2026 TGMAs: Meet the artiste with the highest nominations

As the Telecel Ghana Music Awards craze is picking up momentum, analyses are underway, and patterns are being drawn to predict who has the strongest chance of winning the top awards this year.

While some argue that Album of the Year winners are more likely to secure the Artiste of the Year title, many observers have pointed out that history appears to be repeating itself from the 2023 awards.

In 2023, a particular artiste, fresh off his debut album, bagged nine nominations and went on to win four awards, including the topmost Artiste of the Year prize.

This year, that same artiste, fresh off his second studio album, has once again asserted his dominance ahead of the 2026 Telecel Ghana Music Awards, emerging as the artiste with the highest number of nominations this year with another nine nominations.

He is Black Sherif.

Blacko’s nominations include Artiste of the Year, Best Hiplife/Hip-Hop Artiste of the Year, and Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year for his popular track “Where Dem Boys.”

His hit song, “Sacrifice,” has been nominated for Best Afropop Song, Best Music Video, Songwriter of the Year, and Most Popular Song of the Year.

In addition, his second album and hit project “Iron Boy” earned a nomination for Album/EP of the Year.

On the international front, Black Sherif’s collaboration “So It Goes” featuring Nigerian Afrobeats star Fireboy DML is also in contention under the International Collaboration category.

With another strong showing on paper, industry players are closely watching to see whether Black Sherif can once again turn his multiple nominations into major wins and cement his status as one of the most impactful artistes of his generation.

However, he faces stiff competition from long-time award heavyweights such as Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, and Diana Hamilton, among others.

ID/EB