Burna Boy Wins ‘Best Global Music Album’ At 2021 Grammys

Nigerian Afrobeat superstar Burna Boy is going home with the 2021 Grammy for Best Global Music Album.

Burna’s 2020 album Twice As Tall won in the Best Global Music Album category at the 63rd Grammy Awards.

Twice As Tall came out on top against Brooklyn-based afrobeat band Antibalas’s Fu Chronicles, Brazilian-American singer Bebel Gilberto’s Agora, British-Indian player Anoushka Shankar’s Love Letters and Mali band Tinariwen’s Amadjar.  The award was handed out today, March 14, before the socially-distant telecast.

In his jubilant online acceptance speech, Burna declared “This is a big win for my generation of Africans all over the world.”

“This should be a lesson to every African out there, no matter where you are, no matter what you plan to do, you can achieve it, no matter where you’re from because you are a King,” he said. “Look at me now Grammy-awarding winning, Burna Boy.”

Historically, it is the first win for a solo Nigerian artist at the Grammys.

Nigerian Sikiru Adepoju had previously won but as part of Mickey Hart’s group Planet Drum, whose title album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 1991.  Nigerian WizKid also won Best Music Video this year for his contribution to Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl.

Burna was previously nominated in the same category at the 2020 awards for his 2019 album, African Giant.  While he did not win two years ago, it spoke volumes that the winner then, Beninese legend Angélique Kidjo, used her acceptance speech to praise him. “This is for Burna Boy,” she said, praising him for, “changing the way our continent is perceived and the way African music has been the bedrock of every [type] of music.”

Twice As Tall was executive produced by American singer and songwriter Diddy and Burna Boy’s mom, Bose Ogulu, who manages his career.  It featured guest appearances from Youssou N’Dour, Naughty by Nature, Sauti Sol, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Stormzy.

In its first week, Twice As Tall peaked at No. 54 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making history as the first Nigerian artist to do so, and it was the No. 1 streamed album on Apple Music in 48 countries.

“Unlike a lot of other people, I’ve had to go through never-ending steps to get here, whereas other people have taken the elevator up,” Burna Boy told GQ in March 2020.  “I’ve always been too heavy for that kind of elevator, so I had to take the stairs. Now I know every floor and everything on every floor.”

Burna Boy will perform later during the pre-show ceremony.

The awards are being held in Los Angeles, California with some significant adjustments this year.   Singer Jhené Aiko served as host for the pre-telecast premiere ceremony where most of the night’s awards were actually handed out. The telecast will be hosted by Trevor Noah later tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS Television Network.