Madonna's 11 nominations top the 2026 VMAs, two clear of Taylor Swift
MTV has published the full list. One project — Confessions II - The Film — carries eight of Madonna's eleven nods, and the ceremony airs live from Los Angeles on 27 September.
The tally runs like this: 11 nominations for Madonna, nine for Taylor Swift, seven each for Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter. Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson take five apiece.
What lifts Madonna’s number is a single piece of work. Confessions II - The Film is up for video of the year, best dance, best direction, best art direction, best cinematography, best editing, best visual effects and best choreography — most of the craft categories in one sweep. Add artist of the year, plus Bring Your Love with Sabrina Carpenter in both song of the year and best collaboration, and you have eleven.
The category everyone actually argues about
Six contenders for video of the year: Ariana Grande’s hate that i made you love me, Bruno Mars with I Just Might, GENER8ION’s STORM starring Yung Lean, Madonna’s Confessions II - The Film, Sabrina Carpenter’s Tears and Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia. Artist of the year adds Morgan Wallen, who is absent from the video shortlist.
The first-timers worth a listen
Ten artists picked up a first VMA nomination: Olivia Dean, Noah Kahan, Don Toliver, Kali Uchis, CORTIS, Stella Lefty, Tucker Wetmore, GENER8ION, Yung Lean and Sienna Spiro. Best new artist itself is a separate field of seven, including Myles Smith and Malcolm Todd.
Dates and voting
The show airs live from Los Angeles at 7.30pm Eastern on Sunday 27 September — half past midnight in Portugal, going into the Monday. Public voting is open across 13 categories until 25 September, with best new artist staying open through the broadcast itself.
Awards season is having a rules year generally. Eurovision rewrote three of its own this month, including who gets to host.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: chrisweger / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
