The Headies is Nigeria’s longest-running dedicated music awards show. It was founded in 2006 by Ayo Animashaun of Hip Hop World Magazine and is widely treated as the country’s top industry prize. Here we explain how it started, how the categories work, and which wins shaped the careers of Nigeria’s biggest stars.
Last updated: October 29, 2026
What the Headies actually is
The Headies is an annual awards ceremony, at least in principle, that honours Nigerian recording artists, producers and video directors. In practice the schedule has slipped more than once. We cover that below.
The show began as the Hip Hop World Awards, an offshoot of Animashaun’s Hip Hop World Magazine. The early focus was Nigeria’s rap and hip hop scene, which in the mid-2000s was still finding its commercial footing. As the wider sound we now call Afrobeats took over Nigerian radio and clubs, the awards grew with it.
By 2011 the event had dropped the Hip Hop World Awards name and become The Headies. The rebrand marked a real shift. The categories now reached well beyond rap to cover pop, R&B, street-hop, gospel and alternative music. If you want the bigger story of that sound, our explainer on Afrobeats music traces where it came from.
Today, a Headies plaque is one of the clearest signals that the Nigerian industry itself rates you. It carries less weight than a Grammy abroad. At home it often matters more.
A short history, edition by edition
The Headies did not run like clockwork. The table below shows the key turning points we could confirm, counting editions the way the organisers do.
| Year | Edition | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 1st | Launched as the Hip Hop World Awards |
| 2011 | 6th | First edition under The Headies name |
| 2016 | 11th | Last ceremony before a one-year gap |
| 2017 | None | No ceremony held |
| 2018 | 12th | Show returns |
| 2019 | 13th | Rema and Fireboy DML era begins |
| 2020 | None | No ceremony during the pandemic year |
| 2021 | 14th | Held in February, covering the delayed cycle |
| 2022 | 15th | Moved to Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| 2023 | 16th | Held in Atlanta again |
Myth
Many fans assume the Headies happens every year without fail. It doesn’t. There was no ceremony in 2017 or 2020, which is why the edition numbers don’t match the calendar. A show called the “14th Headies” took place in 2021, fifteen years after the first.
The Atlanta years
The 15th and 16th editions moved to Atlanta, Georgia. The 2022 show took place at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The organisers framed the move as taking Nigerian music to the diaspora and to the US industry, where Afrobeats was charting at the time.
The decision split opinion. Some Lagos fans felt the country’s flagship music awards should stay home. Others saw it as overdue recognition that Nigerian pop had become a global export. We think both points hold up. The move made sense commercially, and it also put the show out of reach for most of the audience that built it.
Editions after 2023
We have not been able to confirm the full winners lists and venues of editions after the 16th to the standard we hold ourselves to. We’ve left them out of the tables. Check the organisers’ official channels for the latest edition before relying on any third-party recap.
How the categories work
The Headies has added, merged and renamed categories many times. That makes it hard to compare one year with another. The core structure has stayed fairly stable, though, and it falls into four groups.
| Group | Example categories | What it rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Major awards | Artiste of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year | Overall impact during the eligibility window |
| Newcomer awards | Next Rated, Rookie of the Year | Breakout acts on their first big run |
| Genre awards | Best Rap Album, Best Street-Hop Artiste, Best R&B Single, Best Pop Single | Excellence within a specific sound |
| Craft awards | Producer of the Year, Best Music Video, Lyricist on the Roll | Behind-the-scenes and technical skill |
On top of these sit special honours such as Hall of Fame and Special Recognition. Those are given at the organisers’ discretion rather than through the normal nomination process. There is also a Viewers’ Choice category decided by public vote.
Eligibility windows
Each cycle covers a defined release window, announced alongside the nominations. This matters more than casual fans realise. A song that blew up in December might count toward the following edition rather than the current one. That window explains a lot of “how was this not nominated?” complaints. When the ceremony skips a year, the window stretches, and the next edition has to cover more than twelve months of music.
