The nominees for video of the year at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards run the gamut. Four of the six nominated visuals accompanied smash 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, and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears” peaked at No. 3.
Madonna is a video of the year nominee for the first time in 22 years for Confessions II – The Film, a 14-minute film that includes excerpts from six songs from her Billboard 200-topping album Confessions II. (One of them is her collab with Carpenter, “Bring Your Love,” giving Carpenter a cameo appearance on a competitor to her own entry in this category.)
GENER8ION’s “STORM” starring Yung Lean may be the biggest surprise among the nominees. GENER8ION is an audiovisual collaboration between French DJ Surkin and director Romain Gavras. Set in an all-boys British boarding school class of 2034, the film follows a disruptive and aggressive student portrayed by Swedish rapper Yung Lean.
Swift has won a record five times in the category. Grande won last year for Brighter Days Ahead, and Madonna won in 1998 for “Ray of Light.” If Grande wins again this year, she’ll become only the second artist to win back-to-back awards in the category, following Swift, who won in 2022, 2023 and 2024. If Madonna wins, she’ll establish a new record for the longest span of video of the year wins – 28 years. (The current record is held by Swift, with a nine-year span of awards, which could stretch to 11 years if she wins.) If Madonna wins, this would be the second year in a row that a longer-form film took the award. Brighter Days Ahead ran 26 minutes.
Swift directed her own video. Mars co-directed his clip with Daniel Ramos. As noted, Gavras directed “Storm.” The directors of the other nominees were Christian Breslauer (“hate that i made you love me”), Bardia Zeinali (“Tears”) and TORSO, the team of David Toro and Solomon Chase (Confessions II – The Film).
Several of the videos feature performances by big-name stars. Two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo appears in Carpenter’s “Tears.” Justin Long has a starring role in Grande’s “hate that i made you love me.” Confessions II – The Film features 16 guest stars, including Carpenter, Feid, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Garner and Kate Moss.
Here are the six nominees for video of the year. Who would you like to see win? Vote!