Madonna is leading the 2026 MTV Video Music Award nominations, scoring an impressive 11 nods and once again proving why she remains one of pop culture’s most enduring icons.
The Queen of Pop sits two nominations ahead of Taylor Swift, who received nine. Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter earned seven nominations each, while Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson follow with five apiece.
It is the first time Madonna has been the VMAs’ most-nominated artist since 1998, when her groundbreaking Ray of Light era dominated the awards.
Nearly three decades later, she is back at the top.
Madonna Returns To Video Of The Year
Among Madonna’s biggest nominations is Video Of The Year for her ambitious 14-minute visual project, Confessions II – The Film.
She faces major competition for the night’s top prize.
Taylor Swift is nominated for The Fate of Ophelia, Ariana Grande for Hate That I Made You Love Me, Sabrina Carpenter for Tears, Bruno Mars for I Just Might, and GENER8ION with Yung Lean for Storm.
Grande won Video Of The Year in 2025 with her short film Brighter Days Ahead, making her a contender for back-to-back victories.
For Madonna, another win in the category would carry particular significance. Her first Video Of The Year victory came in 1998 with Ray of Light, one of the defining videos of her career.
Madonna Scores 11 Nominations
Madonna’s nominations span the major awards and an extensive list of creative and technical categories.
Alongside Video Of The Year, she is nominated for Artist Of The Year and Song Of The Year.
She is also recognised in Best Collaboration, Best Dance, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects.
Best Dance is particularly fitting territory for an artist whose relationship with queer club culture stretches back more than four decades.
Madonna brought ballroom-inspired choreography to mainstream audiences through Vogue, worked extensively with queer dancers and creatives, and spoke publicly in support of people living with HIV during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Those connections have helped cement her status as one of pop music’s most recognisable LGBTQ+ icons, even as conversations continue about how mainstream performers engage with and credit the queer subcultures that influence their work.
Could Madonna Rewrite VMA History?
Madonna already has one of the most celebrated histories in the MTV awards’ four-decade run.
From performing Like a Virgin in a wedding dress at the inaugural ceremony in 1984 to her Marie Antoinette-inspired Vogue performance in 1990 and the headline-making 2003 kiss with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, she has repeatedly delivered some of the VMAs’ defining moments.
Madonna currently has 20 career VMA wins.
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé begin this year’s awards tied for the all-time record, with 30 wins each.
That means the 2026 ceremony could significantly reshape the VMA leaderboard. A clean sweep of Madonna’s 11 nominations would take her career total to 31, although Swift’s nine nominations give her plenty of opportunity to extend her own tally.
Whatever happens, the race adds another layer of history to a ceremony already dominated by some of pop music’s biggest names.
Women Dominate The Pop Conversation
The nominations also highlight the continued dominance of women across mainstream pop.
Madonna, Swift, Grande and Carpenter are the four most-nominated artists overall, while PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson each secured five nods.
The major categories bring together generations of performers, from artists who helped define the music-video era to stars shaping contemporary pop through streaming, social media and highly visual album campaigns.
For LGBTQ+ music fans, the nominations feature several artists with especially strong queer followings, including Madonna, Grande, Carpenter, Lady Gaga, Doechii and PinkPantheress.
It also puts a 68-year-old woman at the front of one of pop music’s most visible awards ceremonies—an industry where women routinely face ageism long before their male counterparts.
More than 40 years into her career, Madonna is not simply receiving a legacy nomination. She is competing across the ceremony’s biggest categories.
Madonna And Kylie Finally Make It Official
Madonna’s VMA success arrives during an especially busy period for the pop legend.
Earlier this month, she released her first official collaboration with another beloved queer pop icon: Australia’s own Kylie Minogue.
After decades of fans hoping the pair would record together, Madonna and Minogue debuted “Love Sensation (Afterhours Mix)” live at WorldPride Amsterdam on 1 August.
The track was released in Australia on 7 August.
The pair previously shared a stage during Madonna’s Celebration Tour in 2024, but the new remix marks their first official recording together.
For LGBTQ+ fans in Australia, the collaboration carries particular resonance. Kylie has been closely embraced by queer communities throughout her career, from her early dance-pop years to her enduring presence at Pride events, gay clubs and Mardi Gras celebrations.
Seeing two artists so deeply embedded in queer pop culture finally come together was one of those rare moments when decades of fan speculation became reality.
Madonna now heads towards another potential career milestone.
The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards will be held in Los Angeles on 27 September, with fans able to vote across 13 categories.
After more than four decades of changing what a pop star could look, sound and behave like, Madonna is once again heading into the VMAs as the artist everyone else has to beat.
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