
<p>It has been an exciting and rewarding debut year for South African singer, Tyla Seethal, best known as ‘Tyla’.</p>



<p>Her latest recognition on the global stage is a raft of historic awards and nominations.</p>



<p>On Sunday, in Manchester, United Kingdom, Tyla took home three MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMAs), making her the first African artist to win three EMAs in one night.</p>



<p>Tyla was one of the biggest wins of the night; American singers Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter who also won multiple EMAs last night.</p>



<p>The 22-year-old South African songtress was nominated in four categories and also took home an award for ‘The Best African Act’, a category in which she was up against Nigerian artists Asake and Ayra Starr along with South African musicians DBN Gogo, and TitoM &amp; Yuppe.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="396" height="594" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2184021824.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63645" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2184021824.jpg 396w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2184021824-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><strong><em>Tyla paying tribute to Aaliyah (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/MTV EMA/Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Viacom International)</em></strong></figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Tanzanian global artist Diamond Platnumz, who won in this category in 2023, was also nominated. Tyla also won the award for ‘Best Afrobeats’; her fellow nominees were other African music icons Burna Boy, Tems and Rema.</p>



<p>“I can’t believe it,” she said, accepting the prize from LL Cool J.</p>



<p>“Literally, all the nominees, they are insane. They have taken Afrobeats so far and I’m so honored to be winning this award… Afrobeats has opened so many doors for African music, so thank you so much to Afrobeats.”</p>



<p>Tyla also took home the award for ‘Best R&amp;B’, beating artists such as Usher and Victoria Monét.</p>



<p>“I&#8217;m just as shocked as you guys. Like, I don&#8217;t know what to do,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I know it&#8217;s just so hard to categorise my music. I literally mix so many different genres into one, but R&amp;B is a huge influence in my music, especially Aaliyah, she&#8217;s like one of my idols.”</p>



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The exact moment Tyla found out she won BEST R&amp;B at the MTV EMAs.<br><br>I&#39;m not crying, you are 😭 <a href="https://t.co/PO7wBGi0sH">pic.twitter.com/PO7wBGi0sH</a></p>&mdash; Tyla Club (@TylaClub) <a href="https://twitter.com/TylaClub/status/1855843426173849982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>She paid tribute to the late ‘Princess of R&amp;B’, Aaliyah, by wearing a replica of the Roberto Cavalli dress that the she wore at the 2000 MTV VMAs.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Let&#39;s hear it for Tyla! 🗣️ Congratulations <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyllaaaaaaa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tyllaaaaaaa</a> on winning Best R&amp;B at the 2024 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTVEMAs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MTVEMAs</a>! <a href="https://t.co/FqjLmnLi0y">pic.twitter.com/FqjLmnLi0y</a></p>&mdash; MTV EMA (@mtvema) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtvema/status/1855757329700131108?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>“The fact that I&#8217;m even winning this in her dress is like – oh my God.”</p>



<p>This has been a record year for the South African singer. In February, she made history when she took home her first Grammy award for ‘Best African Music Performance’ for her hit single <em>Water.</em></p>



<p>“I did not think I would win a Grammy at 22 years old,” she said as she accepted the award at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, United States.</p>


MTV EMAs 2024 – Winners

South African Singer Tyla Has Record-Breaking Year As She Makes History (Again) At MTV EMAs And Pays Tribute To R&B Legend


<p>It has been a stellar year for African music across the globe. With the recent announcement from The Recording Academy on the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards, Africa joined the artists in celebrating their spots in what the Academy called &#8220;history”.</p>



<p>In a statement released in November, one of three newly- added categories for the 2024 Grammys is the Best African Music Performance award. It is being hailed a breakthrough acknowledging the commercial and cultural prowess of African music.</p>



<p>&#8220;Giving African music its own category would highlight and celebrate the diversity and richness of Africa,&#8221; Shawn Thwaites, project manager at The Recording Academy, said in a roundtable about the new category. &#8220;This is a great step forward!&#8221;</p>



<p>Africa’s Grammy nominees for 2024 include Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, Davido and Musa Keys, Asake and Olamide, all for Best African Music Performance, and Trevor Noah for Best Comedy Album. As FORBES AFRICA, we decided to compile our own list of the biggest African hits of 2023 that got the world on its feet. With the help of the numbers on social media, trends, Spotify listens and YouTube views, the list has been whittled down to the following artists who have scaled global heights. Although some of the music was released before 2023, it seems they are still trending.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Song</strong></td><td><strong>Artist</strong></td><td><strong>Country</strong></td><td><strong>Spotify Listens</strong></td><td><strong>YouTube Views</strong></td><td><strong>Total</strong></td><td><strong>YT Release Date</strong></td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>CALM DOWN</td><td>Rema feat Selena Gomez</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>1,112,827,855</td><td>706,057,845</td><td>1,818,885,700</td><td>Sep-22</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>PEOPLE</td><td>Libianca</td><td>Cameroon</td><td>498,353,247</td><td>218,903,109</td><td>717,256,356</td><td>Jan-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>RUSH</td><td>Ayra Starr</td><td>Benin</td><td>281,167,683</td><td>264,455,804</td><td>545,623,487</td><td>Sep-22</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>PERU</td><td>Fireboy DML &amp; Ed Sheeran</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>283,657,974</td><td>189,399,170</td><td>473057144</td><td>Dec-21</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>WATER</td><td>Tyla</td><td>South Africa</td><td>155,090,107</td><td>39,605,600</td><td>194,695,707</td><td>Oct-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>UNAVAILABLE</td><td>Davido feat Musa Keys</td><td>Nigeria-South Africa</td><td>98,950,916</td><td>72,345,505</td><td>171,296,421</td><td>Apr-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>CITY BOYS</td><td>Burna Boy</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>61,573,500</td><td>23,431,043</td><td>85,004,543</td><td>Sep-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>MNIKE</td><td>Tyler ICU</td><td>South Africa</td><td>31,970,236</td><td>27,545,449</td><td>59,515,685</td><td>Apr-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>LONELY AT THE TOP</td><td>Asake</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>35,859,656</td><td>22,932,185</td><td>58,791,841</td><td>Aug-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance with Olamide, &#8220;Amapiano”</td></tr><tr><td>HAMBA JUBA</td><td>Lady Amar, Cici, Murumba Pitch and JL SA</td><td>South Africa</td><td>13,336,755</td><td>14,165,502</td><td>27,502,257</td><td>Apr-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>ME AND U</td><td>Tems</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>16,206,894</td><td>7,270,381</td><td>23,477,275</td><td>Oct-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><strong><em>*The list is but a small representation of the enormous potential and success of Africa&#8217;s musicians ** All data is as of November 12 2023</em></strong></figcaption></figure>


Tag: Tyla

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

South African Singer Tyla Has Record-Breaking Year As She Makes History (Again) At MTV EMAs And Pays Tribute To R&B Legend

The Biggest And Best Music In Africa (As Per The Numbers)