After a year of dominating charts, streaming platforms and conversations in Ghanaian music, Black Sherif has once again been crowned Artiste of the Year at the Telecel Ghana Music Awards.
The Konongo-born singer and rapper, born Mohammed Ismail Sherif, beat strong competition from Medikal, Wendy Shay, Diana Hamilton, Stonebwoy and Sarkodie to take home the coveted topmost prize on Saturday night at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre.
This marks Black Sherif’s second Artiste of the Year win after first claiming the title in 2023 at the 24th edition of the awards scheme.
For many industry observers, the latest victory came as no surprise following what has been described as one of the most dominant years by a Ghanaian artiste on international streaming platforms in recent times.
His 2025 album, Iron Boy, became the driving force behind his remarkable run, earning massive success both locally and internationally.
On Spotify, Black Sherif currently boasts about 2.6 million monthly listeners, while Iron Boy debuted at Number 6 on the UK Top Debut Albums chart. He also emerged as Ghana’s most-streamed artiste for the third consecutive year, occupying nine of the top 10 songs on the platform.
The success story extended to Apple Music where he held all top 12 song positions, with Iron Boy remaining at Number One for 21 weeks while Sacrifice emerged as the year’s top song.
The album also reached Number 10 on the Billboard World Albums chart, further cementing his growing global appeal.
In addition, Black Sherif crossed 100 million streams on Boomplay and currently boasts over 1.11 billion plays on Audiomack, with 3.01 million listeners and 5.83 million followers on the platform.
Aside from winning Artiste of the Year, Black Sherif also swept three major awards on the night namely Best Hiphop Song of the Year, Best Afro Pop Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
Organised by Charterhouse Productions, the Telecel Ghana Music Awards remains the country’s most prestigious music awards scheme, celebrating excellence across genres while tracking success through streaming numbers, airplay, performances and overall influence. (Read #TGMA27#: See list of winners)
Despite the earlier concerns and a relatively quiet build-up compared to previous years, TGMA 27 still delivered a night of music, fashion and celebration. The red carpet, themed A Touch of Glitter, set the tone as celebrities arrived in stylish outfits to engage fans and the media.
The main show opened with a performance by Enam, but the overall flow of the event appeared less coordinated than in past editions. Hosting duties were performed by Naa Ashorkor and Giovani Caleb.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh