The 2025 Billboard Arabia Awards got off to a rocking start in Riyadh’s King Fahad Cultural Center on Dec. 11, with all manner of exciting musical talents—from Elyanna, TUL8TE, and Al Shami, among others—performing. But with such competitive categories this year, which nominated artists walked away with the night’s top prizes? Hundreds of the biggest names in the music industry descended upon the Kingdom’s capital for the inaugural awards ceremony, which was established to recognize the top Arab artists and music of the year.
Unlike traditional music award shows, the BBAMA winners were selected based on their ranking on Billboard Arabia’s charts, including the Hot 100 and Artist 100, as well as the newly launched dialect charts. These include Khaleeji, Egyptian, Levantine, and Magharebi, in addition to genre-specific charts, such as Arabic Hip-Hop, Arabic Indie, and Mahraganat.
This meant that the winners who walked away with the top prizes at this year’s ceremony were—you guessed it, Syrian singer Al Shami and Moroccan rapper ElGrandeToto, also known as the region’s most-streamed rap artist. Other notable winners include Chilean-Palestinian crooner Elyanna, Saudi singer and composer Abdul Majeed Abdullah, and Belgian-Moroccan singer Dystinct.
Al Shami, whose hits have amassed 57.1 million plays on Anghami, emerged as the evening’s biggest winner, taking home four awards, including the Artist of the Year in the Levantine Dialect category, Top Male Artist in the Levantine Songs category, Best Indie Song for Sabra, as well as Best Levantine Song.
He was followed by ElGrandeToto and Abdul Majeed Abdullah, who both won clinched two awards, solidifying their influence in their respective genres. The Moroccan rapper claimed top honors as the Arabic Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, Top Arabic Male Hip-Hop Artist, and Top Arabic Hip-Hop Song for his hit Blue Love. Meanwhile, the legendary Saudi musician was celebrated with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as recognition as the Top Male Artist in the Khaleeji Dialect and Artist of the Year in the Khaleeji Dialect.
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Elyanna, who is the first and only female Arab artist to chart in Billboard Hot 100 outside of the Arabia charts, took home the Top Indie Arab Artist and Top New Artist awards, and TUL8TE was recognized as the Most Rising Star.
The Song of the Year award went to Egypt’s Tamer Ashour, who also won in the Best Egyptian Song category for Haygely Mawgow3.
Other winners included Nancy Ajram, Amr Diab, Aedh Yousef, Oumaima Taleb, and Mohammed Bin Grman.
The first Billboard Arabia Awards were a resounding success, honoring the diverse musical talents that have shaped the Arab music scene over the past year. With performances that brought the audience to their feet and a star-studded lineup of winners, the night cemented its place as a milestone event in the region’s music industry.
