwa Savage

Best Male Artiste

• Adekunle Gold
• Asake
• FOLA
• Mavo
• Rema
• Wizkid
• Burna Boy
• Davido

Rookie of the Year

• Amma
• Danpapa Gta
• Firstklaz
• Kidd Carder
• No11
• Priesst
• OG Abbah

Best Inspirational Single

• “Amioluwa” — Sunmisola Agbebi ft Yinka Okeleye
• “Favour” — Lawrence Oyor
• “Idinma (You Are Good)” — Sinach
• “Korin Iyin (I Will Praise You)” — EmmaOMG
• “No Turning Back II” — Gaise Baba ft Lawrence Oyor
• “We Move” — Mercy Chinwo

Best Vocal Performance (Male)

• Adekunle Gold — “I’m Not Done”
• Flavour — “Orente”
• Magixx — “Winter & Summer”
• Odeal — “Patience”
• Syemca — “Love Egbugomo”
• Odeal — “Patience”
• Tay Iwar — “Bad Belle”

Best Vocal Performance (Female)

• Layefa — “6:35”
• Amaeya — “How Do You?”
• Sewa — “Lagos Lovin”
• Qing Madi — “Scumbag”
• Liya — “Skin to Skin”
• Tiwa Savage — “You4Me”

Hall of Fame

• Awilo Longomba

Special Recognition Awards

• Cecil Hammond

Best Street-Hop Artiste

• Famous Pluto — “Na Scra”
• Kashcoming — “All My Money”
• Poco Lee — “Hey Jago” ft Shoday and Rahman Jago
• Seyi Vibez — “Shaolin”
• Shallipopi — “Laho”
• Tuff King — “Nkemakonam”
• Rybeena — “Gaddem” ft Shoday

International Artiste of the Year

• Ciara
• Dave
• Gunna
• Jazmine Sullivan
• Shenseea

Song Writer of the Year

• Adekunle Kosoko (Adekunle Gold) — “Many People”
• Anthony Ebuka Victor (Victony) — “Cough Syrup” with BNXN
• Fuayefika Maxwell (Wizard Chan) — “Time Traveler”
• Odunlami Afolarin Temiloluwa (Fola) — “Who Does That?”
• Oluwabukunmi Ariyibi Peter (Kunmie) — “Arike”
• Peace Chidinma Amaefula (Amaeya) — “How Do You?”

Best Collaboration

• CKay ft Mavo — “Body (Danz)”
• Mavo ft Wavestar — “Escaladizzy”
• Poco Lee, Shoday & Rahman Jago — “Hey Jago”
• Fola ft Kizz Daniel — “Lost”
• Odumodublvck ft Victony — “Pity This Boy”
• Davido ft Omah Lay — “With You”
• Mr Eazi and King Promise — “See What We’ve Done”
• Chief Priest ft Spyki — “Finally”

Best African Diaspora-Canadian Artiste

• Debby Friday — “Lipsync”
• Tôme — “CC” ft Alpha P
• Bolu Ajibade — “Diana” with Friyie
• Nonso Amadi — “Dive In”
• Rooky Kamiz — “Deeper”
• Tobi — “Out the Mud”

Best East African Artiste

• Abigail Chams (Tanzania)
• Bien (Kenya)
• Bruce Melodie (Rwanda)
• Harmonize (Tanzania)
• Joshua Baraka (Uganda)

Best West African Artiste

• Black Sherif (Ghana)
• Himra (Côte d’Ivoire)
• KiDi (Ghana)
• King Promise (Ghana)
• Moliy (Ghana)
• Wally B. Seck (Senegal)
• Stonebwoy (Ghana)

Best Alternative Song

• “CYK Baddie” — Luwa.mp4 ft Jeleel!
• “Lagos Lovin’” — Sewa
• “Oliver” — Wizard Chan
• “Omo to Sexy” — Blnde
• “Prada Baby” — Wave$tar
• “Sweet Danger” — Obongjayar
• “Summer Adina” — Chief Priest ft BoyPee & Zoro Swagbag

Best North African Artiste

• Balti (Tunisia)
• Dystinct (Morocco)
• Marwan Moussa (Egypt)
• Soolking (Algeria)
• Tul8te (Egypt)

Best Central African Artiste

• Fally Ipupa (DR Congo)
• Ferré Gola (DR Congo)
• Héritier Watanabe (DR Congo)
• Hiro (DR Congo)
• Innoss’B (DR Congo)
• Locko (Cameroon)

Best Rap Single

• “2:02 PM in London” — Odumodublvck
• “ACL” — Blaqbonez
• “Man2Man” — Dremo
• “Moshood” — PDSTRN
• “Nkemakonam” — Tuff King
• “Wuse Tu” — Zaylevelten, Mavo
• “John Wick” — Zhus Jdo

Best Rap Album

• Black Sheepizen (The 13th Disciple) — Tuff King
• GE3 (The Beginning) — A-Q
• G.O.A.T — Erigga
• King — Jeriq
• No Excuses — Blaqbonez
• The Machine Is Coming — Odumodublvck

Best R&B Single

• “6:35” — Layefa
• “How Do You?” — Amaeya
• “I Love You” — Amma
• “What You Need” — Tems
• “Winter & Summer” — Magixx
• “You4Me” — Tiwa Savage

Producer of the Year

• Magicsticks — “Jogodo” by Asake & Wizkid; “Real, Vol. 1” by Asake & Wizkid
• P.Priime — “MMS” by Asake & Wizkid; “Baby (Is It a Crime)” by Rema; “Billionaires Club” by Olamide, Darkoo & Wizkid
• Ragee — “Hot Body” by Ayra Starr; “Who’s Dat Girl” by Ayra Starr ft Rema
• Sarz — “Getting Paid” by Sarz, Asake, Wizkid & Skillibeng; “Uhh Yeahh” by Asake; “C’mon Look!” By Sarz ft Asake
• Tempoe — “With You” by Davido ft Omah Lay; “SMH” by Joeboy

Headies Viewers’ Choice

• Ayra Starr — “Hot Body”
• Davido — “With You” ft Omah Lay
• Rema — “Baby (Is It a Crime)”
• FOLA — “You”
• Wizkid — “Jogodo” with Asake
• Kunmie — “Arike”
• Mavo — “Escaladizzy” ft Wave$tar

Best Original Song for Visual Media

• “All My Love” — Osas Okonyon & Abbey Wonder, from Evi
• “Behind the Scenes” — Funke Akindele & Tolu Obanro, from Behind the Scenes
• “Save Me” — Oscar Heman-Ackah & 2Baba, from To Kill a Monkey
• Only in Lagos — WurlD & Liya, from Christmas in Lagos

Lyricist on the Roll

• Blaqbonez — “ACL”
• Dremo — “Man2Man”
• Modenine — “If You Like Gym” with Odumodublvck
• PDSTRN — “Moshood”
• Ycee — “Man2Man (Ycee Remix)” with Dremo

The post Davido, Wizkid, FOLA Lead 2026 Headies Awards Nominations + Full Nominees List first appeared on Afrocritik.