Madonna leads nominations as MTV announces VMAs social category contenders

MTV and CBS announced the nominees for four "social" categories at the 2026 Video Music Awards on Friday, Sept. 18. The categories include best long-form video, best group, best album and song of summer, with voting to take place via MTV’s Instagram Stories.

Madonna is nominated for best long-form video for Confessions II: The Film, a potential repeat win after her 1991 award for The Immaculate Collection. The award has been presented only four times, previously going to Beyoncé (2016), Taylor Swift (2022) and Ariana Grande (2025).

In the best group category, BTS returns after a hiatus, competing against BLACKPINK, which won the award in 2022 and 2023. The song of summer nominees include Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me” and Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You,” both past winners in the category. Jung Kook also appears as a solo nominee after winning with BTS in 2021 and as a solo artist in 2023.

The best album field features Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend and Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, each a previous winner. If either artist wins again, they would become the first repeat winners in that category.

Madonna, who will open the ceremony, holds the most nominations overall with 13. Additional performers slated for the show include LISA, RAYE, Sienna Spiro, Shaboozey (with and without Gunna), GENER8ION and Yung Lean.

The VMAs will be hosted by Snoop Dogg and broadcast live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 27, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS, with simultaneous airing on MTV and streaming on Paramount+. The event will be available globally the following day on Paramount+ and MTV. Production credits include Gunpowder & Sky, Van Toffler and Snoop Dogg among the executive producers.