The 2019 edition of MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMAs) took place on November 3rd in Seville, Spain.
The awards show saw Burna boy beat Teni (Nigeria), Harmonize (Tanzania), Nasty C (South Africa), Prince Kaybee (South Africa) and Toofan (Togo) to become the latest recipient of the highly coveted MTV EMA Best African Act Award.
The win makes Burna Boy the 10th artist and the 5th Nigerian to have ever won the award since the inception of the category in 2005.
So, we think this is a good time to remind you of all the artists that have ever won the Best African Act at the MTV EMAs.
So here we go, a rundown of the artists that have won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act.
From the most recent down to the very first.
10. Burna Boy (MTV EMA Best African Act 2019)
Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu who goes by the stage name ‘Burna Boy‘ is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He had his breakout in the Nigerian music industry in 2012 after the release of Like to Party; the lead single from his debut album titled L.I.F.E.
2019 has, beyond any iota of doubt, been a very rewarding year for Burna Boy.
He was announced on the 3rd of January as one of the artists performing at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and two days later (5 January) he won four awards at the Soundcity MVP Awards.
Burna Boy also won the BET Best International Act Award in June; he got announced as Apple Music’s Up Next artist in July; got featured on Beyonce’s Lion King album in that same July just before he dropped his wave-making African Giant album. An album that sits on a solid foundation of back to back hit singles like Gbona, On the low, Dangote, Killin Dem, Anybody and Pull up and other great songs that highly notable figures like Elton John, Joe Budden, GQ, Complex and many others had publicly endorsed.
At the moment, Burna Boy has got featured on many of the prestigious US TV shows that many other African artists are only dreaming of; one of his songs titled Anybody also got featured on Ballers, a popular American TV series.
The African Giant is currently busy selling out venues after venues on his headlined Europe Tour.
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No doubt, 2019 has been a very great year for Burna Boy. It would have been a shocker if he had lost that award to any one of the other nominees. This is not to say that the other nominees didn’t have a good year as well, but the difference between Burna’s race and theirs is evident enough for any ‘Stevie Wonder’ to see.
Meanwhile, you can check out the full list of 2019 MTV EMA winners.
9. Tiwa Savage (MTV EMA Best African Act 2018)
Tiwatope Savage, professionally known as Tiwa Savage, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress. After graduating from the renowned Berkeley College of Music in the UK she moved back to Nigeria and joined Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records in 2012. In May 2019, she announced her record deal with Universal Music Group and exit from Mavin Records.
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Tiwa Savage won the Best African Act at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards. She beat fellow Nigerian Davido, Distruction Boyz (South Africa), Fally Ipupa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Nyashinski (Kenya) and Shekinah (South Africa) to clinch the award. In the process, she became the 9th winner of the award, the 4th Nigerian and the only female artist to have ever won the award.
Tiwa surely had a good year in 2018. That was the same year she got featured on Vogue’s World 100: These Are The People Who Are Inspiring Us Right Now. 2018 was also the year her debut headlined UK show at the Indigo at the O2 Arena was sold out. It was the same year she beat other tough nominees including Davido to make history as the first female to be awarded Best African Act at the MTV EMAs. Furthermore, it was the same year she shared the stage with powerful international acts like Ed Sheeran, Beyonce and Jay Z at the Global Citizen Festival in South Africa in celebration of the centenary of Mandela’s birth. Tiwas Savage also sealed the year on a high note after she got featured in the December edition of British Vogue. Certainly, she deserved to be named the Best African Act at the 2018 MTV EMAs.
8. Davido (MTV EMA Best African Act 2017)
David Adedeji Adeleke, professionally known as Davido is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He rose to limelight in 2011 following the release of Dami Duro; the second single off of his debut album O.B.O in 2012.
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Davido won the Best African Act at the 2017 MTV EMAs. He beat Wizkid, Babes Wodumo (South Africa), C4 Pedro (Angola), Nasty C (South Africa) and Nyashinski (Kenya) to the award and became the 8th artist and the 3rd Nigerian to win it.
2017 was a good year for Davido. That was when he released the back to back hit singles If, Fall and FIA.
It was released in February and immediately went viral across social media platforms and the mass media platforms within a matter of days. The song was so welcomed that even R. Kelly had to record his version of the song, which eventually led to his collaboration with Davido to record the official remix of the song.
In June, Davido released Fall, which was another smash hit that spread like Ebola on the streets and in the club’s and finally went on to become the longest-charting Nigerian pop song in Billboard history and was named the 163rd best song of the 2010s by Pitchfork. ‘FIA’ also became a hit as soon as it was released later in that same year.
In that same year, Davido also won the Best African Act at the MOBO Awards and was also the first African Act to perform live at the award show.
7. Ali Kiba (MTV EMA Best African Act 2016)
Ali Saleh Kiba is a Tanzanian singer-songwriter and footballer. He released his Cinderella album which broke the record as the best selling album in Eastern African countries in 2008. He is famous for hit songs such as Aje and Cinderella, and also for his collaboration with R. Kelly and other African musicians on the One8 project.
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Ali Kiba beat other super nominees like Nigeria’s Wizkid, Black Coffee (South Africa), Casper Nyovest (South Africa) and Olamide (Nigeria) to clinch the MTV EMAs Best African Act in 2016. That year’s award actually had some drama due to human error.
The award was initially given to Wizkid by error, only to be recalled later that year and awarded to Ali Kiba after the results of the votes that made it to the public revealed that Ali Kiba was actually the person who got the highest number of votes. These things happen, we surmise.
In 2016, Ali Kiba also won about 15 other awards apart from the MTV EMAs Best Africa Act; including WANNA Music awards (France) where he won in the People’s Choice category, Soundcity Awards where he received the Video of The Year Award, BEFFTA Awards where he won the Best African Act and Video of The Year, East Africa TV Awards where he won in the Best Male Artist, Song of The Year and Video of The Year categories.
