MTV unveiled its 2026 Video Music Awards nominations on August 18 — and Best Afrobeats, a category the network introduced just three years ago, was nowhere on the list.
What happened
Best Afrobeats had run since 2023, recognizing the genre's growing global reach. Tyla won it twice, in 2024 and 2025, becoming the category's first repeat winner. For 2026, it's simply gone, alongside two other categories — Best Rock and Best Group — that were also dropped from this year's list. Best Dance, absent for seven years, has returned in their place.
MTV has not publicly explained any of the category changes. The network has not issued a statement specifically addressing why Best Afrobeats was removed.
Afrobeats artists weren't shut out entirely
Burna Boy picked up a nomination for Best Collaboration alongside Shakira, and Tems is nominated for Best R&B for her feature with Dave. Both remain in the running this year — just not in a category built specifically around Afrobeats.
Why people are talking about it
The removal has reopened a familiar conversation about how much room major Western award shows make for African music once the initial novelty fades. Fans and commentators across the continent have raised concerns that dropping a dedicated category could shrink one of the clearer paths Afrobeats artists had to mainstream recognition at the VMAs. There's no confirmed link between Tyla's back-to-back wins and the category's removal — that connection exists only as online speculation, not as anything MTV has stated.
The 2026 VMAs ceremony itself hasn't happened yet; this story concerns the nominations announcement only. IF Daily will follow up if MTV comments on the category changes or if the ceremony brings further developments.
