Tyla's "Push 2 Start" wins Best Afrobeat at MTV's VMA

Tyla at MTV's VMA 2025 red carpet | Instagram

South African sensation Tyla has clinched the Best Afrobeats award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) for her hit single Push 2 Start, further cementing her place as one of Africa’s biggest global stars.

The win, announced on September 7 at the UBS Arena in New York, made Tyla the only African artist to take home an award at this year’s ceremony, which celebrated music released between June 20, 2024, and June 18, 2025.

Push 2 Start was nominated in two categories—Best Afrobeats and Best Choreography—and its victory adds to Tyla’s growing trophy cabinet. It is her second VMA after she won the Best Afrobeats award in 2024 for her breakout global anthem, Water.

That historic win made her the first South African artist to ever win a VMA.

This year’s Afrobeats category was fiercely contested, featuring some of the continent’s biggest names: Asake (Active featuring Travis Scott), Burna Boy (TaTaTa featuring Travis Scott), Moliy (Shake It to the Max featuring Silent Addy, Skillibeng, and Shensea), Rema (Baby (Is It a Crime)), Tems (Get It Right featuring Asake), and Wizkid (Piece of My Heart featuring Brent Faiyaz).

The win marks a new career high for Tyla and also reflects the unstoppable global rise of Afrobeats. Nigerian star Ayra Starr was also nominated in the Push Performance category for her single Last Heartbreak Song, underlining the genre’s influence across international stages.

Beyond her win, Tyla also dominated the fashion spotlight at the VMAs. She stunned in a beige Chanel minidress that fashion watchers say referenced a vintage spring 1993 Chanel design once worn by supermodel Claudia Schiffer.

The look—a Chanel top styled as a dress — created one of the night’s standout red-carpet moments.

With back-to-back VMA wins, global chart-topping hits, and fashion world recognition, Tyla has firmly established herself as both a music and style icon. Her triumph is also a reminder of how African artists are shaping not just the global soundscape but the cultural conversation.