Photo courtesy of Jim Yi via Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
By Victoria Hunt
The 2026 MTV VMAs aired live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and was hosted by Snoop Dogg.
The MTV gained over 15 million viewers after the show been delayed due to a late running with a previous airing of a football game
The evening kicked off with a performance by Madonna, who performed a medley of songs from “Confessions ॥” with special guests Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX. Carpenter joined Madonna onstage to perform their collaboration, “Bring Your Love,” which also won the VMA for Best Collaboration. Charli XCX then took the stage to debut her and Madonna’s remix to “Danceateria.”
During his opening monologue, Snoop Dogg said that he was too busy when he was first asked to host this year’s show, but changed his mind when he was notified that the event will be moved to Los Angeles.
“So having this show hosted by me and my city means two things. One, tonight is going to be the biggest party the VMAs has ever seen. And two, it wouldn’t be a Snoop Dogg party if I didn’t provide some of that special sticky, icky, icky,” said Dogg in his opening monologue.
The first award of the night went to LISA for Best Pop for her song “Dream,” featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi, making her the first K-pop solo artist to win the category. During her acceptance speech, she became visibly emotional and held back tears.
“All those late-night dreams brought me here today,” said LISA on Billboard.
As Madonna and Sabrina were accepting their moonman for Best Collaboration, Madonna called out Sabrina’s team for not answering emails about doing a collaboration. Madonna shared she had to Instagram direct message (DM) Sabrina in order for this all to happen.
“My team is s***ing themselves backstage,” Carpenter said on Instagram.
It is safe to say the night was all about Madonna. She won seven VMAs, including Artist of the Year and Best Dance.
Taylor Swift also had some big moments during the show. Dakota Johnson presented Swift with the first-ever Artist Director Honor. The audience got to look back at many of the iconic videos that Swift directed and starred in.
After Swift’s acceptance speech, she premiered the music video for her new song “Patient Zero,” starring Dakota Johnson, Colin Farrell, and Cara Delevingne. Swift then won the VMA for Video of the Year, for her music video “The Fate of Ophelia,” and dedicated her speech to the late Dolly Parton.
“I want to thank and dedicate this award to one person without whom just this wouldn’t be happening, and that person is the ultimate showgirl, Dolly Parton,” said Swift on oprahdaily.
Kasey Musgraves also honored Dolly by singing her song “I Will Always Love You.” But Dolly wasn’t the only tribute that evening. The late George Micheal was honored by Sombr, Teddy Swims, RAYE, and Adam Lambert.
Sienna Spiro, an English singer-songwriter, had a special moment that evening as well. She delivered a beautiful performance of her song “Great Expectation” and later was awarded with Best New Artist VMA.
With unforgettable moments and major wins, the 2026 VMAs gave viewers an entertaining night.