The VMA nomination 2025 are officially released, and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars are the talk of the town this time around.
The pop stars dominate the MTV Video Music Awards competition, with Gaga snagging a whopping 12 nominations and Mars trailing very closely behind with 11. Kendrick Lamar isn’t far behind either, trailing in at 10 nominations, followed by Sabrina Carpenter, who’s bagged eight, and Ariana Grande who’s not far behind.
Gaga’s streak of nominations features high-end categories such as artist of the year and best album for her new album Mayhem. The 39-year-old is on tour around the US, but she’s making an impact on the award scene in a big way. 39-year-old Mars has a few of those nominations in common with Gaga due to their collaboration Die With A Smile, for which they both received a nod for song of the year, best collaboration, best pop, and video of the year.
The VMA queens Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, on the other hand, each have only one nomination this time. They have both been acknowledged in the artist of the year category. That’s a huge decline from last year for Swift, who cleaned up at the show with seven wins, including the enormous categories of artist and video of the year. Although neither Swift nor Beyoncé put out a new record in the last year, they did top-grossing tours that were dominating headlines, fan streams, and stadiums worldwide.
Taylor also retains the record for most Moonman awards won by one artist, narrowly ahead of Beyoncé, whose count includes a number of collaborations. But in 2025, the attention is turning, and the light shines a little more brightly on a new crop of challengers who introduced new material to the competition.
This year’s VMAs are also shaking things up with two brand-new categories, best country and best pop artist, recognizing the changing music scene and making even more space for genre variety. With Sabrina Carpenter’s recent success with Espresso and her increasing number of nominations, she’s now being looked at as one of the big dogs in both the pop and video categories.
The 2025 MTV VMAs will go down on September 7 at the UBS Arena in New York, with a night full of performances, sassy fashion, and memorable wins. While everyone’s eyes will certainly be on Gaga and Mars to find out how many awards they’ll actually take home, fans are also looking to see if any surprise upsets rumble the leaderboards.
And while American awards are proceeding at full speed, the same cannot be said in Europe. MTV has not made any announcements on doing this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards, with reports stating the show is on hold for the moment.
So now that the nominations are in, the stage is set. Is Lady Gaga going to sweep the evening? Can Bruno Mars have an upset? Does Kendrick Lamar or Sabrina Carpenter steal the show? One thing’s certain, the 2025 VMAs are shaping up to be a wild ride.
Jamie Wells has a knack for getting the inside scoop on Hollywood’s biggest stars and up-and-coming talent. With a sharp eye for industry trends and an ear for viral moments, Jamie covers everything from red-carpet events to behind-the-scenes drama in movies, TV, and celebrity culture.
