Afro+ Fest just got a serious upgrade. Organizers announced Monday that Tems and Ayra Starr have been added as headliners for the 2026 edition, joining a bill that already had Wizkid, Davido and Alkaline at the top.
The festival runs September 4 through 6 at Northwest Stadium Complex in Landover, Maryland, right on Labor Day weekend. Last year’s debut pulled in around 20,000 people, and founder Michael Awosanya is expecting that number to climb significantly this time around.
The full lineup reads like someone refused to pick a lane, and that’s very much the point. Lil Baby, Latto, Chief Keef, Sexyy Red, Tiwa Savage, Olamide, Adekunle Gold, Sarkodie, Ruger, Victony and more are all on the bill alongside the newly announced additions.
Awosanya was direct about why Tems and Ayra Starr belong at the center of this. “You can’t talk about where global culture is right now without Tems and Ayra Starr,” he said in a press release. “The days of keeping Afrobeats, Dancehall and Hip Hop in separate boxes are completely over.”
He went further, framing the two women as active forces rather than just names to stack on a poster. These two women are driving that shift every single day, and putting them on the main stage is the only right way to honor that reality.” It’s a pointed statement about where the industry’s center of gravity actually sits right now.
For Ayra Starr specifically, the timing couldn’t be more loaded. Her third studio album, Starr Girl, drops August 14, just weeks before she hits the Afro+ stage. That means she’ll be performing fresh material in front of a massive crowd at what could be the peak moment of her album cycle.
Starr Girl is her first project since The Year I Turned 21, which cemented her as one of the most talked-about voices in Afrobeats. She’s already been teasing the rollout with “Where Do We Go” and “Tornado,” and a collaboration with Rema called “Who’s Dat Girl” dropped last October to keep momentum going.
Tems, fresh off performing at The BRIT Awards in Manchester back in February, brings a different kind of weight to the lineup. Her crossover into global pop and R&B spaces over the past few years has made her one of the most recognizable African artists anywhere in the world, not just within genre circles.
The festival is also positioning itself as more than a concert series. Organizers say the event will highlight Black-owned businesses, food vendors, fashion, art and cultural experiences tied to the African diaspora, which adds a layer to what Awosanya seems to be building toward with this thing.
With Fridayy, Young Jonn, Odeal and Victony rounding out a lineup that spans continents and sounds, the argument that Afro+ Fest is becoming a genuine institution is getting harder to dismiss. Tickets are already in play, and with Starr Girl dropping weeks before the gates open, Ayra Starr’s set is shaping up to be one of the more anticipated moments of the whole weekend.
