The 17th Headies Awards: A Ceremony in Crisis

The 17th Headies Awards: A Ceremony in Crisis

The 17th edition of the Headies Awards has officially wrapped up — but not without leaving fans and critics asking once again: what exactly happened?

While the Headies has long stood as one of Africa’s premier music awards, this year’s event fell dramatically short of expectations. From endless technical delays to glaring management flaws, the ceremony became a case study in how not to produce an award show.

An Evening Marred by Chaos
The night was riddled with awkwardly long pauses between presentations — sometimes stretching up to 3–6 minutes of idle screen time. Presenters often appeared confused, seemingly unaware of their duties on stage, and many segments felt rushed and disorganized.

Shockingly, award plaques were still being delivered while the ceremony was underway. This meant that artists gave acceptance speeches without holding their plaques, stripping many key moments of their magic.

More Drama, Less Celebration
If there’s one thing the Headies never lacks, it’s controversy.

This year’s edition saw accusations of favoritism and undeserved wins flying across social media. Some winners left fans scratching their heads, questioning the criteria used to crown them.

Adding to the spectacle:

Taves had a viral moment when host Frank Edoho hilariously mispronounced his name as “Tahvez,” sparking reactions on X.

Odumodublvck’s microphone was suspiciously turned off during his acceptance speech for Next Rated just as he began speaking about Jesus — an awkward moment that didn’t go unnoticed by fans online.

Shallipopi and Odumodublvck clinching Best Rap Single with “Cast” raised eyebrows among hip-hop fans.

A shocking number of major categories were simply skipped because the plaques were unavailable.

The Winners We Did See
Despite the chaos, a few awards were actually presented — and here are some of the highlights:

Song of the Year: Asake — Lonely At The Top

Best Street-Hop Artiste: Mohbad (Posthumously)

Best East African Artiste: Juma Jux (Tanzania)

Best Rap Single: Cast (Shallipopi & Odumodublvck)

Digital Artiste of the Year: Davido

Next Rated: Odumodublvck

Headies Viewer’s Choice: Chike & Mohbad (Egwu)

Afrobeats Single of the Year: Flavour

Afrobeats Album of the Year: Rema (HEIS)

Producer of the Year: London (Ozeba)

Songwriter of the Year: Qing Madi

Best Vocal Performance (Female): Liya

Best Vocal Performance (Male): Lojay

Recording of the Year: Tems (Burning)

Soundtrack of the Year: Tribe Called Judah

Rookie of the Year: Zerry DL

Notably, Davido was the only member of the “Big 5” Afrobeats stars present to physically receive his award, helping to give the night some much-needed legitimacy.

Missing Awards During the Ceremony
Unfortunately, several key categories had no winners announced live during the ceremony:

Female Artiste of the Year

Male Artiste of the Year

Best Collaboration of the Year

Lyricist on the Roll

Best Alternative Song

African Artiste of the Year

Best Rap Album

Best R&B Single

Best Inspirational Single

Best West African Artiste of the Year

Best North African Artiste of the Year

This level of disorganization has sadly become a recurring theme for the Headies in recent years.

New Winners Announced later that Morning
In an unusual move, the Headies organizers updated their official website later that morning to announce the winners for many of the previously missing categories. These winners include:

Best Rap Album: Family Time (Erigga)

Album of the Year: HEIS (Rema)

Best Performer (Live): Burna Boy

Artist of the Year: Davido

Best Collaboration: Egwu (Chike & Mohbad)

International Artist of the Year: Travis Scott (Active w/ Asake)

Best Inspirational Single: You Do This One (Mercy Chinwo)

Best West African Artist of the Year: Himra (Ivory Coast)

Best North African Artist of the Year: Soolking (Algeria)

Best South African Artist of the Year: Titom

This last-minute announcement only fueled further criticism online, with many fans questioning the credibility of the event and the seriousness of the Headies brand.

Final Take: Where Do We Go From Here?
The Headies has, sadly, lost much of its former prestige, integrity, and glamour.

If the organizers truly care about the legacy of African music, it may be time to hit pause — take a long hiatus, rebuild trust, invest properly in production, and come back stronger.

Or, perhaps, it’s simply time to accept the hard truth: the Headies as we knew it may have reached its end.