By Isaac Kofi Agyei | JoyNews Research
There is a particular silence inside the arena when the envelope for Artiste of the Year is held up. Cameras tighten. The crowd settles into a half-leaned forward posture that everybody in the room knows. For some artists in the seats below, this moment has arrived once. For one of them, tonight will be the fourteenth time the envelope has been raised with his name still possibly inside it.
Across twenty-six editions stretching back to the year 2000, only ten artists have stayed long enough on the Artiste of the Year shortlist to make the long story their own. Here is how those ten stories have unfolded.
Take a quick data glance:
The first place belongs, indisputably, to Sarkodie. He arrived at the awards in 2010 with a debut album, a unique flow, and a hairstyle that had not yet become a trademark. He left the 11th edition with the Artiste of the Year trophy and four other plaques.
Two years later, at the 13th edition in 2012, he came back and did it again. And then something quietly extraordinary started. From the 15th edition in 2014 onwards, his name appeared in the Artiste of the Year category at every single ceremony for eleven consecutive editions, all the way through the 25th edition in 2024. Eleven straight years of being on the list.
Eleven envelopes opened with his name potentially inside. Eleven times unlucky. The streak finally broke at the 26th edition in 2025, the first time his name had been left off the shortlist since 2013. Tonight, at the 27th edition in 2026, he is back in the field for his fourteenth career nomination, with two trophies still in the cabinet from a different decade.
Second on the list is Stonebwoy. His story is the story of two reigns, with a quiet stretch in between. The first reign opened at the 16th edition in 2015, when he took home the trophy on his way up.
Five consecutive nominations followed, from 2015 through 2019, marking him as one of the genre’s most consistent presences. After three editions away from the Artiste of the Year shortlist, he returned at the 24th edition in 2023 and is currently on a four-edition active streak that ends, or extends, tonight. In the middle of that second run he took the crown again at the 25th edition in 2024. Two trophies, two distinct eras, the same artist still showing up.
Third comes Black Sherif. The Konongo boy who arrived seemingly fully formed. His Artiste of the Year story opened at the 23rd edition in 2022, when his name appeared on a shortlist that had been dominated by older heads.
The very next year, at the 24th edition in 2023, he took the trophy. Since then he has stayed nominated through the 25th and 26th editions and is on the field again tonight at the 27th, an unbroken five-edition run. One trophy, one ongoing story, and the youngest member of the top three by a meaningful margin.
Fourth is Kuami Eugene. The highlife heir who arrived at the awards already wearing the suit. His four-edition consecutive run ran from the 20th edition in 2019 through the 23rd edition in 2022.
He converted his second appearance into the trophy at the 21st edition in 2020, then defended his presence on the shortlist for two more years before stepping aside. One career win, four years of being in the room when the envelope was opened.
Fifth is King Promise. The slow-burn romantic. His Artiste of the Year story has the patient rhythm of someone who knew his moment would come if he kept arriving.
He showed up at the 20th edition in 2019, then waited two ceremonies on the side, then returned for a four-edition run from the 23rd through the 26th. Three of those four nights ended with him watching someone else collect the trophy. The fourth, at the 26th edition in 2025, was his. One win, on the fourth try of his consecutive streak, after years of carrying himself with the steady patience that turned out to be the whole point.
Sixth is Joe Mettle. The man who changed who could win. Before the 18th edition in 2017, no gospel artiste had ever taken the topmost prize at the awards.
Joe Mettle arrived that year, was named in the field, and walked out with the trophy. The doors he opened that night stayed open. He stretched his run for two more editions, was nominated three more times across later years, but the trophy came on his very first appearance. One win, one quiet revolution, and a path that the rest of the gospel scene has been walking through ever since.
Seventh is KiDi. The Lynx Entertainment frontman whose Artiste of the Year run was short and decisive.
Two consecutive nominations at the 23rd and 24th editions in 2022 and 2023, with the trophy collected on the very first try. He arrived. He won. He defended his presence the following year. The story has the clean arc of a romantic ballad, which is appropriate.
Eighth is Diana Hamilton. The gospel queen who completed the breakthrough Joe Mettle started. Two consecutive nominations at the 21st and 22nd editions in 2020 and 2021, with the trophy claimed at the second appearance.
She is the second woman ever to take the top honour at the awards, after Ebony Reigns at the 19th edition in 2018, and the first female gospel artiste to win the category. Tonight, at the 27th edition, she is back in the Artiste of the Year field for the first time since her win, which gives her run a quiet extra weight. One trophy on the mantel. Possibly a second by tonight’s final envelope.
Ninth is E.L. The producer-rapper whose 2016 ambush is still discussed by people who study the patterns of this category.
He stepped onto a shortlist that had Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, and Bisa Kdei on it, and walked out with the trophy at the 17th edition. He defended his nomination at the 18th edition in 2017, making it two consecutive appearances. One win, a producer’s quiet calculation, and a reminder that the favourite does not always cover the spread.
Tenth is Shatta Wale. The dancehall force whose career trophy in this category came at the 15th edition in 2014, before his consecutive nominations actually began.
He returned to the shortlist at the 19th and 20th editions in 2018 and 2019 for a two-edition run, finishing the streak without converting it into a second win. One career trophy, one of the most distinctive stage presences in the country’s music history, and a streak that closed before he could extend it further.
So that is the ten. Eleven, six, five, four, four, three, two, two, two, two. A staircase that drops sharply after Sarkodie and then narrows into a tightly packed lower tier of artists who showed up just often enough to leave a mark on the Artiste of the Year ledger. Six of the ten took their trophy inside their longest consecutive streak. Two took their wins outside of any streak entirely. One took two wins across two different eras of his career. And one, the man at the top of the ranking, took zero wins inside the longest streak any artist has ever assembled in this category, while still holding a share of the all-time-wins lead from a different decade.
Tonight at the 27th edition, the question quietly hanging over the Grand Arena is whether one of those numbers in the top column changes. Whether Sarkodie’s eleven becomes twelve, or whether his two becomes three. Whether Black Sherif’s five extends to six. Whether Diana Hamilton’s one becomes two. The envelope, like every other envelope before it, will have the final word. The story, like every other story, is being written in the hour before it is read.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Source link
