NEW YORK, NY, September 22, 2026 — Taylor Swift is one win away from becoming the most awarded artist in MTV Video Music Awards history: Get All the Details. Swift leads the night with nine nominations, and also has a chance to make history as she returns to Los Angeles for the first time since hosting the ceremony in 2017 on September 27. She is now tied with Beyoncé for the most VMA wins of all time.
A Historic Milestone Within Reach
Swift has earned to date 30 competitive Moon Person awards over the years throughout her career which ties Beyoncé for the most wins ever by any artist. One more victory this season would take her over that mark and make her the sole record-holder. This year alone she has nominations for Video of the Year and Artist of the Year for ‘The Fate Of Ophelia,’ standard for lists regulated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences regarding excellence.
The artist is also up for Best Pop, Direction, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, and Choreography across the ceremony. It speaks not only to her commercial appeal, but also the persistent artistic vision that she has imbued behind each of the music videos she has dropped in recent weeks. Analysts say her nomination distribution gives her several plausible routes to historic victory.
Full List: 2023 Madonna Leads The Pack But the Competition is Fierce
This year, Madonna has more nominations than any other artist with a total of 11 nods split between major and technical categories. She received nominations for Video of the Year for “Confessions II: The Film” and Song of the Year, a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter as part of “Bring Your Love”. Such a sweep would give her a total of 30 wins throughout her career, which matches both Swift and Beyoncé in that mark.
Madonna has history with the VMAs, as she was there for the very first ceremony in 1984 and also made her mark when she became the first-ever solo female recipient of the Video Vanguard Award at the show back in 1986. Today, four decades later, her staying power consistently appearing at the top of nominations marks how rarefied a career arc she possesses in an industry so predicated on turnover, monitored for media insights by the National Endowment for the Arts. Which of her or Swift ends up with the most-wins record may well emerge as one of the defining narratives of the night.
A Deep and Competitive Field
Away from the top two, king of 2022 Ariana Grande and queen Sabrina Carpenter both racked up seven nominations this year. Most nominations (5): Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson pop, hip-hop, country, Latin, K-Pop. In addition, there is also a brand new category in Best Dance, which returns to the ceremony for the first time in seven years.
This year saw many singles receive their first-ever VMA nominations, including CORTIS, Don Toliver, Kali Uchis, Noah Kahan, and Olivia Dean. The combination of familiarity with nostalgia and cultural relevance reflects MTV’s attempt to mix the new sat out there, with historical broadcasting context referenced by the Federal Communications Commission. Meanwhile, fan voting is still open for the majority of categories through September 25, with Best New Artist voting running until the broadcast.
What Now During the Broadcast
The ceremony, which will be streamed on Paramount+, airs live at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS and MTV. As of the nominations release, hosts, presenters, and performers had yet to be announced; recipients of the Video Vanguard and Visionary awards are also unannounced. The decision to move the show back to Los Angeles after nearly a decade in New York and New Jersey marks a major change of location for the ceremony.
Whoever takes the most-wins record home this year, it’s shaping up as a not-so-sleepy VMA broadcast. The showdown aspect alone between Swift and Madonna adds natural drama built into the night beyond just performances and surprise moments. For Swift in particular, one win would establish a legacy that has already transformed the industry´s way of quantifying an artist’s cultural longevity.
