South African singer Tyla, born Tyla Laura Seethal, made history once again as she won the World Artiste of the Year category at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday, March 17, 2025.
The 23-year-old South African singer, best known for her globally acclaimed hit “Water,” became the first-ever winner of this newly introduced category at the awards.
Her breakthrough single, “Water,” captured global attention, reaching the top of the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Chart, securing platinum certifications, and even securing a remix with Travis Scott.
In this World Artiste of the Year category, she won over the Nigerian superstars Tems and Burna Boy, as well as Central Cee and YG Marley.
Tyla also seems to be dominating global charts, as she won a Grammy for Best African Music Performance.
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Aside from Tyla’s win, the iHeartRadio Music Awards honored some of the biggest names in global music with skyrocketing careers.
Taylor Swift won the Artist of the Year award and was recognized for her record-breaking Eras Tour, known as the Tour of the Century.
Mariah Carey received the iHeartRadio Icon Award, while Lady Gaga was honored with the Innovator Award.
Sabrina Carpenter won Pop Artist of the Year, and GloRilla took home Hip-Hop Artist of the Year.
Teddy Swims won Best New Artist (Pop), while Muni Long’s “Made for Me” was crowned R&B Song of the Year.
See the complete list of winners at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards below.
Song of the Year
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
“Agora Hills”—Doja Cat
“Beautiful Things”—Benson Boone—WINNER
“Espresso”—Sabrina Carpenter
“Greedy”—Tate McRae
“I Had Some Help”—Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen
“Lose Control”—Teddy ”Swims
“Lovin On Me” – Jack Harlow
“Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar
“Too Sweet” – Hozier
Pop song of the Year
“Agora Hills”—Doja Cat
“Beautiful Things”—Benson Boone
“Espresso”—Sabrina Carpenter *WINNER
“Greedy”—Tate McRae
“Too Sweet” – Hozier
Pop artist of the Year
Billie Eilish
Chappell Roan
Sabrina Carpenter *WINNER
Tate McRae
Taylor Swift
Artist of the Year
Billie Eilish
Doja Cat
Jelly Roll
Kendrick Lamar
Morgan Wallen
Post Malone
Sabrina Carpenter
SZA
Taylor Swift—WINNER
Teddy Swims
Best Collaboration
“Die With A Smile”—Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars—WINNER
“Fortnight”—Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone
“I Had Some Help” – Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen
“Like That”—Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar
“Miles On It”—Kane Brown and Marshmello
Best new artist (pop)
Benson Boone
Chappell Roan
Gracie Abrams
Shaboozey
Teddy Swims
Country song of the Year
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
“Cowgirls”—Morgan” Wallen featuring ERNEST
“I Am Not Okay” – Jelly Roll
“I Had Some Help”—Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen*WINNER
“World On Fire”—Nate Smith
Country artist of the Year
Jelly Roll *WINNER
Kane Brown
Lainey Wilson
Luke Combs
Morgan Wallen
Best new artist (country)
Ashley Cooke
Dasha
George Birge
Shaboozey *WINNER
Tucker Wetmore
Hip-hop song of the year
“Like That”—Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar
“Lovin On Me” – Jack Harlow
“Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar—WINNER
“Rich Baby Daddy”—Drake featuring Sexyy Red and SZA
“” TGIF”—GloRilla
Hip-hop artist of the year
Drake
Future
GloRilla *WINNER
Kendrick Lamar
Travis Scott
Best new artist (hip-hop)
310babii
BigXthaPlug
BossMan Dlow—WINNER
Cash Cobain
Jordan Adetunji
R&B song of the year
ICU—Coco Jones
“Made for Me” —Muni Long—WINNER
“Sensational”—Chris” Brown featuring Davido and Lojay
“Water”—Tyla”
“WY@”—Brent Faiyaz
R&B artist of the year
Chris Brown
Muni Long
SZA *WINNER
Usher
Victoria Monét
World artist of the year
Burna Boy
Central Cee
Tems
Tyla *WINNER
YG Marley
