Madonna Ties Gaga's Record With 11 Nods at 2026 MTV VMAs

Madonna leads the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with 11 nominations, tying Lady Gaga's record for the most nods in a single night. The ceremony is underway at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with Snoop Dogg hosting and the winner list updating live.

The night's first announced result: Lisa and Kentara Sakaguchi won Best Pop for "Dream," beating a field that included Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me," Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia," and Madonna's "Confessions II - The Film."

Madonna's total haul spans nearly every craft category. "Confessions II - The Film" appears among nominees for Video of the Year, Best Dance, Best Long Form Video, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography, and Best Visual Effects. Her album "Confessions II" is up for Best Album, and she shares a Best Collaboration nod and a Song of the Year nomination with Sabrina Carpenter for "Bring Your Love." She also competes for Artist of the Year.

The Video of the Year category is stacked. Sabrina Carpenter's "Tears," a Rocky Horror ode starring Colman Domingo, faces Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia," which casts Swift as muses throughout history. Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me" — a video in which she haunts a guilty ex-boyfriend played by Justin Long — is nominated alongside Bruno Mars's "I Just Might," Gener8ion's "Storm starring Yung Lean," and Madonna's film.

The broadcast, which now runs on CBS rather than MTV, features a rare appearance from Madonna herself. She performs at the VMAs for the first time in 23 years. Yung Lean and Gunna also perform, and Kacey Musgraves delivers a tribute to the late Dolly Parton.

The Song of the Year race shows the breadth of the field. BTS's "Swim," Ella Langley's record-breaking Billboard No. 1 hit "Choosin' Texas," and Huntr/x's KPop: Demon Hunters smash "Golden" compete with Raye's "Where Is My Husband!," Olivia Dean's "Man I Need," and the PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson aesthetic-swapping "Stateside" remix video.

Best New Artist, presented by The General Insurance, pits Magnus Ferrell, Malcolm Todd, Myles Smith, Bella Kay, Cortis, Sienna Spiro, and Stella Lefty against one another.

Geese landed a Best Alternative nomination for their video for "Taxes," the lead single from Getting Killed. The category also includes Tame Impala's "Dracula," Twenty One Pilots' "Drag Path," Noah Kahan's "The Great Divide," Olivia Rodrigo's "The Cure," Sombr's "Homewrecker," and the MGMT-scale pairing of MGMT and Fred Durst on "Fix Ur Face."

Madonna's "Confessions II - The Film" will be the story of the night to watch. A single video has never swept this many craft categories in one ceremony without collecting hardware along the way — and with 11 nominations, every subsequent announcement carries stakes.