The six nominees for video of the year at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards span multiple genres and formats. Four of the nominated visuals accompanied chart-topping hits: Ariana Grande’s “hate that i made you love me,” Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might” and Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” all topped the Billboard Hot 100, while Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears” peaked at No. 3.
Madonna is nominated for the first time in 22 years for Confessions II – The Film, a 14-minute film featuring excerpts from six songs from her Billboard 200-topping album Confessions II. The film includes a collaboration with Carpenter, “Bring Your Love,” giving Carpenter a cameo appearance on a competitor to her own entry in this category.
GENER8ION’s “STORM,” an audiovisual collaboration between French DJ Surkin and director Romain Gavras, is set in an all-boys British boarding school class of 2034 and features Swedish rapper Yung Lean.
Swift holds the record with five previous video of the year wins. Grande won last year for Brighter Days Ahead, a 26-minute film. Madonna won in 1998 for “Ray of Light.” If Madonna wins this year, she would establish a new record for the longest span between video of the year wins at 28 years.
The nominees were directed by Christian Breslauer (Grande), Bardia Zeinali (Carpenter), TORSO (Madonna), Daniel Ramos and Mars (Mars), Romain Gavras (GENER8ION), and Taylor Swift (Swift). The videos feature appearances by Colman Domingo, Justin Long, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Garner, Kate Moss and Feid.
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Source: Billboard
