Showbiz
Naija Dominates With 6 Wins at TikTok Awards in Jo’burg
The verdict is in and the message from Johannesburg is clear; the TikTok community has spoken, and Africa has crowned its newest icons. This past Saturday, the 2025 TikTok Awards Sub-Saharan Africa saw Nigerian creators assert their dominance, securing six out of the ten category wins in a night that celebrated the theme “New Era, New Icons”.
From the streets of Sokoto to the studios of Lagos, TikTok honoured the Nigerian trailblazers who are not just steering the global conversation on African culture.
On the night, creators also celebrated the role TikTok played in enabling them to share their culture. “Thank you, TikTok for giving us this platform to showcase our culture, to express our talent,” said 2025 Creator of the Year (@diaryofanortherncook) Raja’atu Muhammed Ibrahim.
Speaking on stage as he collected his Storyteller of the Year Award, Brian Nwana said, “Every single creator is a storyteller. We all tell stories that help drive the local communities, our cities, and our countries, and when we do that we change the perception that the world has about us”.
The platform has also played a significant role in spreading culture through music in 2025. 2025 Artist of the Year and “Laho” hit-maker, Shallipopi said, “Thank you, TikTok, for supporting all upcoming artists and giving them a spotlight to shine.”
The night of glitz, red-carpet glam and soul-thumping performances was a true celebration of African culture and the creativity that brought it to the world stage in 2025.
Here are the full winners from the night:
Creator of the Year (Sponsored by NIVEA)
Winner: Raja’atu Muhammed Ibrahim @diaryofanortherncook (Nigeria)
Taking the night’s most prestigious title, @diaryofanortherncook was recognised for her mastery of visual storytelling through food with the rich sounds of northern music. Based in Sokoto, the creator has captivated a global audience by documenting Northern Nigerian cuisine with that kind of cinematic flair that draws global attention to Nigerian food.
Storyteller of the Year (Sponsored by inDrive)
Winner: Brian Nwana @briannwana (Nigeria)
Based in Abuja, @briannwana claimed the Storyteller of the Year award through his food content. From street interviews to compelling personal narratives woven into his food adventures, Brian has a rare gift for capturing the human experience bite by bite. His content keeps audiences hooked from the first second to the last. His Guinness World Record for the most fast-food restaurants visited in 24 hours is just the latest example of his bold, inventive approach to content.
Education Creator of the Year
Winner: Izzi Boye @izziboye (Nigeria)
Making tech accessible to the masses, @izziboye is the go-to guy for gadget reviews, hacks, and digital tips. He proves that TikTok is a powerful classroom for the digital age.
Runner-up: @michelle_expert (South Africa) empowers her audience with expert advice and actionable insights from career development and financial literacy to personal growth and everyday decision-making.
Entertainment Creator of the Year (Sponsored by PEP)
Winner: Belove Olocha @beloveolocha (Nigeria)
A dominant force in content creation, Lagos-based @beloveolocha was awarded for her consistent ability to entertain and engage audiences with relatable movie content. She also stands out for incorporating her love for movies, sharing film moments and recommendations that resonate with her community. On stage, Olocha spoke about being grateful she took the risk to make a career as a content creator “Thank you to God first, and then to my mum, my family, and to my community. I want to thank TikTok. I resigned from my job to do content full-time, and it has not been a waste.”
Runner-up: Jabulani Macdonald @jabu_macdonald (South Africa) is a staple of South Africa’s entertainment scene, known for his quick wit and engaging presence.
Social Impact Creator of the Year (Sponsored by Dis-chem)
Winner: Dejoke Ogunbiyi @noositiwantiwa_ (Nigeria)
Using the platform for good, @Noositiwantiwa_ is driving conversations that matter. From Ibadan, she tackles social issues with grace and impact, mobilising her community for positive change.
Runner-up: Sinethemba Masinga @ufarm_julia (South Africa) – A champion for agriculture and sustainability, proving that farming is the future.
Artist of the Year
Winner: Crown Uzama @theycallmeshallipopipp (Nigeria)
2025 was the year of“Plutomania”. Shallipopi, popularly referred to as “Pluto Presido” by his fans, “plutomanians”, dominated the soundwaves and the platform, with tracks that sparked viral challenges and became the soundtrack of the year across the continent.
Guests were treated to an electrifying night of glitz and glamour, but the energy peaked when the Pluto Presido himself, Shallipopi, took the stage to accept his Award for the Artist of the Year Award. The Benin-born superstar has had the industry in a chokehold throughout 2025. His smash hit “Laho” both topped the charts and became a cultural reset as it sent shockwaves across our For You Feeds. Blending his signature Edo-infused street lingo with an irresistible Afrobeats bounce, the track sparked a viral frenzy that transcended borders, proving once again that when Nigeria creates, the world moves.
