The move comes amid rising popularity of Afrobeats, Amapiano and other African genres in the west - and forms part of additions and amendments that were voted on and passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semi-annual board of trustees meeting last month.

Rumours of this new addition started popping up after Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr revealed on a trip to Ghana that the organisation was considering adding an Afrobeats category at the Grammys 

During a meeting to discuss the rising influence of music coming from the continent, Harvey, who led the meeting alongside global music genre manager Shawn Thwaites said, “When you talk about music coming from Africa, you’re seeing Afrobeats grow, you’re seeing amapiano and other genres coming out of the continent over the last three to five years. That started the discussions around, ‘Is it the right time?’ ”

The Grammy Awards said the new Africa-specific category will highlight “regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions” combining african genres like Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz for the “Best African Music Performance” award.

On top of the Best African Music Performance Award, the Academy also introduced two other categories, Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album.