Madonna Returns to VMAs Stage After 23 Years

Madonna performed at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday for the first time in 23 years, opening the telecast with special guests Sabrina Carpenter and Charli xcx.

A 20-minute delay caused by an NFL game preceded the pop icon's return. Madonna began her performance perched atop a piano as Carpenter played. She wore a black waistcoat and knee-high boots; Carpenter wore a glittery ensemble with a beret. The two traded verses before Madonna descended the stairs, removed her coat to reveal a red-and-black corset, and was lifted by dancers onto a table that rolled around a choir in the audience dressed in white veils.

The stage then transformed into the bathroom set from the "Danceteria" music video. Charli xcx emerged from one of the stalls to the tune of the newly released "Danceteria Afterhours" remix, followed by Madonna and actresses Debi Mazar and Julia Garner. Seth Rogen, Andrew Watt and Sombr made cameos before the two-song performance closed. "Make some noise for Madonna!" Charli told the audience.

Madonna has been a fixture at the VMAs since the show's 1984 debut, where she performed "Like a Virgin." Subsequent appearances included "Express Yourself" in 1989, "Vogue" in 1990, "Ray of Light" with Lenny Kravitz in 1998, and the 2003 performance alongside Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — her last VMAs appearance before Sunday.

She leads all artists in nominations for the 2026 VMAs with 13 nods. Taylor Swift follows with 11, Sabrina Carpenter with nine and Ariana Grande with eight.

Days before the appearance, VMAs producer Van Toffler spoke with Variety about bringing Madonna back. "Well, look, we can deny it as much as we want, but Madonna is the M in MTV," he said. "I knew it the day I started there. She is the queen of MTV. She makes great videos. She's provocative. She always pushed us, and this year's performance will be no exception."

The performance caps a pivotal year built around Madonna's 15th album, "Confessions II," released in July. Her first album in seven years, it functions as a sequel of sorts to her 2005 album "Confessions on a Dance Floor" and reunites her with producer Stuart Price across 16 tracks that embrace contemporary dance music while nodding to her roots and backstory.

Madonna launched the album era with the debut of the lead single, "Bring Your Love," during a surprise appearance in the second weekend of Carpenter's headlining set at Coachella in April. In the months that followed, she staged a rave at West Hollywood's Abbey and a performance in partnership with Grindr in New York City's Times Square. After "Confessions II" arrived, she released new versions of several songs, including "Love Sensation" featuring Kylie Minogue and "Danceteria Afterhours" with Charli xcx, which dropped just days before the VMAs performance.

With 13 nominations at the 2026 ceremony, Madonna now enters awards season as the show's most-nominated artist — and, on the evidence of Sunday's opener, she intends to keep pushing the format that made her MTV's defining star.