Madonna leads 2026 MTV VMAs with 11 nominations
Madonna leads all artists with 11 nominations at this year's MTV VMAs, and a full sweep would tie her with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for the most VMA wins in history.
Updated on: August 18, 2026 / 12:42 PM EDT / AP
Madonna, who has been nominated at the VMAs in every decade of her career, leads this year's field with 11 nominations, including the top 3 prizes.
The pop superstar has 19 competitive MTV VMA wins and, in 1986, became the first solo female artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award.
She is up for 11 awards at this year's ceremony, including video, artist and song of the year as well as best collaboration, dance, direction, art direction, cinematography, editing, choreography and visual effects.
If she were to sweep, she'd tie Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for the title of most-awarded musician in VMA history. They have 30 each. (Eminem is the male artist with the most VMAs, with 15.)
Speaking of Swift: She follows Madonna with the second-most nominations, with nine. If she takes home even one award, she will become the most-awarded artist in VMA history.