The biggest surprise coming out of the 2026 Headies nominations is not who made the list, but how high a relatively newer name sits at the top of it.
FOLA leads all nominees with 10 nominations, edging out Davido who follows closely with 8, and that alone has people talking about what kind of year FOLA has quietly been putting together.
The 18th Headies Awards are set for October 23, 2026, in Canada, marking another year the ceremony takes its celebration of Nigerian music to an international stage.
The full nominations list spans dozens of categories, and the spread of names across them tells a clear story about where Afrobeats is right now.
Davido’s nominations include a nod for Music Video of the Year, with two of his videos in contention, and his collaboration with Omah Lay, “With You,” shows up in multiple categories including Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, and Afrobeats Single of the Year. That one record alone has done serious work across the ballot.
Wizkid appears in Best Male Artiste, Afrobeats Album of the Year for “Morayo,” and Album of the Year in the same breath, while his joint record “Jogodo” with Asake also pulls nominations in Afrobeats Single of the Year and Headies Viewers’ Choice. Asake, for his part, is pulling weight in Digital Artiste of the Year and Best Live Performer categories too.
Omah Lay’s “Clarity of Mind” is nominated in both Afrobeats Album of the Year and Album of the Year, and he also appears in Best Recording of the Year for “Coping Mechanism” with Elmah.
It is a strong showing for an artist who has spent the past couple of years building a reputation for making records that sit somewhere between Afrobeats and something harder to categorise.
FOLA’s nominations cut across Album of the Year for “Catharsis,” Best R&B Album, Best Recording of the Year for “You,” Songwriter of the Year, and the Next Rated category among others.
The breadth of it suggests the academy is recognising both the commercial and creative dimensions of what FOLA has been doing, which is not something every artist manages to achieve across so many different categories at once.
Ayra Starr holds her ground in Best Female Artiste alongside Tems, Tiwa Savage, Qing Madi, Sewa, and Teni, a category that genuinely has no easy winner this cycle.
Tems also appears in Best R&B Single for “What You Need,” and the competition there is stiff with Tiwa Savage and Magixx also in the mix.
On the rap side, Odumodublvck continues to be one of the most nominated artists in that lane, with “The Machine is Coming” in Album of the Year and appearances in Best Rap Single and Lyricist on the Roll.
Blaqbonez, Dremo, and Erigga are all in the conversation too, which makes the rap categories some of the more contested ones on the night.
The ceremony’s location in Canada adds another layer to the occasion, especially with a dedicated Best African Diaspora-Canadian Artiste category featuring names like Nonso Amadi and Debby Friday.
International Artiste of the Year brings in Ciara, Dave, Gunna, Jazmine Sullivan, and Shenseea, a genuinely eclectic mix that reflects how broadly the Headies frames its global reach.
With October still months away, the conversation around who actually takes home the awards is only just getting started.
