Netizens across social media have reacted with excitement following the Recording Academy’s decision to honour Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Since the announcement via their website on Friday, reactions have continued to pour in across social media, with many Nigerians and music lovers worldwide describing the recognition as “well deserved,” “long overdue,” and a fitting tribute to Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s enduring global influence.
The Recording Academy, in a statement released on its website, said, “On January 31, 2026, we are honouring this year’s Special Merit Award recipients, including Fela Kuti, with a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Fela, who died in 1997, will be honoured alongside global music icons Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Cher, Paul Simon and Carlos Santana, all recognised for lifetime achievements and cultural impact.
According to the Academy, the Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by vote of its National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetime, “have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.”
Describing Fela, the Academy called him, “An architect of Afrobeat, honoured for a lifetime of influence.
“Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, and activist who created Afrobeat in the 1960s by combining funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and traditional Nigerian rhythms.
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