Supported by partner brands like NIVEA, inDrive, Coca-Cola, PEP and Dis-chem, winners hailed from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania, reflecting the commitment to elevating the voices shaping entertainment, education, and social impact across the continent.
“With Nigerian creators securing six of the ten awards, we are honoured to celebrate their impact, especially as these victories were voted for by the TikTok community, who continue to champion the stories shaping culture”, reflects Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok’s Head of Content Operations for Sub-Saharan Africa. Adding to this, she said, “Tonight’s ceremony was a gathering of the trailblazers who have redefined what it means to be a creator in Africa. This year, we are honoured to see West African creators who turned short video clips into cultural movements be recognised.”
Audiences across Africa will get a chance to experience the glamour, performances, and emotional acceptance moments when the ceremony is broadcast exclusively on TikTok LIVE on 11 December at 19:00 WAT on the @tiktok.africa account.
And the other 2025 Winners included:
Video of the Year
Winner: Fanuel John Masamaki @zerobrainer0 (Tanzania)
Tanzanian sports creator @zerobrainer0 makes a triumphant return, winning Video of the Year after securing Sports Creator of the Year in 2024. He has become a continent-wide fan favourite thanks to his signature beige blazer and his unique, silent comedy spin on football moments.
Rising Star of the Year
Winner: @tunero_animations (Kenya)
The future of African storytelling is animated. Celebrating the next generation of talent, the Rising Star award went to Nairobi-based @tunero_animations, who has carved out a niche with animated characters like Bob Kichwa Ngumu, whose clever, sarcastic and stubborn traits resonate with Kenyans and the world.
Runner-up: Esther Francis @estherfrancisbackup (Nigeria), adds a creative and relatable flair to health information that empowers users on the platform with credible information.
Food Creator of the Year (Sponsored by Coca-Cola)
Winner: @malumfoodie (South Africa)
Pretoria’s self-taught cook, @malumfoodie took home the trophy thanks to the flavour and fun his videos bring to the kitchen. His approachable recipes and charismatic delivery using South African street language called Spitori and native South African languages bring a fresh, entertaining twist to his recipes and meals.
Runner-up: Abena Amoakoaa Sintim-Aboagye @chefabbys (Ghana) – Showcasing the best of Ghanaian cuisine to the world with style. She was recently named amongst Time Magazine’s 2025 list of the 1000 most influential creators in the World
Sports Creator of the Year
Winner: @zozasportscast (Kenya)
From Nairobi to the world, the @zozasportscast team delivers football analysis with passion and precision. They represent a new wave of sports journalism, which is fan-led, authentic, and always on the ball.
Runner-up: Victor Ademola @ademolavictortv (Nigeria) has kept the Super Eagles and global football conversation alive with energetic commentary.
Spotify’s latest Valentine data signals that Nigerian listening is becoming more emotionally expansive, not more predictable. Across the Jan 1 to Feb 4 comparison window, Nigeria saw strong growth in mood-led playlist creation from 2024 to 2025, with rizz up +58%, simp up +66%, and yearn up +305%. From 2025 to 2026, we could see rizz up +82% and yearn up +170%. Together, these shifts point to a culture that is naming attraction, vulnerability, and longing in real time.
A New Language for Modern Love
On Valentine’s Day, Nigerian listeners moved between local and global love soundtracks, with Burna Boy, John Legend, and Billie Eilish appearing in the same emotional universe. What stands out is not one dominant mood but the growth of multiple moods at once. Using rizz and simp as love-coded signals, and yearn as a heartbreak-coded signal, Spotify data shows both sides rising sharply. Love-coded playlist, rizz behaviour grew by +58% to +82% from 2024 to 2026, while heartbreak-coded behaviour yearn grew by +305% and then +170% over those same periods.
This is emotional literacy in action, with listeners using playlists to process what they feel without having to flatten it into one story.
Nigerian Gen Z is driving this change. Data points to a generation building a working vocabulary for modern relationships, one that allows confidence, tenderness, and uncertainty to exist side by side.
The Duality Generation
Among 18 to 24-year-olds on Valentine’s Day, nearly 60% of listeners skewed heartbreak, while almost 40% leaned into love. They are not choosing one emotion over another. They are holding both at once and building listening habits that reflect that complexity.
The pattern is visible across gender, too. Men accounted for over 65% in heartbreak and 61% in love song streaming, while women represented just over a third in both cases, showing that both groups are actively engaging the full emotional spectrum on the day.
Geographically, heartbreak listening is concentrated in urban centres, with Lagos leading, followed by Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Benin. The map is culturally telling. Young Nigerians in major cities are using music as a live emotional archive of romance, ambiguity, and recovery.
