MTV VMAs 2025: Check out every nominee across all categories

One of the biggest music awards of the year, the MTV VMAs 2025, finally unveiled its much-awaited nominees list on August 5, 2025. As evident from the list of MTV VMAs 2025 nominations, Lady Gaga emerged as the most-nominated artist.

Poker Face sensation has a total of twelve nominations across different categories for the MTV VMAs 2025. Following Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars is second on the list with eleven nominations, all of which he earned for his chart-topping collaborative drops, notably Lady Gaga’s Die With a Smile and BLACKPINK’s Rosé’s APT.

The third most nominated artist for the MTV VMAs 2025 is Kendrick Lamar. The rapper is leading with his name in ten categories.

The MTV VMAs 2025 introduced two new categories for the upcoming awards night: best pop artist and best country video. The nominees for the MTV VMAs include Alex Warren, Blake Shelton, Gigi Perez, Lainey Wilson, and Mac Miller.

Jimin of BTS also emerged as the only K-pop male solo artist to be nominated for the 2025 MTV VMAs. BLACKPINK members, namely Rose, Jisoo, Lisa, and Jennie, are also nominated for their solo works in this year's MTV VMAs.

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More about MTV VMAs 2025 nominations

Here’s the complete rundown of nominees for MTV VMAs 2025:

Artist of the Year

• Bad Bunny
• Beyoncé
• Kendrick Lamar
• Lady Gaga
• Morgan Wallen
• Taylor Swift
• The Weeknd

Song of the Year

• Alex Warren - “Ordinary”
• Billie Eilish - “Birds of a Feather”
• Doechii - “Anxiety”
• Ed Sheeran - “Sapphire”
• Gracie Abrams - “I Love You, I'm Sorry”
• Lady Gaga feat. Bruno Mars - “Die With a Smile”
• Lorde - “What Was That”
• Rosé feat. Bruno Mars - “APT.”
• Tate McRae - “Sports Car”
• The Weeknd, Playboi Carti - “Timeless”

Video of the Year

• Ariana Grande - “Brighter Days Ahead”
• Billie Eilish - “Birds of a Feather”
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - “Die With a Smile”
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - “Apt.”
• Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild”
• The Weeknd, Playboi Carti - “Timeless”

Best New Artist

• Alex Warren
• Ella Langley
• Gigi Perez
• Lola Young
• sombr
• The Marías

Best Pop Artist

• Ariana Grande
• Charli XCX
• Justin Bieber
• Lorde
• Miley Cyrus
• Sabrina Carpenter
• Tate McRae

Best Collaboration

• Bailey Zimmerman with Luke Combs - “Backup Plan (Stagecoach Official Music Video)”
• Kendrick Lamar & SZA - “Luther”
• Lady Gaga feat. Bruno Mars - “Die With a Smile”
• Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton - “Pour Me a Drink”
• Rosé feat. Bruno Mars - “APT.”
• Selena Gomez, benny blanco - “Sunset Blvd”

Best Pop

• Alex Warren - “Ordinary”
• Ariana Grande - “Brighter Days Ahead”
• Ed Sheeran - “Sapphire”
• Lady Gaga feat. Bruno Mars - “Die With a Smile”
• Rosé feat. Bruno Mars - “APT.”
• Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild”

Best Hip-Hop

• Doechii - “Anxiety”
• Drake - “Nokia”
• Eminem feat. Jelly Roll - “Somebody Save Me”
• GloRilla feat. Sexyy Red - “Whatchu Kno About Me”
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• LL Cool J feat. Eminem - “Murdergram Deux”
• Travis Scott - “4x4”

Best R&B

• Chris Brown - “Residuals”
• Leon Thomas & Freddie Gibbs - “Mutt (Remix)”
• Mariah Carey - “Type Dangerous”
• PARTYNEXTDOOR - “N o C h i l l”
• Summer Walker - “Heart of a Woman”
• SZA - “Drive”
• The Weeknd, Playboi Carti - “Timeless”

Best Alternative

• Gigi Perez - “Sailor Song”
• Imagine Dragons - “Wake Up”
• Lola Young - “Messy”
• MGK & Jelly Roll - “Lonely Road”
• sombr - “Back to Friends”
• The Marías - “Back to Me”

Best Rock

• Coldplay - “All My Love”
• Evanescence - “Afterlife (From the Netflix Series 'Devil May Cry')”
• Green Day - “One Eyed Bastard”
• Lenny Kravitz - “Honey”
• Linkin Park - “The Emptiness Machine”
• twenty one pilots - “The Contract”

