Madonna is the leading nominee for the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with 13 nods, her first time topping the nominations list since 1998 and a new personal best. The total got a late boost from four newly added social categories announced September 18, pushing her past a stacked field.
Taylor Swift follows with 11 nominations, Sabrina Carpenter has nine, and Ariana Grande has eight, including a record-extending sixth artist of the year nomination. Bruno Mars is the top male nominee with six. Overall, seven of the eight most-nominated artists this year are women, a stat that says plenty about where pop’s center of gravity sits right now. The best dance category also returns for the first time in seven years, with Madonna among the nominees.
The show airs live September 27 from the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles on CBS, MTV, and Paramount+, marking the first LA-area VMAs since 2017 and the first ever held in the fall. Fan voting is open now at vote.MTV.com through September 25 at 6 p.m. ET, and votes count double during the daily Power Hour. So who are you backing this year?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.