The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards arrived with several major names competing across some of the biggest categories on the night, but for Nigerian music fans, attention was naturally drawn to 2 familiar names whose international presence has continued to grow over the years. Burna Boy and Tems entered the ceremony with nominations attached to songs that placed them directly against some of the biggest artists in global music, setting up an interesting night for Nigeria on one of the world’s most watched music award stages. By the time the ceremony reached its closing moments, the Nigerian story had taken a different direction, leaving the details of their categories, the songs they were competing with, and the winners worth looking at closely.
The 2026 MTV VMAs were held on September 27, 2026, bringing together artists across pop, hip hop, R&B, Latin music, K Pop, country, dance and other major areas of contemporary music. Burna Boy arrived with 2 nominations for “Dai Dai”, his collaboration with Shakira, while Tems had 1 nomination for “Raindance”, her collaboration with Dave. Their combined presence gave Nigeria 3 opportunities for a Moon Person, although the categories placed both artists in direct competition with major international acts rather than in a dedicated Afrobeats category.
That detail became particularly important because the 2026 ceremony looked noticeably different from previous editions when it came to the way global music was divided across categories. The Best Afrobeats category, which had previously provided a dedicated space for African music at the VMAs, was no longer part of the 2026 programme. That meant the Nigerian stars were competing within broader categories, making their individual nominations part of a much wider international field. The full results now provide a clearer picture of how the night unfolded and where Burna Boy, Tems, Madonna, Taylor Swift, BTS and the other major winners stood when the final awards were handed out.
Burnaboy enters with 2 nominations
Burna Boy’s presence at the 2026 MTV VMAs was tied to “Dai Dai”, his collaboration with Shakira, which earned recognition in 2 separate categories. The song appeared among the nominees for Best Collaboration, putting Burna Boy and Shakira alongside several other major collaborations competing for one of the ceremony’s prominent awards. Their second nomination came in Best Latin, another broad international category that placed the song in competition with major Latin music releases from artists across different parts of the global music industry.
The Best Collaboration category ultimately went to Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter for “Bring Your Love”. Their song emerged from a field of 6 nominees that included Burna Boy and Shakira’s “Dai Dai”. The result meant that Burna Boy’s first opportunity for a Moon Person on the night went to another high profile collaboration. The category reflected the increasingly international nature of the VMAs, with artists from different musical backgrounds competing directly for the same award rather than being separated strictly according to their geographical origins.
Burna Boy’s second nomination came in Best Latin, where “Dai Dai” again faced a strong field. Bad Bunny eventually collected the award for “NUEVAYoL”, taking the Moon Person in a category that also included songs connected to artists such as Anitta, Shakira, Fuerza Regida, KAROL G, Rosalía, Ryan Castro, Kapo and GANGSTA. The result gave Burna Boy 2 nominations across 2 major categories, while neither nomination translated into a win by the end of the September 27 ceremony.
The outcome therefore leaves Burna Boy’s 2026 MTV VMA record for the night at 2 nominations and 0 wins. His participation was still notable because “Dai Dai” placed him directly inside 2 internationally focused categories, rather than limiting his recognition to an African music category. The nominations also showed how his music continues to appear in categories where artists from different markets compete against one another, giving the Nigerian star another appearance on one of the biggest stages in global music.
Tems competes in Best R&B
Tems entered the ceremony with 1 nomination attached to “Raindance”, her collaboration with Dave. The song was nominated for Best R&B, putting the Nigerian singer into a category populated by some of the biggest names associated with contemporary R&B and related sounds. Her nomination gave her an opportunity to collect another major international music award and added another Nigerian name to the list of artists competing for Moon Persons at the 2026 ceremony.
The Best R&B category featured several major contenders, including Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Kehlani and Mariah the Scientist with Kali Uchis. Tems and Dave’s “Raindance” was part of that competitive field, but the award ultimately went to Bruno Mars for “I Just Might”. That result placed Bruno Mars among the night’s winners while Tems finished the ceremony with her nomination intact but without the award.
Tems therefore ended September 27, 2026 with 1 MTV VMA nomination and 0 wins. Her appearance was still significant because Best R&B placed her directly among major international artists in a category based on the music itself rather than a category created specifically for African performers. The nomination also continued the pattern of Tems receiving recognition from major global music institutions for her work and collaborations.
Together, Burna Boy and Tems accounted for 3 nominations at the 2026 MTV VMAs. Burna Boy had 2 nominations for “Dai Dai”, while Tems had 1 nomination for “Raindance”. The final tally for both artists combined was therefore 3 nominations and 0 wins, giving Nigerian music fans a clear picture of how the country’s 2 most prominent nominees fared on the night.
