Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 VMA nominations with 10, and the show lands on 27 September
The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards nominations are out: Kendrick Lamar leads with 10, ROSÉ and Sabrina Carpenter follow on eight, and the ceremony airs 27 September from Los Angeles.
The VMA nominations are out and there was never much mystery about who would top them. Kendrick Lamar picked up 10, including the three everyone checks first — Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Album of the Year.
Just behind him sits a nicely odd tie: ROSÉ and Sabrina Carpenter, eight nominations apiece, two completely different career routes arriving at the same number. Ariana Grande and The Weeknd take seven each.
Who is nominated for Best Pop Artist at the 2026 VMAs?
Best Pop Artist puts Doechii, Tate McRae and Charli xcx on the same shortlist, among others — which tells you how far the word “pop” has been stretched lately. Charli xcx arrives there off the back of a year in which she put out a record with Scorsese on the cover, the kind of move that does half a campaign’s work on its own.
When and where are the 2026 VMAs?
The ceremony is on Sunday 27 September, live from Los Angeles, and this year it simulcasts on CBS as well as MTV. That is the formula MTV has reached for to put the show in front of a far bigger audience than the channel could deliver alone — and, in practice, to win back some of the cultural weight televised music awards have been shedding for years.
Worth remembering: most of the major VMA categories are voted on by the public, which makes them less a verdict on quality than a snapshot of who can mobilise a fanbase. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, but it does explain the occasional result that leaves critics squinting. The full category list is up on the official VMAs site.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: Lexi Veronica / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
