At the centre of this year’s spotlight is none other than Lady Gaga, who leads with an impressive 12 nominations, including Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, and Song of the Year. Her critically acclaimed visual projects for ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘Die With a Smile’ (a duet with Bruno Mars) have put her in strong contention to win.

Bruno Mars follows closely with 11 nominations, while Kendrick Lamar claims 10, proving the ongoing power of hip-hop and R&B at the VMAs. Not far behind are Sabrina Carpenter and BLACKPINK’s Rosé, who each secured eight nominations, the latter making history as one of the few K-pop soloists to break into major categories.

The Artist of the Year category lists some of the world’s biggest names: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Morgan Wallen, and Kendrick Lamar join Gaga in challenging for the award. For Beyoncé or Swift, a win could break their current tie of 30 VMA trophies each, making either the most-awarded VMA artist of all time.

This year also marks a step forward in genre recognition, with the VMAs introducing two fan-voted categories: Best Pop Artist and Best Country. The move reflects the increasing crossover between genres and the role that global fanbases, especially those in the UK, Europe, and Asia, play in shaping modern music culture.

With its expanded reach, genre diversity, and global talent pool, the 2025 VMAs are no longer just an American pop culture staple, they’re a worldwide celebration of music, creativity, and fanbases, peaking the interest of fans this side of the pond.

For viewers in the UK, the VMAs are available to stream on Paramount+.

As Styles is currently on tour, he was unable to attend the event in person; at the time of the ceremony, the “Watermelon Sugar” singer was performing at New York’s Maddison Square Gardens. In lieu of a physical presence, Styles sent in a pre-recorded video. Within the footage, the singer said, “I’m sorry I can’t be there with you tonight, I hope you’re having a wonderful evening, and thank you so much.“

During the video, Styles revealed the reason for his absence and told of his upcoming performance that night. Whilst accepting the award, the singer can be seen holding his trophy and thanking those involved in the album’s completion. Styles went on to praise producers Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson for their “brilliance” in creating something “worthy of the love fans have shown“. Styles concluded his heartfelt statement with a special thank you to his fans; he said, “I know this is a fan-voted award. I would like to say thank you to all my fans who voted, I wouldn’t be holding this if it wasn’t for you.”

In addition to Album Of The Year, Styles also walked away with two further trophies for his single “As it Was“, the beloved track sired a win for Best Pop and Best Cinematography. Alongside his three wins, Styles’ “As It Was” was also nominated for Video Of The Year, Best Direction and Best Choreography. The 28 year old singer also received a nod for “Late Night Talking”, the track was nominated for the Song Of The Summer. Styles was also included in the list of nominees for the coveted Artist Of The Year.

Styles was not the only British artist to be recognised by the MTV Video Music Awards; many other homegrown acts were included within the list of nominees. Fellow British singer Ed Sheeran was nominated in multiple award categories, including Video of the year for his single “Shivers“. The “Bad Habits” singer was also up against Styles for Artist Of The Year, Best Direction for “Shivers” and a mention in Styles’ winning category Best Pop.

British pop singer Dua Lipa also received multiple nods within the list of nominations, receiving mentions for her work with Sir Elton John and Megan Thee Stallion. Lip’s collaboration with Sir John “Cold Heart (PANU Remix)” received nominations for Song of The Year and Best Collaboration. Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion released their hit “Sweetest Pie” earlier this spring; the track sired a nomination for Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects and gave Lipa her second mention in the category of Best Collaboration.

Styles is currently conducting his residency at Madison Square Garden; after nine remaining dates, the hugely popular concert series will conclude on 21st September 2022. After the final New York date, Styles’ Love On Tour continues in the US and ends with a fifteen-date residency at California’s Kia Forum. The award winning artist is set to return to the UK next year for a string of live performances; the singer’s tour schedule includes two dates at Wembley Stadium, on 13th and 14th June 2023, with support from Wet Leg.

Harry Styles UK tour dates

22/05/2023 – Building Society Arena – Coventry
26/05 – BT Murrayfield Stadium – Edinburgh
10/06 – Slane Castle – Slane
13/06 – Wembley Stadium – London
14/06 – Wembley Stadium – London
20/06 – Principality Stadium – Cardiff

Click here to purchase tickets.

JUST ANNOUNCED
Jack Harlow is heading out on the Come Home The Kids Miss You tour this November 2022

On sale Thursday 25 August at 09:00 >> https://t.co/KzGnI9bbLm@jackharlow pic.twitter.com/W3rPANk3Ci

— ticketmasteruk (@TicketmasterUK) August 22, 2022

Come Home The Kids Miss You debuted at number four on the Official Albums Chart earlier this year. The record became Jack’s first-ever UK Top 10 album. The success of the lead single “First Class”, Jack’s first Top 10 record as a solo artist, sampled Fergie’s 2000s smash hit “Glamorous” and reached Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart, helped to propel the album up the charts. The album also featured two more UK Top 40 songs, “Churchill Downs”, a collaboration with Drake and “Dua Lipa”, and a tribute to the British pop icon, the tracks reaching number 19 and 33, respectively.This isn’t Harlow’s first brush with the Top 10; in 2021, his collaboration with Lil Nas X, “Industry Baby”, reached Number 3 on the UK Singles Charts. 

