This year’s VMAs nominations lean pop, legacy, and white

The MTV Video Music Awards return Sunday, September 27, in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, the award show revealed this year’s long list of nominations featuring music’s most tenured stars alongside captivating new artists reshaping the mainstream. Madonna leads with an impressive 11 nominations this year, ahead of Taylor Swift’s nine, and 26 first-time nominees. Now in its 42nd year, the VMAs remain one of music’s most influential institutions, but a list this long does more than just maintain a headcount of pop’s biggest names. We noticed some interesting patterns in the nominations this year, some surprising and some disappointing. Ahead, read our observations, both obvious and hidden, about this year’s VMAs.

See the full list of nominations here.

With her CONFESSIONS II short film, Madonna broomed in every technical category this year: Video of the Year, Best Dance, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects. Her dancey concept album of the same name, meanwhile, pulled nominations in Artist of the Year, Song of the Year for “Bring Your Love” (with Sabrina Carpenter), and Best Collaboration for “Bring Your Love” (with Sabrina Carpenter) bringing her to 11 nominations. Deserved.

It’s no surprise to see hallmark names like Taylor Swift, Madonna, Bruno Mars, and even Sabrina Carpenter populating the top categories of the VMAs, except this year, 80% of nominees in Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, and Best New Artist are white.

Notably, zero Black artists are nominated in the awards’ namesake category, Video of the Year, while Myles Smith is the only Black artist nominated in Best New Artist. (Meanwhile, Best Hip-Hop, Best R&B are made up of almost completely Black artists.) Genre-wise, hip-hop and rap are largely absent from top fields, with pop music dominating. “Song of the Year” is the only marquee category that’s seemingly more diverse with nominations for Olivia Dean, RAYE, PinkPantheress, BTS, and HUNTR/X.

From 2021 to 2023, no country music or artists were nominated in Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, or Best New Artist. Starting in 2024, however, country music has been increasingly bleeding into the main categories when Beyoncé lit the torch with “Texas Hold ‘Em” for Song of the Year, and Shaboozey was tapped for Best New Artist. In 2025, the controversial singer Morgan Wallen was nominated for Artist of the Year and Ella Langley for Best New Artist. This year, Morgan Wallen is nominated once again for Artist of the Year, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” for Song of the Year (and Best Country), and Stella Lefty for Best New Artist.

Surprisingly, the underground is in the race for the VMAs top award Video of The Year. “STORM,” the artistic short film starring Yung Lean by GENER8ION, the creative brainchild of French producer Surkin, is nominated for the trophy alongside Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and Madonna. The Romain GAVRAS-directed video is a trip through youthful chaos, set in a boarding school where Lean, dressed as a schoolboy, gallivants with his posse around campus and destroys stuff. Together with Lean’s newly announced art exhibition in Stockholm, the nom reifies his standing as, not just a rapper, but a multimedium creative.

First-time nominees are landing multiple noms, most notably for non-pop awards. GENER8ION and Yung Lean rack up three nominations with Video of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Choreography; K-pop’s CORTIS gets two with Best New Artist, Best K-Pop for “REDREAD”; meanwhile Stella Lefty receives two with Best New Artist and Best Country Video for “Boston”.