Best Latin

• Bad Bunny - “Baile Inolvidable”
• J Balvin - “Rio”
• Karol G - “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido”
• Peso Pluma - “La Patrulla”
• Rauw Alejandro & Romeo Santos - “Khé?”
• Shakira - “Soltera”

Best K-Pop

• aespa - “Whiplash”
• Jennie - “Like Jennie”
• Jimin - “WHO”
• Jisoo - “Earthquake”
• Lisa feat. Doja Cat & Raye - “Born Again”
• Stray Kids - “Chk Chk Boom”
• Rosé - “Toxic Till the End”

Best Afrobeats

• Asake & Travis Scott - “Active”
• Burna Boy feat. Travis Scott - “TaTaTa”
• Moliy, Silent Addy, Skillibeng & Shenseea - “Shake It to the Max (Fly) (Remix)”
• Rema - “Baby (Is It a Crime)”
• Tems feat. Asake - “Get It Right”
• Tyla - “Push 2 Start”
• Wizkid feat. Brent Faiyaz - “Piece of My Heart”

Best Country

• Chris Stapleton - “Think I'm in Love With You”
• Cody Johnson with Carrie Underwood - “I’m Gonna Love You”
• Jelly Roll - “Liar”
• Lainey Wilson - “4x4xU”
• Megan Moroney - “Am I Okay?”
• Morgan Wallen - “Smile”

Best Album

• Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos
• Kendrick Lamar - GNX
• Lady Gaga - Mayhem
• Morgan Wallen - I'm the Problem
• Sabrina Carpenter - Short n' Sweet
• The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow

Best Long Form Video

• Ariana Grande - “Brighter Days Ahead”
• Bad Bunny - “Debí Tirar Más Fotos (Short Film)”
• Damiano David - “Funny Little Stories”
• Mac Miller - “Balloonerism”
• Miley Cyrus - “Something Beautiful”
• The Weeknd - “Hurry Up Tomorrow”

Video for Good

• Burna Boy - “Higher”
• Charli XCX - “Guess” (feat. Billie Eilish)
• Doechii - “Anxiety”
• Eminem ft. Jelly Roll - “Somebody Save Me”
• Selena Gomez, benny blanco - “Younger and Hotter Than Me”
• Zach Hood ft. Sasha Alex Sloan - “Sleepwalking”

Best Direction

• Ariana Grande - “Brighter Days Ahead”
• Charli XCX - “Guess” (feat. Billie Eilish)
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - “APT.”
• Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild”

Best Art Direction

• Charli XCX - “Guess” (feat. Billie Eilish)
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”
• Lorde - “Man of the Year”
• Miley Cyrus - “End of the World”
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - “APT.”

Best Editing

• Charli XCX - “Guess” (featuring Billie Eilish)
• Ed Sheeran - “Sapphire”
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”
• Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild”
• Tate McRae - “Just Keep Watching” (From F1® The Movie)

Best Choreography

• Doechii - “Anxiety”
• FKA twigs - “Eusexua”
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”
• Tyla - “Push 2 Start”
• Zara Larsson - “Pretty Ugly”

Best Visual Effects

• Ariana Grande - “Brighter Days Ahead”
• Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - “Apt.”
• Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild”
• Tate McRae - “Just Keep Watching” (From F1® The Movie)
• The Weeknd - “Hurry Up Tomorrow”

Best Cinematography

• Ariana Grande - “Brighter Days Ahead”
• Ed Sheeran - “Sapphire”
• Kendrick Lamar - “Not Like Us”
• Lady Gaga - “Abracadabra”
• Miley Cyrus - “Easy Lover”
• Sabrina Carpenter - “Manchild”

MTV VMAs Push Performance of the Year

• Aug 2024 - Shaboozey - “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
• Sept 2024 - Ayra Starr - “Last Heartbreak Song”
• Oct 2024 - Mark Ambor - “Belong Together”
• Nov 2024 - Lay Bankz - “Graveyard”
• Dec 2024 - Dasha - “Bye Bye Bye”
• Jan 2025 - KATSEYE - “Touch”
• Feb 2025 - Jordan Adetunji - “Kehlani”
• Mar 2025 - Leon Thomas - “Yes It Is”
• Apr 2025 - Livingston - “Shadow”
• May 2025 - Damiano David - “Next Summer”
• June 2025 - Gigi Perez - “Sailor Song”
• July 2025 - Role Model - “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out”

The MTV VMAs 2025 ceremony is scheduled for September 8, 2025, at 5:30 AM IST. Fans can vote for their favorite musicians and artists ahead of the MTV VMAs via vote.mtv.com.