Grammys 2026 Opinion: African Music Sees Minimal Representation on ‘Music’s Biggest Night’

For the second year in a row, the highlights for African music at the Grammys were cordoned off to pre-main ceremony activities. It’s another timely reminder that, as much as it’s branded as ‘Music’s Biggest Night’, the Grammys are a predominantly American awards event that shouldn’t be expected to properly take the breadth of African music into account.

Last night marked the third straight year a Grammy was awarded for Best African Music Performance, a marker of the award’s narrow attention to popular music from the continent. South African superstar Tyla won her second Grammy after snagging the win in the category’s debut. Heading into the night, “PUSH 2 START” was the leading favorite, a slinky banger that was the only nominated song in the category to crack the Billboard Hot 100 and also saw a remix with Jamaican dancehall royalty Sean Paul.

As with her first win in 2024, Tyla’s win set off a chain reaction from many Nigerians online, sharing opinions on the Africanness of the singer’s sound. It’s a narrative OkayAfrica has cleared up in the past: Tyla makes hybrid pop music with obvious African elements, similar to many of her contemporaries and competitors in the category. “Hybrid pop music with African elements” is the easy description for the nebulous term that is Afrobeats. Again, the arguments are fostered by brazen entitlement and bias towards Nigerian artists, who predominantly dominate Afrobeats and African music discussions where Western award shows are concerned.

A lot has already been said about the Grammys’ hyperfixation on Afrobeats, for a category that is supposed to cater to more than just that. One category cannot hope to be enough in representing African music. Just three songs by non-Nigerian artists have been nominated in the category, with Uganda’s Eddy Kenzo only just marking the first African artist outside Nigeria and SA’s Tyla to receive a nod.

“I feel like our music is for the world,” Tyla told OkayAfrica on the red carpet of the Grammys main ceremony, shortly after it was announced that “PUSH 2 START” had won the African performance Grammy during the premiere ceremony. “Our music is global, our music is pop, so it’s easy – kinda – to be myself.” While she was speaking of pulling inspiration and influence from home, the global-facing ethos is not far from what many, if not most, Afrobeats artists consistently trumpet.

Outside Tyla’s win, the other biggest highlight for African music was the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award for Fela Anikulapo-Kuti earlier during the weekend, received by his children, Yeni, Kunle, Shalewa, and Femi Kuti. Nearly three decades since his passing, Fela’s legacy as the creator of Afrobeat and a staunch political activist has only evoked stronger admiration, something Femi acknowledged during the acceptance speech. It marked the first time an African was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award, further underlining the singular greatness of Fela – all controversies aside.

Sunday evening’s proceedings turned out to be some other interesting African-related moments. Nigerian American country star Shaboozey won his first Grammy; his Jelly Roll collab, “Amen,” won the award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. In his emotional acceptance speech, Shaboozey dedicated his wins to children of immigrants and “those who came to [the U.S.] in search of better opportunities,” bringing their cultures along with them and passing them down.

American rap artist of Nigerian descent, Tyler, the Creator, won the inaugural award for Best Album Cover during the premiere show. Later, during the main ceremony, he wore a similar mask to the one on the cover of the winning album, Chromakopia, as he delivered a high-energy performance of “Thought I was Dead.” An interlude sketch featuring actress Regina King led to a performance of “Sugar on My Tongue,” which featured a real sports car getting crashed, a lot of pseudo-breakdancing, and a simulated explosion that looked very, very real.

For the sixth time, South African comedian and media personality Trevor Noah hosted the main ceremony, and it was his most unhinged showing, to mostly positive results. The most elaborate of his bits was singing to and with the eventual Album of the Year winner, Bad Bunny. Noah sang “DtMF,” nailing the Spanish pronunciation of the lyrics, and even convincing the Puerto Rican American artist to briefly join in a duet with the arrival of a marching band.

Some of his gags/jokes were the best of his long-term hosting stint. At one point, he riffed on Kendrick Lamar’s rap beef win, which drew a laugh from the rapper and eventual Record of the Year winner. After Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” won Song of the Year, Noah took his most straightforward jab at U.S. President Donald Trump, after a few jibes littered throughout the evening. “Song of the Year, that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton,” he said to loud oooohss and ahhhs, referencing Trump’s obsession with the autonomous territory of Greenland and recent release of (some of) the infamous Epstein files alleging pedophile activities by Trump.

As a sign that Noah got in a good jab, Trump announced his desire to sue Noah for his “garbage” joke, calling the host a “total loser.” Trump referred to the Grammys as “the WORST, virtually unwatchable,” which many would describe as a sign that it was pretty much a good night. As soon as the crowd reacted to the joke with shock, Noah retorted, “Oh, I told you it’s my last year! What are you going to do about it?” If this is really Noah’s last time hosting the Grammys, he chaperoned a wholesome, entertaining ceremony marked by showmanship – best to bow out when the ovation is loudest.