Best Afrobeats category disappears
One of the most important details surrounding the Nigerian story at the 2026 MTV VMAs is the absence of Best Afrobeats. The category had previously provided a dedicated platform for African music at the ceremony, with its introduction creating another route for Afrobeats artists to compete for a Moon Person. By the time the 2026 programme was announced, however, Best Afrobeats was no longer part of the awards.
The category had existed for 3 editions before its removal. Rema and Selena Gomez won the inaugural award in 2023 for “Calm Down”. Tyla followed in 2024 with “Water”, before returning to win again in 2025 with “PUSH 2 START”. Those 3 editions placed Afrobeats and African pop music firmly within the MTV VMA awards structure and created a dedicated category that attracted some of Nigeria’s biggest artists.
Tyla’s 2025 victory was particularly notable because her winning song competed against Nigerian nominees that included Burna Boy, Wizkid, Rema, Tems and Asake. That previous competition demonstrated how much Nigerian music had become part of the international awards conversation. The absence of the category in 2026 therefore changed the way artists such as Burna Boy and Tems appeared on the nomination list.
Neither Burna Boy nor Tems lost a Best Afrobeats category in 2026 because there was no Best Afrobeats category in the programme. Their nominations came through Best Collaboration, Best Latin and Best R&B. That distinction matters when describing the results because the 2026 outcome was not a case of Nigerian artists entering an Afrobeats category and failing to win it. Instead, the 2 Nigerian stars competed directly across broader international categories.
The removal of Best Afrobeats was also part of a larger restructuring of the MTV VMA categories for 2026. Several categories were retired as the ceremony adjusted its awards programme, while Best Dance returned after a 7 year absence. Best Afrobeats therefore disappeared alongside other category changes rather than as a standalone alteration affecting African music alone.
Madonna leads the winners
Madonna emerged as the leading winner of the September 27 ceremony with 7 awards, giving the night one of its clearest headline stories. Her victories stretched across several categories and covered different aspects of her work, from performance and music to visual direction and long form production. Her success also made her one of the defining figures of the 2026 ceremony.
Madonna won Artist of the Year, one of the most prominent awards of the night. She also won Best Dance for “Confessions II: The Film”, adding another major recognition to her collection. Her work on the same project earned further recognition in Best Cinematography, Best Choreography and Best Long Form Video, demonstrating the breadth of the project across several visual categories.
Her collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter on “Bring Your Love” also secured Best Collaboration. That result was particularly relevant to Burna Boy because “Dai Dai” with Shakira was one of the nominees in the same category. Madonna’s win therefore directly accounted for 1 of Burna Boy’s 2 categories ending with another artist taking the Moon Person.
Madonna also won Best Album for “Confessions II”, bringing her total for the ceremony to 7 awards. The collection of wins made her the leading individual winner of the night according to the official results released after the ceremony. Her success covered both traditional music categories and technical or visual areas, giving her one of the broadest award hauls at the 2026 VMAs.
Taylor Swift collects major honours
Taylor Swift also had a significant night at the 2026 MTV VMAs, collecting several important recognitions. Her first major victory came in Video of the Year for “The Fate of Ophelia”, one of the ceremony’s headline awards. Winning that category placed Swift at the centre of the night’s most visible results and gave her another major VMA recognition.
She also won Best Direction for “Opalite”. The award recognised the creative direction behind the video and added another major result to her evening. Swift’s involvement with music video storytelling received further recognition through the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors, a new award introduced to recognise artists whose work behind the camera has contributed to music video storytelling.
The combination of Video of the Year, Best Direction and the Artist Director Honors made Taylor Swift another major figure of the 2026 ceremony. Her results also showed the increasing importance of visual storytelling at the VMAs, where music videos are judged not only through their popularity but also through direction, cinematography, choreography, editing and visual effects.
BTS collect multiple awards
BTS were also among the major winners at the 2026 ceremony. The group won Song of the Year for “SWIM”, giving them one of the night’s significant general awards. They also collected Best K Pop for the same song, creating a second victory from the same release.
Their night continued with Best Group, giving BTS 3 major awards from the ceremony. The results placed the group among the most successful acts of the evening and showed their continued presence across both genre specific and broader categories.
The Song of the Year victory was particularly notable because it placed “SWIM” against other major releases competing for one of the ceremony’s central awards. Winning Best K Pop alongside Song of the Year also gave BTS recognition across different levels of the VMA programme, while Best Group added another Moon Person to their final tally.