Harlow and Nas, along with Kendrick Lamar, lead the way with seven nominations at this year’s MTV VMA Awards, leading the Louisville native to pull out of this weekend’s Reading & Leeds Festival due to his desire to perform at the ceremony. The awards take place at New Jersey’s Prudential Center on Sunday, August 28^th, the same day Harlow was scheduled to appear at the festival. The festival organisers confirmed the news on August 15^th.

Jack Harlow and Maneskin have decided to pull out to play at an award show in New York! @OfficialRandL Who will replace them? pic.twitter.com/r6ZtEd5QhX — The RandL Mill (@TheRandLMill) August 15, 2022

“We are saddened to hear that Jack Harlow and Måneskin have decided to perform at an award show the same weekend they were confirmed to play Reading & Leeds.” We are working on some exciting replacements to join Arctic Monkeys, Dave, Bring Me The Horizon,  The 1975, Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion, D-Block Europe, PinkPantheress, Joy Crookes, Fontaines DC, Bastille, Willow, Wolf Alice, Glass Animals, Hybrid Minds and many others at Reading & Leeds Festivals this August Bank Holiday weekend, watch this space!” The festival wrote in a post shared on Instagram Stories.

The only acts to have debuted a song on Spotify with over 10 million unfiltered streams in 2022:
• #BLACKPINK
• #BadBunny
• #HarryStyles
• #JackHarlow pic.twitter.com/ogPqN4gyMd

— World Music Awards (@WORLDMUSICAWARD) August 21, 2022

To round off Harlow’s bumper year, the rapper joins Black Pink, Harry Styles and Bad Bunny as “the only acts to have debuted a song on Spotify with over 10 million unfiltered streams in 2022“.

Jack Harlow’s Come Home The Kids Miss You UK Tour dates:

2/11/2022 – O2 Academy – Birmingham
3/11 – OVO Arena  – London
4/11 – O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester
7/11 – O2 Academy – Leeds
8/11 – Rock City – Nottingham

Heartfelt thank yous : first, to every single one of you who voted for us in the #VMAs- how are we so blessed?? Second, to the legend that is @MatWhitecross. #OneBigBand love c, g, w, j & p https://t.co/x6ZKWSycbX

— Coldplay (@coldplay) August 31, 2020

The band were up against other legendary artists and their videos such as Blink 182’s Happy Days, Evanscence’s Wasted On You, Fall Out Boy ft Wyclef Jean’s Dear Future Self (Hands Up), Green Day’s Oh Yeah and The Killer’s Caution. The VMAs are one of the first ceremonies not to be postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. On June 29th, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement that the VMAs would take place with “limited or no audience” in New York City. Also, in light of the way music has changed this year, two new categories were added to the line-up this year; ‘Best Music Video From Home’ and ‘Best Quarantine Performance.’

There were even live performances from Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, BTS and Miley Cyrus, who all took home awards too. Drew Barrymore and Kelly Clarkson also made appearances as they presented awards. The show was hosted by KeKe Palmer, who is the first black woman in history to host the event by herself.

View this post on Instagram

Thinking about buying a lifesize replica of @mileycyrus on her disco wrecking ball for my extremely small NYC living room #VMAs

A post shared by MTV (@mtv) on Aug 31, 2020 at 6:44am PDT

See the full list of winners below:

Video of the Year: The Weekend – Blinding Lights – XO/Republic Records

Artist of the Year: Lady Gaga – Streamline/Interscope Records

Song of the Year: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande – Rain on Me - Streamline/Interscope Records

Best Collaboration: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande – Rain on Me - Streamline/Interscope Records

PUSH Best New Artist: Doja Cat – Kemosabe/RCA Records

Best Pop Music Video: BTS – On – Big Hit Entertainment

Best Hip-Hop Music Video: Megan Thee Stallion – Savage – 300 Entertainment

Best Rock Music Video: Coldplay – Orphans – Atlantic Records

Best Alternative Music Video: Machine Gun Kelly – Bloody Valentine – Bad Boy/Interscope Records

Best Latin Music Video: Maluma and J Balvin – Qué Pena - Sony Music Latin

Best R&B Music Video: The Weekend – Blinding Lights – XO/Republic Records

Best K-Pop Music Video: BTS – On – Big Hit Entertainment

Video For Good: H.E.R. – I Can’t Breathe – MBK/RCA Records

Best Music Video From Home: Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber – Stuck With U - Republic Records/Def Jam

Best Quarantine Performance: CNCO – Unplugged at Home

Best Group: BTS – Big Hit Entertainment

Song of the Summer: Blackpink – How You Like That – YG Records/Interscope Records

Best Direction: Taylor Swift – The Man - Directed by Taylor Swift

Best Cinematography: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande – Rain on Me – Cinematography by Thomas Kloss

Best Art Direction: Miley Cyrus – Mother’s Daughter – Art Direction by Christian Stone

Best Visual Effects: Dua Lipa – Physical - Visual Effects by EIGHTY4

Best Choreography: BTS – On – Choreography by Son Sung Deuk, Lee Ga Hun and Lee Byung Eun

Best Editing: Miley Cyrus – Mother’s Daughter - Edited by Alexandre Moors and Nuno Xico