The 2026 VMAs nominations snubs are already doing the rounds, and with MTV‘s ceremony set for CBS on Sunday, 27 September, there’s plenty to argue about before the Moon People are handed out. Madonna leads the field with 11 nominations, Lady Gaga, Doechii, Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift are all in the mix, and 26 first-time nominees get their moment. Yet for all the celebration, a handful of deserving acts have been left off the list entirely.
Madonna Makes History, But the 2026 VMAs Nominations Snubs Sting
Madonna’s 11 nominations are not just a headline figure. According to the Los Angeles Times, those 11 nods represent a personal best for the artist, driven by the success of her album Confessions II. That’s a record haul at an awards show she first attended in 1984. For context, she wore a ‘Boy Toy’ belt at those inaugural VMAs and made out with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera on stage in 2003. She knows how to make an entrance, and the nominations reflect it.
Meanwhile, CBC News reports that voting is open to the public for 13 of this year’s VMA categories. That matters when you are arguing a snub, because fan campaigns can shape results in the categories where public votes count. The artists left off the nominations list entirely, however, cannot benefit from any of that.
The Acts Who Deserved a Spot
Start with ADÉLA in the Best New Artist category. The Best New Artist field runs from Sienna Spiro and Bella Kay through to CORTIS and Malcolm Todd, but there is no bona fide pop breakout in the mix. ADÉLA’s TikTok viral hit ‘Ain’t in LA’ is Bangerz-inspired and has been pulling serious numbers. She performed at Lollapalooza within a year of playing to 700 people. That trajectory is hard to ignore, and the category is lighter for not including her.
In Best Pop, Charli xcx’s ‘SS26’, LISA’s ‘Dream’, and Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘drop dead’ all made the cut. Fair enough. But Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun album cycle and her collaboration with PinkPantheress on ‘Stateside’ have been all over TikTok and festival lineups. ‘Stateside’ picks up recognition in other categories, yet the broader run of work that came with the album deserves a Best Pop nod of its own. For what it’s worth, Slayyyter’s first VMAs nomination, in the revived Best Dance category for ‘DANCE…’, was a close second for this particular omission.
Then there is FLO, whose lead single from their sophomore album THERAPY AT THE CLUB dropped in March and has racked up more than 45 million streams on Spotify. The music video takes aim at the ‘Khia Asylum’ debate that has dominated stan culture, and the group’s vocal ability is not in question. The album itself may sit outside the potential eligibility window (assumed to run from 20 June 2025 to 18 June 2026), but the single does not. A Best R&B nomination would have been the right call.
In Artist of the Year, the case for BTS is hard to argue against. The group made a full comeback this year after all seven members completed their mandatory South Korean military service. Their album ARIRANG became the most-streamed K-pop album in a single day and the biggest opening-day album debut of 2026 on Spotify. Their ARMY of nearly 37 million monthly Spotify listeners held firm throughout the hiatus. BTS are recognised in the Best K-Pop and Song of the Year categories for ‘SWIM’, but a comeback on that scale feels like Artist of the Year territory. For the record, the group have since pulled out of Grammy consideration for 2027 after calling out the Recording Academy, which only adds weight to the argument that their VMA recognition should have gone further.
Finally, Olivia Rodrigo. She is not completely shut out: ‘drop dead’ earned a Best Pop nomination and ‘the cure’ landed Best Alternative. But ‘the cure’ was built around a practically designed hospital set where even Rodrigo’s guitar was made using arts and crafts, with visual effects used in post-production. Creative director Jaime Gerin, Lana Kim, and Cat Solen put together something that stands apart from digitally generated visuals. It did not earn a Video of the Year nomination, and it did not earn a nod in Best Art Direction or Best Visual Effects either. That is a clean sweep of omissions for a video that warranted at least one.
The 2026 VMAs air on CBS on 27 September. Fans can vote in 13 categories before then, per CBC News, so at least there is somewhere to direct the frustration.