Before The Headies Became The Headies: The History of Nigeria's Biggest Music Awards
The Headies began in 2006 as the Hip Hop World Awards. Here’s how Nigeria’s biggest music awards evolved into a defining force in Afrobeats.
FOLA just walked away with 10 nominations at the 18th Headies, and the internet has been talking about it and also the entire award show. But before FOLA, before Afrobeats Single of the Year, before Toronto hosted a Nigerian awards show, The Headies was a scrappy hip hop magazine's side project fighting for legitimacy in a Lagos entertainment scene that barely believed local music deserved its own stage.
Here is how a 2006 award show named after a magazine grew into the biggest night in Nigerian music.
How The Headies Started As The Hip Hop World Awards
The Headies did not begin as The Headies at all. It launched in 2006 as the Hip Hop World Awards and it was created by Ayo Animashaun, the publisher of Hip Hop World Magazine, a Nigerian music publication that had been running since 1995.
The first ceremony was held on March 10, 2006, at the Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos and was hosted by Darey Art Alade under the theme "The Revolution Is Here."
P-Square and Jude Okoye dominated that first night, walking away with five awards between them. D'banj won the very first Hip Hop World Revelation of the Year, and Asa took home the inaugural Next Rated award, a category that would go on to define the entire franchise.
The Golden Headie And The Move To Eko Hotel
By 2008, the third edition had shifted from Onikan to Planet One in Maryland, Lagos, and the plaque itself was upgraded to 21 carat gold plating, the exact detail that gave the trophy its now famous nickname.
The gold, face-shaped statuette was sketched by Matthias Aragbada from a concept by Animashaun himself. It was designed to represent success, victory and triumph.
A year later, the awards left Lagos entirely for the first time and held the fourth edition at the International Conference Centre in Abuja. The ceremony would eventually settle into Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, a venue that hosted the show for years and became almost synonymous with Headies night.
When Hip Hop World Awards Officially Became The Headies
The rebrand happened at the sixth edition in 2011. What had been the Hip Hop World Awards was officially renamed The Headies. It was a shorter, punchier version built around the golden statuette rather than the sponsoring magazine.
The categories barely changed, roughly 80 percent of what existed in the early years is still recognisable today, but the identity shift mattered.
Nigerian music was outgrowing hip hop as a label, and Afrobeats had not fully entered the global vocabulary yet, so The Headies needed a name that could stretch with the genre.
Next Rated: The Category That Built And Broke Careers
No Headies category carries more weight than Next Rated. Winning it has launched careers, and losing it has ended friendships on live television.
In 2015, Reekado Banks beat YBNL's Lil Kesh for Next Rated, and the decision blew up into one of the most talked about controversiesin the show's history, with Olamide expressing his displeasure on stage and Don Jazzy firing back in a tense exchange that stopped just short of a full confrontation.
The prize attached to Next Rated has also evolved dramatically. Winners once drove off in gifted SUVs, but from 2022 onward, the category began awarding a brand new Bentley Bentayga worth over 300 million naira, turning the category into an even bigger deal.
Iconic Headies Moments Nigerians Still Talk About
The Headies has produced its fair share of viral, meme worthy chaos over two decades.
In 2016, Wizkid hugged Eva Alordiah warmly at the ceremony, then walked straight past her ex fiancé Caeser's outstretched hand for a handshake. This was a snub so public it became one of the biggest memes in Nigerian entertainment history, forcing Wizkid to later clarify it was unintentional.
That same year, Burna Boy stormed out of the venue after losing an award to Sean Tizzle, unable to hide his frustration in front of the cameras.
Further back, at the 2005 precursor event, D'banj performed his hit "Why Me" wrapped only in a towel, a stunt so memorable that when comedian Bovi referenced it a decade later on the same stage.
Leaving Lagos: The Headies Goes International
For 14 years, The Headies stayed rooted in Nigeria. That changed in 2022, when the 15th edition moved to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, marking the first time the show left the country entirely.
Wizkid led nominations that year with 10, followed by Tems and Ayra Starr with eight each. The show returned to Atlanta again in 2023, with Burna Boy topping the nominations list, before eventually making its way back home.
The 18th edition now takes the show even further afield, holding in Toronto, Canada, on October 25.
FOLA's Breakout Year At The 18th Headies
FOLA leads this year's nominations with 10 recognitions, spanning Next Rated, Song of the Year, Afrobeats Single of the Year, Best Recording of the Year, Best R&B Album for his project "Catharsis," Best Headies Collaboration for "Lost" featuring Kizz Daniel, Digital Artiste of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
Shoday, Mavo, Fido and Llona round out the Next Rated shortlist alongside him, while Davido, Wizkid, Ayra Starr and Burna Boy dominate the bigger categories.
It is a reminder that the same tension that has defined The Headies since 2006, with new talent pushing against established stars, is still the engine driving the show.
Why The Headies Still Matters
Twenty years on, The Headies has survived a name change, a change of continents, countless controversies and an entire genre rebrand from hip hop to Afrobeats.
What started as a magazine's attempt to recognise local talent is now the ceremony an entire industry builds its calendar around.
FOLA's 10 nominations are simply the latest chapter in a story that began in a hall in Onikan with a man in a towel and a golden trophy shaped like a face chasing success.