Major 2026 VMA results
The full list of major winners from the September 27, 2026 ceremony featured artists from several musical backgrounds. Video of the Year went to Taylor Swift for “The Fate of Ophelia”, while Madonna won Artist of the Year. Best Collaboration went to Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter for “Bring Your Love”, the same category where Burna Boy and Shakira had been nominated for “Dai Dai”.
Best Dance went to Madonna for “Confessions II: The Film”, while Sienna Spiro won Best New Artist. LISA won Best Pop for “Dream” featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi, while BTS took Song of the Year for “SWIM”. Cardi B featuring Kehlani won Best Hip Hop for “Safe”, while Bruno Mars won Best R&B for “I Just Might”, defeating the field that included Tems and Dave’s “Raindance”.
Olivia Rodrigo won Best Alternative for “the cure”, while Bad Bunny won Best Latin for “NUEVAYoL”, the category in which Burna Boy and Shakira’s “Dai Dai” had also been nominated. Ella Langley won Best Country for “Choosin’ Texas”, while BTS took Best K Pop for “SWIM”. Best Direction went to Taylor Swift for “Opalite”.
PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson won Best Art Direction for “Stateside”. Madonna won Best Cinematography for “Confessions II: The Film”, while Sabrina Carpenter won Best Editing for “House Tour”. Madonna also collected Best Choreography for “Confessions II: The Film”, while Ariana Grande won Best Visual Effects for “hate that i made you love me”.
BTS won Best Group, while Madonna collected Best Long Form Video for “Confessions II: The Film”. Ariana Grande also won Song of Summer for “hate that i made you love me”. Those results rounded out a ceremony in which major international artists collected awards across established categories and newly adjusted areas of the programme.
Special awards take centre stage
The 2026 MTV VMAs also featured special recognitions outside the main competitive categories. Nirvana received the Video Vanguard Award, a major honour associated with lasting contributions to the music video form and visual music culture. The recognition added a historical dimension to a ceremony otherwise dominated by current releases and contemporary artists.
Taylor Swift received the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors. The new recognition focused on artists whose work behind the camera has advanced music video storytelling, giving Swift another major honour beyond her competitive victories. The introduction of the award also reflected the growing importance of artists taking creative roles beyond simply appearing in front of the camera.
Those special awards formed part of the broader structure of the 2026 ceremony, where creative direction and visual production received considerable attention. Madonna’s multiple wins in cinematography, choreography and long form video further reinforced that theme, while Swift’s direction award and Artist Director Honors placed creative control at the centre of her recognition.
The Nigerian result in full
For Nigeria, the final picture is straightforward. Burna Boy entered the ceremony with 2 nominations, while Tems entered with 1. Burna Boy’s “Dai Dai” with Shakira competed for Best Collaboration and Best Latin, while Tems and Dave’s “Raindance” competed for Best R&B.
Best Collaboration went to Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter for “Bring Your Love”. Best Latin went to Bad Bunny for “NUEVAYoL”. Best R&B went to Bruno Mars for “I Just Might”. That sequence accounts for all 3 Nigerian linked nominations at the 2026 ceremony.
Burna Boy therefore finished with 2 nominations and 0 wins, while Tems finished with 1 nomination and 0 wins. Combined, the 2 Nigerian stars had 3 nominations and 0 Moon Persons. The result is clear from the official winner list, while the individual category results show exactly where each nomination ended.
The absence of Best Afrobeats provides additional context, but it should not be confused with the individual category results. Burna Boy and Tems were not nominated for Best Afrobeats in 2026 because the category was not part of the ceremony. Their nominations instead came through Best Collaboration, Best Latin and Best R&B.
The category changes behind the ceremony
The 2026 MTV VMAs did not simply maintain the same award structure used in previous years. Several categories were retired, creating a broader restructuring of the programme. Best Afrobeats was among the categories that disappeared, while Best Dance returned after a 7 year absence.
The changes affected different areas of the ceremony, including categories connected to pop, rock, group recognition, performances, social impact and albums. The adjustment meant that artists who might previously have appeared in a dedicated genre or performance category had to compete within the categories available in the new programme.
For African music, the disappearance of Best Afrobeats was particularly noticeable because the category had existed for 3 consecutive editions and had produced 2 different winners. Rema and Selena Gomez won in 2023, while Tyla won in both 2024 and 2025. The category had therefore become a recognised part of the VMAs during its brief existence.
The 2026 programme moved away from that structure. Burna Boy’s nominations for Best Collaboration and Best Latin and Tems’ nomination for Best R&B demonstrate how Nigerian artists were represented without a dedicated Afrobeats category. That change is one of the clearest details separating the 2026 ceremony from the previous 3 editions.
