On Saturday, December 23, 2023, the NET Honours class of 2023 winners were announced, marking another successful edition of the annual people’s Choice award.
This year’s event celebrated outstanding individuals within and beyond the entertainment industry who have made a significant impact.
With the new edition, we introduced an expanded array of voting categories, empowering the audience to vote for their favourites. There were 24 categories in total – 18 voting categories consisting of the Most Popular Actor, Most Popular Actress, Most Popular Comedian, Most Popular BBNaija Star and more. The non-voting categories which included the Most Searched Actress, Most Searched Actor, Most Popular Person, and Most Popular Couple, were largely based on audiences’ search results across our platforms, Netng, 234Star and Neusroom.
“African entertainers continue to break barriers and set unprecedented records at every turn. This fuels the imperative to recognise the exceptional contributions of these personalities and celebrate their remarkable achievements. This year marked a significant stride for NET Honours, expanding the voting categories to 18.” stated Iretomiwa Akintunde-Johnson, ID Africa’s Regional Manager for West Africa. “The aim was to engage a broader audience, enabling them to vote their favourite superstars into the prestigious NET Honours class of 2023.”
For three years in a row and this year added to the bag, Funke Akindele, acclaimed for her record-breaking movie productions and top-grossing movies, won the Most Popular Actress award with a 41% lead over Bimbo Ademoye at 22.8%, and Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, renowned for his hosting skills and unmatched style, emerged once again as the Most Popular Media Personality (Male) with an 85% vote rate.
Davido, Tiwa Savage, and Burna Boy clinched awards for Most Popular Musician (Male), Most Popular Musician (Female), and Most Searched Musician (Male) respectively.
Other industry giants joined the class of 2023. Sarz the producer extraordinaire emerged as the Most Popular Music Producer, DJ Neptune as the Most Popular DJ and the boy director – TG Omori emerged as the Most Popular Video Director (Music Video/Skit).
Rihanna clinched the Most Popular Foreign Celebrity award with an impressive 37.8% of the votes, affirming her status as a fan favourite, with voters selecting the business mogul and musician whose performances have been nothing but electrifying. The Barbadian star was voted over other foreign talents like Lee Min Ho (33.6%), BTS (8%), Taylor Swift (8.5%), and Selena Gomez (12.2%).
In the non-voting category, Adekunle Gold and Simi remained the favourite couple, topping search results, closely followed by Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva. Hilda Baci, cooked her way into our hearts, broke records and emerged as the Most Popular Person also based on search results.
Speaking of newcomers, thriller king and action hero, Tobi Bakre not only reigned over the big screen this year but claimed the spotlight as the Most Popular Actor with 32.8% votes, closely followed by Kunle Remi at 21.7% votes. The OG, Chidi Mokeme who reemerged to the big screen captivating audiences with his stellar acting in the movie ‘Shanty Town’ bagged the Most Searched Actor award.
This year, the virtual event, broadcasted on Netng’s social media platforms and website, unveiled the deserving winners via thenet.ng/honours.
Here’s the complete list of the NET Honours Class of 2023:
Most Popular Actress
Funke Akindele
Most Popular Actor
Tobi Bakre
Most Popular Musician (Male)
Davido
Most Popular Musician (Female)
Tiwa Savage
Most Popular Media Personality (Female)
Nancy Isime
Most Popular Media Personality (Male)
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
Most Popular Comedian
Sabinus
Most Popular Celebrity Stylists
Tiannah Styling
Most Popular Event
BBNaija
Most Popular BBNaija Star
Mercy Eke
Most Popular Foreign Celebrity
Rihanna
Most Popular Dancer/Video Vixen
Poco Lee
Most Popular Content Creator
Sabinus
Most Popular DJ
DJ Neptune
Most Popular Fandom (Music)
30 BG – Davido
Most Popular Fandom (BBNaija)
Mercenaries – Mercy Eke
Most Popular Music Producer
Sarz
Most Popular Video Director (Music Video/Skit)
TG Omori
Most Searched Actor
Chidi Mokeme
Most Searched Actress
Funke Akindele
Most Searched Musician (Male)
Burna Boy
Most Searched Musician (Female)
Tiwa Savage
Most Popular Person
Hilda Baci
Most Popular Couple
Adekunle Gold and Simi
