Madonna led the 2026 MTV VMAs nominations with 11, giving her the biggest haul in a field that also put Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande near the top. The announcement set up a race that will now move to fan voting before the show airs live on Sept. 27.
For Madonna, the count reflects a broad sweep across the night’s biggest categories. She was nominated for artist of the year, song of the year for her Sabrina Carpenter collaboration “Bring Your Love,” and video of the year for “Confessions II – The Film.”
That total mattered because Swift, who remains the most-awarded act in VMAs history, came in second with nine nominations. Carpenter and Grande followed with seven each, while Bruno Mars also landed in the artist of the year field and in video of the year for “I Just Might.” Morgan Wallen was among the other artist of the year nominees.
The category lists show how wide the field has become. In video of the year, the last two acts left standing were Bruno Mars for “I Just Might” and Gener8ion for “STORM starring Yung Lean.” Song of the year included BTS’s “Swim,” Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI’s “Golden,” Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need,” PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson’s “Stateside” remix, and RAYE’s “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” The best new artist race included Bella Kay, Malcom Todd, CORTIS, Sienna Spiro, Myles Smith, Stella Lefty and Magnus Ferrell.
The competition arrives with one notable change: the VMAs will feature the best dance category for the first time in seven years. The show is set to air live from Los Angeles on Sept. 27 on CBS and simulcast on MTV, with voting open through Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. ET.
Madonna’s lead looks less like a one-off than the sign of a year still moving in her favor, with Confessions II debuting atop the Billboard 200 chart last month. The question now is not whether she reached the front of the nominations, but how many of those categories she can turn into wins once the votes are counted.
