While Dancehall and Reggae as a collective is at a standstill on the international scene, the Afrobeats sound continues to break musical barriers.

The recent development sees the Afrobeats genre being added as a category in the American Music Awards ahead of its ceremony on November 21.

This week, organizers of the AMAs announced its complete list of nominees and introduced for the first time, a new category strictly for Afrobeats.

Dubbed Favorite Afrobeats Artist, the category sees Burna Boy, CKay, Fireboy DML, Tems, and Wizkid vying for the coveted title.

Other nominees include Bad Bunny, who leads the pack with eight nominations, followed by Beyonce, Drake, and Taylor Swift with six nominations each.

The ceremony for the American Music Awards is scheduled to take place on November 21 at the Microsoft Theater in the US.

As the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, the AMAs airs globally across digital platforms in over 120 countries and territories. Nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected on the Billboard charts – including streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay.

In March this year, Billboard created the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart, a standard record chart ranking the 50 most popular Afrobeats songs in the United States weekly.