Pop icon Madonna leads the nominations for the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with 11 nods, extending her record of receiving nominations across every decade of her musical career.
The music superstar is competing in major categories including Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as Best Collaboration, Dance, Direction, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Choreography and Visual Effects.
Madonna, who has 19 competitive VMA wins, became the first solo female artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award in 1986.
She is followed by Taylor Swift with nine nominations. Swift could make VMA history by winning at least one award, which would take her past Beyoncé as the most-awarded artist in the history of the ceremony. Both currently have 30 VMA wins.
Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter follow with seven nominations each, while Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson received five nominations apiece. BLACKPINK’s LISA has four, while Shakira, Tate McRae, GENER8ION and Yung Lean each earned three nominations.
The nominees for the coveted Video of the Year award include Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia, Madonna’s Confessions II — The Film, Grande’s Hate That I Made You Love Me, Mars’ I Just Might, Carpenter’s Tear and GENER8ION’s Stormfeaturing Yung Lean.
The 2026 VMAs will take place on September 27 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will air live on CBS and MTV and will also be available to stream on Paramount+.
This year’s ceremony features 26 first-time nominees, including GENER8ION, Yung Lean, K-pop group CORTIS, Stella Lefty, Don Toliver, Kali Uchis, Noah Kahan, Olivia Dean, Tucker Wetmore and Sienna Spiro.
The Best Dance category has also returned to the VMAs for the first time in seven years, adding another competitive category to this year’s ceremony.
Fan voting is currently open in 13 categories and will close on September 25, while voting for Best New Artist will remain open throughout the live ceremony.
