Davido isn’t playing it safe this time. According to The Guru, the Nigerian star has reportedly put his album Oriade forward for Album of the Year at the 2027 Grammy Awards, one of the all-genre categories where African artists rarely get a look in.
That’s only the start. Oriade has reportedly also been submitted for Best Global Music Album, while a spread of tracks are in the running across Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best African Music Performance and Best Music Video.
Leading the push is B4 B4, which features Mayorkun and FOLA. It has reportedly been entered in three categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best African Music Performance.
Then there’s Nakupenda, a packed collaboration that brings in TxC, Zlatan, Shoday, Scotts Maphuma and Al Xapo. That one was reportedly submitted for Song of the Year and Best African Music Performance, and the guest list alone shows how wide Davido is casting his net beyond Lagos.
Le Show, with Ayra Starr and French Montana, was also put up for Best African Music Performance. Meanwhile, I Know Who I Be, featuring JAZZWRLD and GL_Ceejay, was entered for Best Music Video.
The timing lines up with the Recording Academy’s calendar. First round voting for the 69th Grammy Awards runs from October 12 to October 22, 2026, with nominees expected on November 16 and the ceremony set for February 7, 2027.
Here’s the reality check, though. A submission isn’t a nomination, and it’s the Academy’s voting members who decide which entries actually make the shortlist.
Davido knows how that process can play out. At the 66th Grammys in 2024, he landed his first nominations, for his previous album and the songs Unavailable and Feel, but went home empty handed.
That was also the debut year of Best African Music Performance, and Tyla’s Water took the trophy. Unavailable was one of the songs she beat, so the category Davido is now targeting with three separate tracks is one he’s already lost once.
Supporters will read the long list of entries as confidence, and as another sign of how big Nigerian music’s international ambitions have become.
The tougher question sits in the general field, where Album, Record and Song of the Year have long leaned toward English language pop, rap and rock, so even one nod there would break the usual pattern.
The specialist categories look like the more realistic route. Best African Music Performance and Best Global Music Album are where Afrobeats acts have found the most traction with voters so far.
For now, the ballots are in voters’ hands. November 16 will reveal which of these entries survive the cut, and which ones stay on Davido’s wish list for another year.
