Photo Credit: Madonna by Raph_PH / CC by 2.0
Madonna leads the charge at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with 11 nominations, followed by Taylor Swift with nine.
It’s her material world, and we’re just living in it. Pop superstar Madonna is leading the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards nominations with an impressive 11 nods—two more than contemporary megastar Taylor Swift. Madonna has been nominated in every decade of her musical career and has 19 wins to her name. In 1986, she became the first solo female artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award.
This year, Madonna is up for 11 awards, including video, artist, and song of the year, as well as best collaboration, dance, direction, art direction, cinematography, editing, choreography, and visual effects. Should she secure all 11 wins, she would tie Beyonce and Taylor Swift (who each have 30) for the title of most-awarded musician in VMA history. Eminem, meanwhile, is the male artist with the most VMAs, with 15.
Taylor Swift follows Madonna this year with the second-most nominations, with nine. If she wins even one of those, she will become the most-awarded artist in VMA history. Swift is currently up for video and artist of the year, as well as best pop, direction, art direction, cinematography, editing, choreography, and visual effects.
The two pop queens are followed by Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter with seven nods each, as well as Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress, and Zara Larsson with five. Blackpink’s Lisa has four nominations, while Shakira, Tate McRae, and Gener8ion with Yung Lean are tied with three.
The artist of the year category will go to either Grande, Mars, Carpenter, Madonna, Swift, or Morgan Wallen, all of whom are nominated for the honor. The night’s top prize, Video of the Year, will see Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” compete against Madonna’s “Confessions II — The Film,” Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” Mars’ “I Just Might,” Carpenter’s “Tear,” and Gener8ion’s “Storm” featuring Yung Lean.
The show will broadcast live on CBS on Sunday, September 27, at 7:30 PM EST and 4:30 PM PST, from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The two-hour event will also simulcast on MTV and be available to stream on Paramount+ in the United States. It will be available to stream globally the next day on Paramount+ and MTV.
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