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The MTV Video Music Award for Best Afrobeats Video award was first introduced at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2023.

Asake, Ayra Starr and Burna Boy currently hold the most nominations in this category, with three nominations each.

Recipients

2020s

Rema was the inaugural winner with “Calm Down” alongside Selena Gomez.
Recipients
Year[a] Winner(s) Video Nominees Ref.
2023 Rema and Selena Gomez “Calm Down”
[1]
2024 Tyla “Water”
[2]
2025 “Push 2 Start”
[3]

Statistics

Artists with multiple wins

2 wins

Artists with multiple nominations

3 nominations
2 nominations

Tyla’s response to win for 2024 Best Afrobeats Video

Tyla’s official music video for her song “Water” was the winner at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards for MTV Video Music Award for Best Afrobeats Video.[4] In her acceptance speech, Tyla chose to identify with South African “amapiano“, distancing herself from Nigerian “afrobeats“, which ended up causing mayhem on social media as Nigerian on-air personality Do2dtun went on to call Tyla a hypocrite for receiving the award for Best Afrobeats in the first place before identifying with Amapiano.[5]

‘Uppity African’ incident

Tyla was also heavily criticized on social media and by notable people such as American media personality Joe Budden, for not choosing to hold her award and instead giving it to rapper Lil Nas X, she stated “I’m not strong enough, please hold it for me, thank you I’m sorry.” Many thought she was asking the person next to him, female singer Halle Bailey, known mononymously as Halle and labeled Tyla as “uppity african”, a term meaning a person shows a great sense of entitlement.[6][7][8] Tyla later confirmed she wasn’t, in a post on X stating “Y’all make everything weird… I was not asking my girl Halle… We just girls,” Halle later responded saying “Exactly, love u babes congrats.” American rapper Cardi B also came to the singer’s defense.[9][10]

Notes

  1. ^ Each year is linked to the article about the MTV Video Music Awards held that year.

References

  1. ^ Grein, Paul (August 8, 2023). “Taylor Swift Is Top Nominee for 2023 MTV Video Music Awards (Complete List)”. Billboard. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  2. ^ Atkinson, Kaite (September 11, 2024). “Here’s a Full List of 2024 MTV VMAs Winners (Updating Live)”. Billboard. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  3. ^ Grein, Paul (August 5, 2025). “Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars are 1-2 in Nominations for 2025 MTV VMAs (Full List)”. Billboard. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  4. ^ Akhimien, Nosakhale (12 September 2024). “VMA 2024: Tyla defeats Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, Tems, wins Best Afrobeats music video”. Premium Times. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  5. ^ Adebiyi, Adeayo (12 September 2024). “Tyla says she represents Amapiano after winning Afrobeats category at 2024 VMAs”. Pulse Nigeria. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  6. ^ Ontong, Compiled by Joel. “Cardi B and Joe Budden weigh in as Tyla’s VMA win and Usher dance go viral”. Life. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  7. ^ Mbatha, Mbali. “So-called ‘uppity African’ Tyla shuts down haters as Victoria’s Secret headliner”. City Press. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  8. ^ “Cardi B defends Tyla against critics calling her ‘uppity African’“. TimesLIVE. 2024-09-17.
  9. ^ Paul, Larisha (2024-09-12). “No, Tyla Was Not Asking Halle Bailey to Hold Her VMA: ‘Y’all Make Everything Weird’“. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2024-09-12. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  10. ^ “Tyla trolled for asking Halle Bailey to hold her award at the MTV VMAs”. IOL.