Was 2016 the Last Great VMAs? A New Podcast Revisits the Night Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake Owned the Stage

The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards gave us Beyoncé’s Lemonade medley, Rihanna’s four-part Video Vanguard performance, Drake’s infamous kiss attempt and Britney Spears’comeback, all in one ceremony. A decade later, that lineup reads less like a typical awards show and more like a snapshot of an era that may never come back.

A new episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, hosted by Andrew Unterberger with Billboard’s Katie Atkinson, digs into why that night still holds up. The conversation covers the biggest performances, the moments that went viral before viral was the whole point, and the bigger question of whether the VMAs, or any award show, have matched that level of star power since.

The answer probably depends on how you feel about today’s award shows. Assembling that many superstars in one room has become harder as attention has scattered across platforms, which makes 2016 feel like a turning point rather than just a good year. The episode drops weekly on Thursdays via Apple Music and Spotify.

So what do you think: was 2016 the last truly great VMAs, or are we just nostalgic? Tell us in the comments.