A lot of the awards at the 2026 MTV VMAs on Sunday (Sept. 27) went pretty much as expected. We all knew Madonna was going to win best long-form video for Confessions II — The Film. Madonna had been the first winner in the category in 1991 for The Immaculate Collection, and a repeat win would make a nice bookend for her unparalleled VMAs career. Sure enough, she did win that award.
BTS’ three wins, capping a big comeback year, were also expected.
But that doesn’t mean there were no snubs and surprises in the show, which ran a little over two hours.
Madonna opened the show in what was her first performance at the VMAs in 23 years. It was her fifth time opening the show, which set a new VMAs record.
There were two tributes to late, great artists. Kacey Musgraves performed a tribute to Dolly Parton. RAYE, SOMBR, Teddy Swims and Adam Lambert honored George Michael. In addition, Nirvana, which disbanded upon the suicide of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, received the video vanguard award.
Taylor Swift received the inaugural VMA Artist Director honors. In addition, the music video for Swift’s new single, “Patient Zero,” premiered at the awards.
Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the VMAs aired live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 27 (7:30-9:30 p.m. ET/4:30-6:30 p.m. PT) on CBS, simulcast on MTV and streaming on Paramount+ (Premium) in the U.S. The show will also be available globally the next day on Paramount+ and MTV. The VMAs were produced by Gunpowder & Sky. Van Toffler served as producer.
Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises from the 2026 VMAs.
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Surprise: LISA Wins Best Pop
LISA won best pop for “Dream,” a video featuring Japanese actor Kentaro Sakaguchi. She beat, among others, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, who have each won three times in the category. Grande was nominated for “Hate That I Made You Love Me”; Swift for “The Fate of Ophelia.” Both of those songs were No. 1 Hot 100 hits. “Dream” has not been a U.S. hit, though it was a hit in many other territories around the world.
The Thai rapper, singer, dancer, and actress is the second Asian pop act to win best pop. BTS won in 2020 for “On.”
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Snub: Bruno Mars Loses the Big One Again
Mars was nominated for video of the year for “I Just Might,” but lost to Swift for “The Fate of Ophelia.” Mars has gone 0-8 in the VMAs’ top competitive category. Runner-up for having the worst track record in that category at the VMAs is Drake, who has gone 0-6.
Incidentally, this is the second time Swift has topped Mars in this category. In 2015, she won her first award in this category for “Bad Blood,” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Mars was nominated that year as the featured artist on Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!”
Mars did win best R&B for “I Just Might.” It’s his second win in that category. Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open,” on which he teamed with Anderson .Paak, won in the category in 2021.
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Surprise: Madonna Beats Taylor Swift in 4 Categories
Madonna has been a pop icon longer than Taylor Swift has been alive. Still, it was surprising that she beat Swift in four categories. Madonna beat Swift for artist of the year. In addition, Madonna’s Confessions II beat Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl for best album. And Confessions II – The Film also beat Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” for best cinematography and best choreography.
Swift did manage to beat Madonna in two categories – video of the year and best direction. (Swift directed her own video. TORSO directed Madonna’s video, but the VMAs give artists credit for wins in technical categories.)
Here’s another Madonna-related surprise. This was the first time she has won best dance, an award that dates to 1989. This was her seventh nomination in the category. Better late than never!
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Surprise: Bad Bunny Wins Best Latin… Finally!
Bad Bunny’s “NUEVAYOL” won best Latin. The surprise here is not that he won, but that he hadn’t won previously in the category. This was his ninth nomination.
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Snub: Michael Jackson
Jackson’s name was not mentioned in the presentation of the video vanguard award to Nirvana. The award was simply referred to as the Video Vanguard Award, not, as it sometimes is, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
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Surprise: So Few Awards Presented On-Air
We all knew that there would be more focus on performances than awards at this show. But the extent of that performance focus was still surprising. Just six of the 23 competitive awards were presented in the two-hour show. The other 17 were simply announced in a press release after the conclusion of the show.