Complete winner count
The overall winner count from the September 27, 2026 MTV VMAs gives a clearer picture of how the Moon Persons were distributed across the ceremony. Madonna finished as the leading winner with 7 competitive awards, while Taylor Swift and BTS each collected 3 recognitions when their respective results are counted across the ceremony. Ariana Grande had 2 competitive wins, while several other major artists finished with 1 competitive award each.
Madonna’s 7 competitive wins came from Artist of the Year, Best Collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter, Best Dance, Best Cinematography, Best Choreography, Best Long Form Video and Best Album. Her results made her the artist with the highest number of competitive awards at the 2026 ceremony, with her wins spread across performance, music, visual production and long form work.
Taylor Swift collected 2 competitive category wins, taking Video of the Year for “The Fate of Ophelia” and Best Direction for “Opalite”. She also received the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors, a special recognition separate from the competitive categories. Her total therefore stands at 2 competitive wins plus 1 special honour.
BTS collected 3 competitive awards, winning Song of the Year for “SWIM”, Best K Pop for “SWIM” and Best Group. Ariana Grande collected 2 competitive awards, winning Best Visual Effects and Song of Summer for “hate that i made you love me”. The remaining competitive categories were distributed among several other artists and collaborations.
Sabrina Carpenter collected 1 competitive win alongside Madonna for Best Collaboration with “Bring Your Love”. Sienna Spiro won Best New Artist, LISA won Best Pop for “Dream” featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi, Cardi B featuring Kehlani won Best Hip Hop for “Safe”, Bruno Mars won Best R&B for “I Just Might”, Olivia Rodrigo won Best Alternative for “the cure”, Bad Bunny won Best Latin for “NUEVAYoL” and Ella Langley won Best Country for “Choosin’ Texas”.
PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson jointly collected 1 competitive award for Best Art Direction with “Stateside”. Nirvana received the Video Vanguard Award, which was a special award rather than a competitive category. Counting the competitive categories supplied for the ceremony produces 26 competitive wins in total, while the special honours sit separately from that tally.
The complete competitive distribution can therefore be summarised as follows: Madonna 7, BTS 3, Taylor Swift 2, Ariana Grande 2, Sabrina Carpenter 1, Sienna Spiro 1, LISA 1, Cardi B 1, Bruno Mars 1, Olivia Rodrigo 1, Bad Bunny 1, Ella Langley 1, and PinkPantheress with Zara Larsson 1. Those results account for the 26 competitive category wins listed for the 2026 ceremony.
For the Nigerian nominees, the count remained unchanged. Burna Boy finished with 2 nominations and 0 wins, while Tems finished with 1 nomination and 0 wins. Together, they had 3 nominations and collected 0 Moon Persons from the September 27 ceremony. Their results came through Best Collaboration, Best Latin and Best R&B, while Best Afrobeats was not part of the 2026 programme.
September 27 closes the results
By the end of September 27, 2026, the major results had established several clear storylines from the ceremony. Madonna led the winners with 7 awards, Taylor Swift collected major competitive and special recognition, and BTS secured multiple Moon Persons. Burna Boy and Tems remained among the Nigerian artists recognised through the nomination process, but neither added a Moon Person to their individual collection from this ceremony.
Burna Boy’s 2 nominations came through “Dai Dai” with Shakira, with Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter winning Best Collaboration and Bad Bunny winning Best Latin. Tems’ nomination came through “Raindance” with Dave, with Bruno Mars taking Best R&B for “I Just Might”.
The Nigerian result therefore rests on 3 nominations across 3 categories. Burna Boy had 2 opportunities, Tems had 1, and the final results produced 0 wins for the 2 artists. The absence of Best Afrobeats is a separate part of the story and explains why neither artist appeared in the category that had previously featured several leading African acts.
The 2026 MTV VMAs consequently presented Nigerian music through a different awards route. Rather than having a dedicated Afrobeats category, 2 of Nigeria’s biggest global stars competed within broader international fields. Their nominations placed them alongside artists from different markets and genres, while the final results showed Madonna, Taylor Swift, BTS, Bruno Mars, Bad Bunny and several other major names collecting the night’s awards.
For Burna Boy and Tems, September 27 ended with recognition through nominations rather than victories. For the wider Nigerian music story, the more notable detail is the route through which that recognition came. The 2026 MTV VMAs had no Best Afrobeats category, leaving Burna Boy and Tems to compete directly in Best Collaboration, Best Latin and Best R&B, while the ceremony itself moved through a restructured list of awards that produced Madonna as the night’s leading winner with 7 trophies.
