Stonebwoy Extends Reggae-Dancehall Reign With TGMA Win Again

Stonebwoy left the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre with another hold on the Telecel Ghana Music Awards’ most watched genre battle, taking Best Reggae/Dancehall Artiste again and widening the gap between himself and the field.

The 2025 ceremony, held on May 10 in Accra, also gave him Best Reggae/Dancehall Song for Psalm 23 and Best Music Video for Jejereje. That trio of wins kept the spotlight on a run that has defined the category since it was introduced in 2015, when the reggae/dancehall race quickly became one of the scheme’s fiercest and most talked-about contests.

Stonebwoy’s grip on the honour has become the story inside the story. By the time the 2025 TGMA concluded, his stretch at the top had already reached 10 straight wins in the category, turning each new nominations list into a fresh test of whether anyone could pry the award away from him. The names around him have changed, but the result has not. In 2025, the field again included Epixode, Ras Kuuku and Samini, artists who have each carried real weight in Ghana’s reggae and dancehall space.

His dominance did not begin this year. In 2024, at the 25th TGMA, Stonebwoy swept seven trophies in one night, including Artiste of the Year and Best Reggae/Dancehall Artiste. That haul made him the second most-awarded artiste in a single night in the history of the scheme, behind Ofori Amponsah’s 2006 record. It also sharpened the conversation around what Stonebwoy’s success says about the genre itself.

Born Livingstone Etse Satekla in 1988 in Ashaiman, Stonebwoy has long been more than a category regular. He has become the benchmark for reggae-dancehall visibility in Ghana, the artist other names are measured against when nominations are announced and ballots are counted. After his record-setting TGMA and VGMA run, he publicly urged stronger support for Ghana’s reggae community, framing his own tally as proof that the scene needs deeper backing, not just individual star power.

King Promise took the overall Artiste of the Year prize in 2025, but the genre conversation still circled back to Stonebwoy. At the TGMA, the reggae/dancehall category has become more than a trophy line. It has become a weekly test of whether Ghana’s biggest reggae-dancehall force is simply unmatched, or whether the scene has allowed one name to monopolize its loudest stage.