How winners are picked
Nominations and most winners come from an academy and review process run by the organisers. The public vote applies only to specific categories like Viewers’ Choice. That is a key difference from fan-voted awards, where the artist with the biggest online following tends to win almost everything.
Next Rated: the category that predicts the future
If one Headies category has earned a reputation, it is Next Rated. It goes to the artist judged most likely to dominate the coming years, and for long stretches the winner has also received a car. Its track record for spotting future stars is genuinely strong.
| Year | Next Rated winner | What came next |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Wizkid | Became one of Africa’s biggest global stars |
| 2012 | Davido | Built a run of continental hits and a global profile |
| 2016 | Mr Eazi | Built an international profile and music business |
| 2019 | Rema | Went on to global success with “Calm Down” |
Look at that list and you see the point. Two of the three names that now define Nigerian pop abroad picked up Next Rated before the world knew them. The third, Burna Boy, built his global run through a different path. These days he lands moments like Burna Boy at the Ballon d’Or, a long way from Lagos awards nights.
The same 2019 ceremony that crowned Rema also gave Rookie of the Year to Fireboy DML. That night looks prophetic in hindsight, since both went on to major international success.
Listen next
Rema’s “Dumebi”, the 2019 breakout single that helped win him Next Rated, still shows why the judges saw a star coming.
The big winners and why they matter
Several artists have built up large Headies collections over the years. Wizkid, Davido, Olamide and Burna Boy are the names that come up most when fans argue about who has won the most. Exact all-time totals vary depending on whether you count special honours, so we won’t print a ranking we can’t fully verify.
What we can say clearly is how each type of win tends to play out.
- Next Rated often comes at the start of a career and has repeatedly named future headliners.
- Album of the Year usually goes to a project with both commercial reach and critical respect, rather than a pure streaming giant.
- Street-hop categories gave artists from Lagos’s Yoruba-language rap scene, Olamide above all, formal recognition long before global labels paid attention.
- Craft awards such as Producer of the Year are where the people building the sound get their flowers.
That last point deserves more attention than it gets. Nigerian pop runs on its producers, and the Headies is one of the few places they share the stage with the stars they make.
Why the Headies still matters in a streaming era
You could argue that awards matter less now that charts, streams and global tours tell us who is winning. We disagree, for three reasons.
First, a Headies win is a peer judgment from inside the Nigerian industry. That counts for something when global attention can swing on one viral clip.
Second, the genre categories protect sounds that wouldn’t win a popularity contest. Rap, gospel and alternative acts can still get a national spotlight.
Third, the ceremony itself is a cultural event. Performances, outfits and acceptance speeches drive weeks of conversation across Lagos, Abuja and diaspora communities from London to Houston.
The Headies has real weaknesses too. The irregular schedule, the shifting category names and the overseas venues have all frustrated loyal fans. A prize built on the slogan of celebrating Nigerian music has to keep earning the trust of the people who listen to it at home.
FAQ
What does the Headies award?
The Headies honours Nigerian music across major categories like Artiste of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. It also has newcomer prizes like Next Rated, genre categories, and craft awards for producers and video directors.
Who founded the Headies?
Ayo Animashaun founded it in 2006 through Hip Hop World Magazine. It was originally called the Hip Hop World Awards before becoming The Headies.
Why are there gaps in the Headies edition numbers?
No ceremony was held in 2017 or 2020. Edition numbers count ceremonies, not calendar years. That is why the 16th edition took place in 2023, seventeen years after the first.
Where is the Headies held?
The show has traditionally been staged in Lagos, Nigeria. The 15th and 16th editions in 2022 and 2023 took place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Check the organisers’ official announcements for the venue of the most recent edition.
Is the Headies voted on by fans?
Mostly no. Nominations and most winners come from the organisers’ academy and review process. The public vote applies only to selected categories such as Viewers’ Choice.
What is the Next Rated award?
Next Rated goes to the act judged most likely to break through in the years ahead. Past winners include Wizkid, Davido, Mr Eazi and Rema, which is why many fans treat it as the most predictive prize the Headies gives out.