Step aside, Taylor: Madonna tops 2026 VMA nominations
She beats out Taylor Swift, the VMA's most awarded solo artist of all time
The queen of pop is coming back for her throne.
An MTV Video Music Awards icon has topped the nominations list this year — and no, it’s not Taylor Swift. For the third time in her career, Madonna is the most nominated artist at the VMAs.
Her 11 nominations at next month’s ceremony, including for artist and video of the year, were for the chart-topping album Confessions II and its accompanying film.
Madonna beat out Taylor Swift, the most awarded solo artist in VMA history, who earned nine nominations for her album The Life of a Showgirl and for the music video for The Fate of Ophelia. Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande trailed Swift, with seven nominations each.
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Déjà vu
Madonna also led the VMAs nominations in 1990 and 1998 with her Vogue and Ray of Light eras. However, she might be most closely associated with the awards for a performance at the inaugural 1984 ceremony, when she took to the stage in a wedding dress and "Boy Toy" belt buckle and rolled on the floor singing Like a Virgin.
The performance is now remembered as a watershed moment, testing the boundaries of what was permissible on cable television.
Madonna's nominations include video of the year, artist of the year, and song and collaboration of the year for Bring Your Love, which features fellow nominee Carpenter.
For the biggest prize of the night — video of the year — Confessions is up against Swift's Ophelia, as well as the videos for Grande's Hate That I Made You Love Me, Carpenter's Tears, Bruno Mars's I Just Might and Gener8ion and Yung Lean's *Storm *
Voting is open to the public for 13 of this year’s categories. Winners will be announced at the Sept. 27 ceremony, which will be broadcast live on CBS, MTV, and streamed on Paramount+.
With files from Reuters