Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance

The Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality African music performances in any given year. The award was presented for the first time at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024, and is a sister category to the Best Global Music Performance award, following on from the creation of that category in 2022, and sits in the global genre field. The inaugural recipient of the award was Tyla Seethal, who won at the 66th Anual Grammy Awards for her song Water.

The academy announced the new category in June 2023, stating that the award "recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent, highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions." The award honors, but is not limited to African popular music (Afro pop), genres.

The award recognizes recording that incorporate stylistic elements associates with African musical traditions and the African diaspora, including distinctive rhythmic structures and cultural influencers.

The category was created in order to amplify and expand the reach of African music and its creators and to celebrate the distinct, unique sounds of the continent. The Academy specifically cited the work of artists such as Davido, Libianca, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Rema, CKay, Wouter Kellerman, Tems, Zakes Bantwini, Tyler ICU and Nomcebo Zikode for highlighting African music on an international scale.

The first nominees for the category included Asake and Olamide for "Amapiano", Burna Boy for "City Boys", Davido featuring Musa Keys for "Unavailable", and Aryea Starr for "Rush"

Regarding the establishment of this category, which was announced alongside Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated “The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest category changes to our awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape. By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists. We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”

The Award was included as part of broader Grammy category changes intended to recognize a wider range of global music styles and to highlight the growing international influence of African music.

2 wins

• Tyla