Sharing the Feeling
Nigerians are not processing these emotions in isolation. Valentine’s Day 2025 was the “Blendiest” day in the preceding year, signalling peak shared listening behaviour through Spotify Blend. Partners, friends, and crushes used collaborative playlists to merge Afrobeats, street-pop, and R&B into shared mood spaces.
Top Blend tracks on the day included Fido’s Awolowo, Smur Lee’s, Shallipopi, ODUMODUBLVCK’s JUJU (with Smur Lee & Shallipopi), BNXN, Rema’s “Fi Kan We Kan,” and Rema’s “OZEBA.” In direct song shares, listeners chose emotionally direct records such as Future’s “WORST DAY,” Drake’s “GIVE ME A HUG, Asake’s “WHY LOVE”, Rema’s “Baby (Is it a Crime)”, and Drake’s “NOKIA”. The signal is clear: sharing is not just social behaviour, it is emotional communication.
Beyond Romance: Community, Friendships, and Faith
Valentine’s listening also shows Nigerians broadening the meaning of connection. Globally, Galentine playlist creation rose by over +70% year on year, with +20% growth already recorded this year. In Nigeria, this aligns with how friendship and peer support are increasingly central to how young listeners mark the day.
The podcast picture adds another cultural layer. Faith-based voices remained highly visible on 14 February, alongside relationship-centred conversations, reflecting a listening culture where romance, spirituality, and community wisdom coexist rather than compete.
Spotify also recorded a +20% increase in Valentine’s Day playlist creation globally in the latest comparable seasonal window, reinforcing that this period remains one of the strongest emotional moments in the listening calendar.
“Valentine’s Day in Nigeria is no longer a single-note romance moment. We are seeing listeners embrace love and heartbreak as equally valid emotional realities, and use music to move through both with honesty. What stands out is the confidence to name complex feelings and the willingness to share them with others,” says Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa.
This year’s Valentine’s data presents a portrait of a generation redefining connection: emotionally fluent, culturally hybrid, community-oriented, and unafraid of contradiction.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered a temporary takeover of the famous music label, X3M Music Limited, owned by public relations guru, Mr Steve Babaeko, over unpaid debt to singer Mr Praise Adejo, popularly known as Praiz.
The court has appointed a provisional liquidator (a court-sanctioned manager) to seize control of all the label’s properties and bank accounts.
This followed a petition by Praiz, who is seeking to wind up the company over the claims of unpaid debt since the inception of his relationship with the label.
Praiz, a R&B musician, was formally signed to the label, and his music career hit the limelight after he finished second runner-up at the maiden season of Project Fame West Africa.
He is best known for releasing hit singles such as Rich and Famous, Sisi, and 69 with Burna Boy and Ikechukwu Killz. Under the record label, he released his debut album titled Rich & Famous in 2014, which received a nomination for the Album of the Year at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards as well as a nod for Best R&B/Pop Album and Album of the Year at the Headies 2015.
X3M Music Limited, founded by advertising executive Steve Babaeko, is a prominent Nigerian record label and the parent company of X3M Ideas, which was listed among Africa’s fastest-growing companies in 2025. X3M Music also formerly signed Simi and helped develop her artistic talent.
As of now, neither X3M Music nor Mr Babaeko has issued a formal response to the court order.
Africa Magic has announced the premiere of Employee of the Year, a compelling three-part romantic drama set to air from Thursday, February 12, to Saturday, February 14, 2026, on Africa Magic Showcase (DStv Channel 151, GOtv Channel 8).
Led by Mena Sodje in a standout performance as Nana, the movie features a strong supporting cast, including Daniel Abua, Doris Okorie, Nnamdi Agbo, Yemi Solade, and other notable actors. Together, they bring depth and emotional nuance to a story rooted in the high-pressure world of real estate, where power, loyalty, and desire often collide.
Employee of the Year follows Nana, a junior realtor struggling to rise above obscurity, whose life takes a dramatic turn when she uncovers a dangerous plot to burn down her company. Her bravery earns her recognition as an unlikely hero, but the victory is short-lived when she discovers that the conspiracy runs far deeper than she imagined.
As the story intensifies, Nana learns the true mastermind behind the scheme, who then presents her with a chilling offer: her dream promotion in exchange for carrying out the very crime she once stopped. Caught between ambition and conscience, Nana must confront the cost of success and decide what kind of future she is willing to build.
With its mix of romance, suspense, and corporate drama, Employee of the Year explores the moral compromises often hidden behind professional success. The three-part movie will air exclusively on Africa Magic Showcase (DStv Channel 15, GOtv Channel 81) from February 12 –14, 2026.
Be sure to also take advantage of the ongoing We Got You offer, where you pay for your current package and DStv/GOtv upgrades you to the next higher package at no extra cost. The offer runs till February 28th, 2026.
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