2026 TGMAs: Here are some GhanaWeb predictions

The nominations are out, the campaigns are in full swing, and Ghana's music industry is doing what it does best, arguing and speculating.

As the 27th Telecel Ghana Music Awards draws closer, a handful of categories have emerged as the ones nobody can call with any certainty.

From rap heavyweights making combacks in the Hip-Hop space to an Album of the Year race that has led to “blows” on social media, TGMA27 is shaping up to be one for the books.

GhanaWeb has gone through the nominees, weighed the numbers, the street impact, and the sheer audacity of the releases, and we are ready to make our call.

Here are the categories that will be keenly contested, and who we think walks away with the trophy.

Hiplife/HipHop Artiste of the Year

It’s no doubt that lovers of rap ate good in 2025.

With standout releases from Black Sherif, Medikal, Sarkodie and Kweku Smoke, the rap community had a lot on their plates in terms or lyrics and rap flows.

Black Sherif, Medikal and Kweku Smoke dropped hit albums that took over the airwaves even into the next year while Sarkodie released a series of collaborations which solidified his status as the landlord.

So, it’s a no brainer that this category is one of the keenly contested ones.

Our Prediction: Black Sherif

The numbers speak for him, Black Sherif’s Iron Boy album was the most streamed album in 2025 across all the major platforms in the country, with all his songs from the album making it into the top 20 songs chart.

Streaming aside, his songs became somewhat of street anthems, from toddlers to the aged. Everyone knew Black Sherif.

HipHop Song of the year

The battle is between Black Sherif’s ‘Where Dem Boys,’ Kweku Smoke’s ‘Adu The Borga,’ Sarkodie ft Kweku Smoke’s ‘Violence’, and O’Kenneth’s ‘Balenciaga.’

With Black Sherif delivering a straight rap performance to Sarkodie showing us why he is the landlord to O’Kenneth dropping both an original and a remix of Balenciaga in the same year. This category will be hotly contested.

Our Prediction: Kweku Smoke – Adu The Borga

In terms of a pure HipHop track, Adu The Borga hits all the pointers. His typical storytelling in his lyrics and his delivery are proof of Smoke’s dominance in rap music over the recent years.

Collaboration of the Year

From Afrobeats collaborations to rap collaborations to Highlife collaborations, 2025 was a good year for musical unity.

One cannot ignore the comeback of one of Ghana’s biggest songs, ‘Aso’ by Kwabena Kwabena, who came back with Stonebwoy and Kofi Kinaata.

Rap giants Sarkodie and Kweku Smoke came together for a HipHop smash hit, while Shatta Wale and Medikal reclaimed the streets with ‘Shoulder.’

Three major Afrobeats colaborations; Excellent by Kojo Black and Kelvyn Boy (a product of the Swing Period rule), Gymnastic by KiDi featuring OliveTheBoy and Kojo Black again, and ‘Crazy Love’ by Wendy Shay and OliveTheBoy again.

Our Prediction: Shoulder

One cannot just resist the pull of the song, no matter where you are, once the beat sharps playing, something must move. And that is why Shoulder was a major street anthem in both 2025 and 2026.

Most Popular Song of the Year

Another difficult catgory to predict: ‘Shoulder,’ ‘Excellent,’ ‘Gymnastic,’ and ‘Sacrifice’ show up in this category.

Piesie Esther brings the Gospel fraternity into the discussion with her smash hit, ‘Nyame Y3’ while King Paluta makes a comeback with ‘Foko’ and Lasmid shows up with ‘Olivia.’

Our Prediction: ‘Shake It To The Max’ by Moliy ft Shenseea, Skillbeng and Silent Addy

While every song in that category were smash hits in and around Ghana, no song made a global statement like Moliy with her ‘Shake It To The Max’ remix.

The song earned her performances on both national and global stages as well as multiple international recognitions and even commercials with multinational brands.

From America to Jamiaca to Ghana, everyone was quick to “Shake it to the Max”.

Album/EP of the Year

If you’ve been on social media since the nominees were announced, you’d have seen a post or two from artistes in the category showing why they deserve to win that category.

Everyone knows about Black Sherif’s domination with ‘Iron Boy,’ Stonebwoy’s stance on the ‘Torcher’ EP, Gyakie’s soothing vocals on ‘AfterMidnight,’ Medikal’s disturbance on ‘Disturbation 2,’ Wendy Shay’s assertions on ‘Ready’ and Kweku Smoke’s delivery on ‘Walk with Me.’

But the question is, while everyone deserves the title, who gets it?

Our Prediction: ‘Iron Boy’ by Black Sherif

Needs no explaination.

And now, to the cherry on top

Artiste of the Year

The battle lies between Black Sherif, Medikal and Wendy Shay. All three dropped smash hit albums in 2025, all three had massive hit songs in 2025 and all three had standout shows in 2025.

One cannot deny that they put in the work and deserve the accolade. But who wins?

Our Prediction: Black Sherif

ID/EB

Meanwhile, watch the latest episode of TGMA countdown with Charterhouse's Robert Klah below: