Madonna leads this year's MTV Video Music Award nominations with 11 nods, ahead of Taylor Swift's nine, as the VMAs return Sunday, September 27, in Los Angeles for their 42nd edition. The list also includes 26 first-time nominees.
Madonna's haul comes almost entirely from her Confessions II short film, which swept the technical categories: Video of the Year, Best Dance, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects. Her album of the same name added nominations for Artist of the Year and, alongside Sabrina Carpenter, Song of the Year and Best Collaboration for "Bring Your Love."
The top categories skew pop, legacy and largely white this year: 80% of nominees in both Artist of the Year and Video of the Year, and 60% of Best New Artist nominees, are white, while zero Black artists are nominated for Video of the Year. Best Hip-Hop and Best R&B, by contrast, are made up almost entirely of Black artists, and hip-hop and rap are largely absent from the top fields overall.
Country music kept building on its recent VMA presence, with Morgan Wallen nominated again for Artist of the Year, Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" up for Song of the Year and Best Country, and Stella Lefty nominated for Best New Artist. The underground also cracked the marquee race: GENER8ION and Yung Lean's short film "STORM" is nominated for Video of the Year alongside Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna.
The full nominee list spans dozens of categories, with first-timers like K-pop group CORTIS and GENER8ION notching multiple nods apiece. Nominations and the wider VMA race are now tracked on award watch, alongside the rest of the year's pop awards season.
The facts
- Madonna leads with 11 nominations, ahead of Taylor Swift's nine
- VMAs return September 27 in Los Angeles for a 42nd edition
- 80% of Artist of the Year and Video of the Year nominees are white
- Zero Black artists nominated for Video of the Year
- GENER8ION and Yung Lean's 'STORM' is nominated for Video of the Year
- 26 first-time nominees this year
- Madonna led the field with 11 nominations
- Magnus Ferrell, son of Will Ferrell, made the Best New Artist shortlist
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