Madonna will enter the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards as the most nominated artist of the night, picking up 11 nominations for her "Confessions II" era — the highest single-year total of her career at the ceremony. The nominations, released August 18, set up a September 27 broadcast that returns the VMAs to Los Angeles for the first time since 2017.
Madonna's nominations come off the back of "Confessions II," her 15th studio album and a sequel to 2005's "Confessions on a Dance Floor," released July 3 through Warner Records and reuniting her with that album's producer, Stuart Price. Its lead single, "Bring Your Love," featured Sabrina Carpenter — one of two other artists near the top of this year's nominee list.
Taylor Swift trails with nine nominations, followed by Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter with seven apiece. Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson each picked up five nods, Blackpink's LISA earned four, and Shakira and Tate McRae collected three each. Swift, who is tied with Beyoncé for the most VMAs ever won — 30 apiece — could pull ahead of that record depending on how the night plays out.
The marquee Video of the Year category pits Madonna's "Confessions II – The Film" against Grande's "hate that i made you love me," Mars' "I Just Might," Carpenter's "Tears," Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia" and Gener8ion featuring Yung Lean's "STORM starring Yung Lean." Fan voting is open in 13 categories through September 25 at 6 p.m. ET, though marquee prizes like Video of the Year and Artist of the Year are decided separately, by an internal committee.
A reshuffled awards slate
MTV shook up its category list this year. Best Dance returns after a hiatus dating back to 2019, while Best Rock has been retired after more than three decades on the ballot, replaced by an expanded Best Alternative field. Best Afrobeats, introduced in 2023 and won that year by Rema and Selena Gomez and by Tyla in 2025, was dropped entirely for 2026 — a notable absence given the genre's continued global reach.
That reach still showed up elsewhere on the ballot. Burna Boy earned two nominations for "Dai Dai," his collaboration with Shakira that served as the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, competing in both Best Collaboration and Best Latin. Tems picked up a Best R&B nomination for "Raindance," her track with British rapper Dave. MTV said the 2026 slate includes 26 first-time nominees overall, among them Don Toliver and Kali Uchis.
Newcomers and a homecoming venue
The Best New Artist race features Bella Kay, Cortis, Magnus Ferrell, Malcolm Todd, Myles Smith, Sienna Spiro and Stella Lefty — a mix spanning K-pop, singer-songwriter pop and indie rock. The category has become one of the night's most closely watched in recent years, as MTV leans on it to argue the VMAs still matter for breaking new acts in a streaming-driven music landscape where the music video itself no longer carries the cultural weight it did at the award show's 1984 launch.
The ceremony itself moves to the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, ending a run of shows staged in New York and Newark, New Jersey. CBS will air the two-hour broadcast live, with a simulcast on MTV and a stream on Paramount+. MTV has not yet announced a host, a Video Vanguard Award recipient or a performer lineup — all traditionally unveiled in the weeks leading up to the show.
With the full nominee list now public, attention turns to fan balloting in categories from Song of the Year to genre-specific awards like Best K-Pop and Best Country. Results, along with whatever surprises MTV has held back on host and performers, arrive September 27.
