YOUR EX Cover Girl, Madonna, is officially leading the pack at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, scoring an impressive 11 nominations and once again proving why she remains one of pop culture’s most enduring icons.
The Queen of Pop sits two nominations ahead of Taylor Swift, who earned nine, while Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter received seven nominations each.
Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson follow with five nominations apiece.
It marks the first time Madonna has been the most-nominated artist at the VMAs since 1998 — the year her groundbreaking “Ray of Light” era dominated the awards.
Nearly three decades later, she is back at the top.
Madonna Returns To Video Of The Year
Among Madonna’s biggest nominations is Video Of The Year for her ambitious 14-minute visual project, Confessions II – The Film.
She will face some major competition for the night’s top prize.
Taylor Swift is nominated for The Fate Of Ophelia, Ariana Grande for Hate That I Made You Love Me, Sabrina Carpenter for Tears, Bruno Mars for I Just Might, and GENER8ION with Yung Lean for Storm.
Grande won Video Of The Year in 2025 with her short film Brighter Days Ahead, making her one of the contenders hoping for back-to-back victories.
For Madonna, another Video Of The Year win would carry particular significance.
Her first victory in the category came in 1998 with Ray Of Light, one of the defining videos of her career.
Madonna Scores 11 Nominations
Madonna’s nominations span both the major awards and technical categories.
Alongside Video Of The Year, she is nominated for Artist Of The Year and Song Of The Year.
She is also recognised across Best Collaboration, Best Dance, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects.
Best Dance is particularly fitting territory for an artist whose relationship with queer club culture stretches back more than four decades.
Madonna has consistently drawn inspiration from LGBTQ+ nightlife, dancers and underground scenes throughout her career, while also using her platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ communities during periods when doing so carried significant professional risk.
Her famous relationship with ballroom culture through Vogue, outspoken support during the height of the AIDS crisis and decades of queer collaborators have cemented her status as one of pop music’s most recognisable gay icons.
Could Madonna Make VMA History Again?
Madonna already has one of the most celebrated histories in VMA history.
From rolling around the stage in a wedding dress during Like A Virgin in 1984 to the Marie Antoinette-inspired Vogue performance in 1990 and that infamous 2003 kiss with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, she has repeatedly created some of the ceremony’s defining moments.
She currently sits among the most-awarded artists in VMA history.
An extraordinary clean sweep of her 11 nominations this year would put her level with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift at 30 career wins.
Swift, meanwhile, needs just one victory to move ahead of Beyoncé and become the most-awarded artist in VMA history outright.
So, beyond the individual categories, there is plenty of awards-show history potentially waiting to be rewritten on the night.
Women Dominate The Pop Conversation
The nominations also highlight another notable trend: women continue to dominate many of the major pop categories.
Madonna, Swift, Grande and Carpenter are among the most nominated artists overall, while Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress also secured five nominations each.
The Best Pop field is led entirely by women, reflecting a year in which female artists have remained central to some of mainstream music’s biggest releases.
Elsewhere, artists including Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber and Harry Styles feature in categories such as R&B and dance.
For LGBTQ+ music fans, the nominations also bring together several artists with especially strong queer followings — including Madonna, Grande, Carpenter, Lady Gaga, Doechii and PinkPantheress.
Madonna And Kylie Finally Make It Official
Madonna’s latest VMA triumph comes during an especially busy period for the pop legend.
Earlier this month, she finally released her first official collaboration with another beloved queer pop icon: Kylie Minogue.
After decades of fans hoping the pair would record together, Madonna and Minogue debuted “Love Sensation (Afterhours Mix)” during Madonna’s WorldPride Amsterdam performance on 1 August.
The collaboration was released days later.
The pair had previously shared a stage during Madonna’s Celebration Tour in 2024, but the new track marked their first official recording together.
For gay pop fans who have spent decades waiting for Madonna and Kylie to finally unite, it was one of those rare moments when pop mythology actually delivered.
Now Madonna heads towards another major milestone.
The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards will be held in Los Angeles on 27 September, with voting open across multiple fan-voted categories.
After more than 40 years of changing what a pop star could look, sound and behave like, Madonna is once again heading into the VMAs as the artist everyone else has to beat.
