On Sep. 11, MTV hosted their annual Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. A few weeks prior to the event, fans were given the chance to vote for their favorite artists and songs through MTV’s Instagram for the categories of  Most Iconic Performance, Song of Summer, Best Group and Best Trending Video, and the MTV VMA website for other categories.

While MTV faced criticism for choosing to host the event on a day meant to memorialize the losses faced 23 years ago on 9/11 in New York City, the event took place on the date anyway, due to conflicts on Sep. 10 with the Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

The event this year was hosted by popular rapper and singer Megan Thee Stallion, and had many artists perform such as singer Taylor Swift, Thai idol Lisa, and singer Sabrina Carpenter. If you missed the show, here’s some of the artists who took home major awards.

Honorary Video Vanguard Award

The Honorary Video Vanguard Award is the lifetime achievement award gifted to exemplary artists to reward the contributions and impacts they have on pop culture. This year’s award was bestowed to American singer-songwriter Katie Perry.

Perry first launched her music career in 2001, under her legal name of Katie Hudson, with her album under the same name. Later in 2003, she adopted the stage name of Katie Perry, using her mother’s maiden name. Her sophomore album ‘One of the Boys’ ended up on the Billboard 200 at No.9. She later went on to win various awards such as the Billboard Music Award for Top Female Artist (2014) and People’s Choice Award for Favorite Song (2012, 2014).

Artist of the Year

This year’s Artist of the Year award was bestowed to American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who also currently holds the most VMA awards in MTV history.

Swift first entered the music industry in 2003 with her album “Taylor Swift.” The lead single of her debut album “Tim McGraw” ended up placing in the Billboard Hot 100 chart entry. She goes on to become one of the most well known American pop stars of our generation, winning various awards such as the Grammy Award for Album of the Year (2010, 2016, 2021 and 2024) and Teen Choice Award for Choice Twitter Personality (2015).

Best New Artist

This year’s Best New Artist Award went to American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan. 

Chappell Roan made her entrance in the music industry in 2023 with her album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”. She is known as a “queer pop superstar” due to her style that pays homage to drag queens, along with her songs that give Queer communities a voice and representation in the media. While she hasn’t won any awards other than the VMAs, she is slowly rising to become a big name in the music industry.

Best Group of the Year

This year’s Best Group of the Year award was won by South Korean boy group Seventeen. The group consists of 13 members: S.Coups (The Group’s Leader), Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino. 

Seventeen first debuted into the music industry in 2015 with their mini album “17 Carat.” The group’s music is mostly self-produced with their member Woozi producing and writing a majority of their songs, including their debut album. The album later became the largest charting Kpop album of the year in the United States and was the only newly debuted group to be on Billboard’s “10 Best K-Pop Albums of 2015.” The group later went on to win various awards such as the Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Awards (2021-2024) and the Golden Disc Award Song Division (2024).

Other Winners

• Song of the Year: “Espresso” Sabrina Carpenter
• Video of the Year: “Fortnight” Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone
• Song of the Summer: “Fortnight” Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone
• MTV Push Performance of the Year: “Easy”: LeSserafim
• Video for Good: “What I Was Made For (From the Motion Picture Barbie): Billie Eilish
• Best Direction: “Fortnight” Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone
• Best Cinematography: “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”: Ariana Grande
• Best Editing: “Fortnight” Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone
• Best Visual Effects: “Fortnight” Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone
• Best Choreography: “Houdini” Dua Lipa (Choreography by Charm La’Donna)
• Best Visual Effects: “Houdini” Eminem (Visual Effects by Synapse Virtual Production, Louise Lee, Rich Lee, Metaphysic, Flawless Post)
• Best Art Direction: “BOA” Megan Thee Stallion (Art Direction by Brittany Porter)
• Best Trending Video: “Mamushi” Megan Thee Stallion ft. Yuki Chiba
• Best Collaboration: “Fortnight” Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone
• Best Pop: Taylor Swift
• Best Hip-Hop: “Houdini” Eminem
• Best R&B: “Snooze” SZA
• Best Alternative: “Beautiful Things” Benson Boone
• Best Rock: “Human” Lenny Kravitz
• Best Latin: “Mil Veces” Anitta
• Best Afrobeats: “Water” Tyla
• Best K-Pop: “Rockstar” Lisa