Musical battle

The nominations for the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards are in, and it’s shaping up to be another big year for some of music’s biggest names. This week we are taking a look at who’s leading the nominations as well as who we think will be the biggest winner.

Something I find quite surprising is that Madonna is in the lead this year with 11 nominations. It is her strongest VMA showing in more than three decades proving that age truly is just a number. She is definitely impressive with her career as she makes comeback after comeback. The categories she’s in the running for include Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Confessions II – The Film.”

Taylor Swift isn’t far behind with nine nominations, including Video of the Year and Artist of the Year, as she looks to add to her record haul of 30 Moon Person trophies. Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter each earned seven nominations, while Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson picked up five apiece, making this one of the most competitive line-ups in recent years.

This year’s awards also see the return of the Best Dance category after a seven-year break. Madonna is among the nominees, although surprisingly she has never won in the category. Some familiar awards, including rock, afrobeats and Song of the Summer, were left out of this year’s announcement. The MTV Video Music Awards will be held in September in Los Angeles.