Madonna Leads 2026 MTV VMAs With 13 Nominations for Confessions II

Madonna leads the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with 13 nominations, driven by the short film she made for her new album, Confessions II. Taylor Swift follows closely with 11.

The Confessions II short film is up for Video of the Year and earned nods across the creative categories, including Best Direction, Cinematography, Choreography, Art Direction, Editing and Visual Effects. It also landed a nomination in the resurrected Best Dance category, which MTV awarded regularly for decades beginning in 1989 but has not presented since 2019.

"Bring Your Love," Madonna's Confessions II song with Sabrina Carpenter, is nominated for Song of the Year and Best Collaboration. Madonna herself is up for Artist of the Year, where she competes against Swift, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Sabrina Carpenter and Morgan Wallen. Her album Confessions II appears in the Best Album category alongside Swift's The Life of a Showgirl, Drake's ICEMAN, Olivia Rodrigo's you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend and Olivia Dean's The Art of Loving.

Swift's nominations center on "The Fate of Ophelia," the visual for her Life of a Showgirl hit, which is up for Video of the Year, Best Pop and numerous creative prizes including Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Choreography and Visual Effects. Her other Showgirl single, "Opalite," received a single nod for Best Direction. Swift arrived at the VMAs with an award already in hand: MTV named her the inaugural recipient of the VMA Artist Director Honors ahead of the show.

In Video of the Year, the Confessions II short film and "The Fate of Ophelia" face Ariana Grande's "hate that i made you love me," Bruno Mars' "I Just Might," Gener8ion's "STORM starring Yung Lean" and Sabrina Carpenter's "Tears."

Nirvana will receive this year's Video Vanguard Award. The Best New Artist field spans seven first-time contenders: Bella Kay, CORTIS, Magnus Ferrell, Malcolm Todd, Myles Smith, Sienna Spiro and Stella Lefty. CORTIS pulls double duty with a Best K-Pop nomination for "REDRED" and a Best Group nod, where the act competes against BLACKPINK, BTS, FLO, Fuerza Regida, Geese, KATSEYE and Twenty One Pilots.

The genre categories stack several marquee matchups. Best Hip-Hop pits Drake's "Janice STFU" against Travis Scott's "DUMBO," Tyler, The Creator's "SUGAR ON MY TONGUE," Megan Thee Stallion's "LOVER GIRL," Cardi B's "Safe" featuring Kehlani and Don Toliver's "E85." Best R&B includes Bruno Mars' "I Just Might," Justin Bieber's "YUKON" and Dave and Tems' "Raindance." Best Alternative features Tame Impala's "Dracula," twenty one pilots' "Drag Path," Noah Kahan's "The Great Divide" and a pairing of mgk with Fred Durst on "FIX UR FACE."

Best Pop is crowded: Grande, Charli XCX's "SS26," LISA's "Dream feat. Kentaro Sakaguchi," Olivia Rodrigo's "drop dead," Carpenter's "House Tour," Tate McRae's "Nobody's Girl" and Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia." Best Dance, in its return after seven years, includes Harry Styles' "Aperture," Lady Gaga and Doechii's "RUNAWAY," Bebe Rexha and Faithless' "New Religion," Slayyyter, PinkPantheress and Madonna's film.

Best Latin is among the deepest fields, with Bad Bunny's "NUEVAYoL," KAROL G's "Papasito," Rosalía's "La Perla" with Yahritza y Su Esencia, Anitta and Shakira's "Choka Choka," Fuerza Regida's "TU SANCHO," Ryan Castro, Kapo and GANGSTA's "LA VILLA" and Shakira and Burna Boy's "Dai Dai." That last track also appears in Best Collaboration alongside Clipse, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T and Malice's "Chains & Whips," French Montana and Max B's "Ever Since U Left Me" and Teyana Taylor and Lucky Daye's "Hard Part."

Song of the Year spans BTS's "Swim," RAYE's "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!," PinkPantheress's "Stateside + Zara Larsson," Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas," the HUNTR/X ensemble track "Golden" and Olivia Dean's "Man I Need," alongside the Madonna-Carpenter duet. Best Country includes Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Shaboozey, Tucker Wetmore and Best New Artist nominee Stella Lefty's "Boston."

MTV will update the winners list throughout the night, with the Madonna-Swift duel across Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and the craft categories set to define the evening's tally.