The All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has unveiled its 2025 nominees, featuring a showdown between Africa’s biggest music exports—Davido, Burna Boy, El Grande Toto, Rema, and Fally Ipupa—and fast-rising sensations such as Shallipopi, Himra, Moliy, Ayra Starr, Jux, and Mia Guissé.
This year’s edition recorded 10,717 entries, the highest since AFRIMA’s inception 12 years ago. After a 10-day adjudication process, a 13-member international jury shortlisted 343 nominees across 40 categories, representing Africa’s five regions and the diaspora.
Public voting will open globally on September 10, 2025, via AFRIMA’s official website and will close on November 30, the eve of the main awards.
Nigeria’s Burna Boy and Davido lead with five nominations each, including Album of the Year for No Sign of Weakness and 5ive respectively, as well as Song of the Year and Best Collaboration. South Africa’s DJ Maphorisa and Morocco’s El Grande Toto also scored five nods each, while Nigeria’s street-pop sensation Shallipopi earned four, including Artiste of the Year.
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Other big contenders include Senegal’s Mia Guissé and Ghana’s Moliy with five nominations each, Egypt’s Amr Diab with four, and Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, Tyla, and Uncle Waffles, who all secured multiple nods. Rema bagged three nominations, while Ayra Starr will go head-to-head with Africa’s top stars in the Artiste of the Year category.
The diaspora is also strongly represented with nominees such as Aya Nakamura, DJ Snake, Darkoo, Faouzia, Gazo, and WizTheMC.
AFRIMA jury member Delani Makhalima described the 2025 nominees list as proof of African music’s growing global dominance.
“In just 12 years, we’ve gone from being marginalised to becoming a global force. This is AFRIMA, the biggest music entity on the continent,” he said.
Organised in partnership with the African Union Commission, the Federal Government of Nigeria, and Lagos State as host city, AFRIMA 2025 will run from November 25 to 30. The weeklong celebration will feature a Welcome Soiree, AFRIMA Music Village, the Africa Music Business Summit, Nominees Party, and culminate in the main awards ceremony on November 30, to be broadcast live across 84 countries.
