Madonna Just Got Her Best VMA Nomination Haul Ever. She's 67.
Madonna leads the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with 11 nominations, MTV announced Tuesday - her highest nomination count in VMA history, and her first time topping the field since 1998. The nods include Video of the Year and Artist of the Year for her 14-minute short film "Confessions II," plus Song of the Year for "Bring Your Love," her collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter. Madonna has 19 competitive VMA wins already and was the first solo female artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award, back in 1986. A full sweep this year would tie her with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for the most VMA wins by any artist, at 30 each.
Swift follows with nine nominations, including Video and Artist of the Year for "The Fate of Ophelia," released days after her wedding to Travis Kelce. Ariana Grande and Carpenter tied for third with seven nominations apiece; Bruno Mars, Zara Larsson, and PinkPantheress each picked up five. The Artist of the Year category rounds out with Grande, Mars, Carpenter, and Morgan Wallen alongside Madonna and Swift - Wallen's sole nomination this year, despite having the year's best-selling album.
Three past Video of the Year winners are back in that category again: Grande for "hate that i made you love me," Madonna for "Confessions II," and Swift for "The Fate of Ophelia." The three newcomers vying for a first win are Mars's "I Just Might," Carpenter's "Tears," and Gener8ion's "Storm," a collaboration between French DJ Surkin and director Romain Gavras starring Swedish rapper Yung Lean - the least commercially prominent name in the category, and the nominee with the most to gain from the exposure.
K-pop picked up a smaller but notable footprint: BTS earned two nominations, including a Best K-pop nod for "Swim," and BLACKPINK's Lisa collected four nominations for her solo work. Best New Artist nominees include CORTIS alongside Sienna Spiro, Stella Lefty, Malcolm Todd, Bella Kay, Myles Smith, and Magnus Ferrell - a reminder that this year's ceremony is stacked with both six-decade veterans and acts nobody outside their fanbase has heard of yet.
The ceremony airs September 27 from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, broadcast live on CBS, MTV, and Paramount+ - the first time the VMAs have returned to the LA area since 2017, and the first time the show has been held in the fall rather than late summer. Whether Madonna actually closes the gap between "most-nominated" and "most-awarded" won't be settled until the trophies are handed out.
