Going by the content of the speech given at a recent press conference in Ghana, by CEO of the recording academy, Harvey Mason Jr Afrobeats’ could be a stand-alone award at next year’s 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony.

Mason Jr spoke about a virtual meeting days earlier between the academy executives and the Afrobeats stake holders. ‘’We had a virtual listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators and just talked about ‘What are the different subgenres? What are the needs? What are the desires?'” he adds. “And my goal is to represent all genres of music, including Afrobeats, at the Grammys.”

He did go on to clarify that the decision is not yet final. “I don’t decide categories,” he explains. “The categories are decided by proposals submitted by members.

An example of how long it takes for categories to become official is when at an April 2021 meeting, the Recording Academy approved the addition of two new categories in the global and Latin music fields, however, the change did not affect the 2022 Grammys.

Additionally, the Recording Academy announced five additional categories this year, including songwriter of the year and best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media, which will only take effect at the 2023 Grammys.