Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, And Sabrina Carpenter Lead VMA Nominations
The ‘Die With a Smile’ singer leads the way with 12 nods.
The nominations for the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards have been revealed, and Lady Gaga leads the way in total nods, with Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter not far behind.
Gaga earned a staggering 12 nominations, followed by Bruno Mars with 11, Lamar with 10, ROSÉ and Carpenter with eight, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven, and Billie Eilish with six.
This particular set of honors for Gaga marks the third time she’s earned the most nominations, having also achieved the feat in 2010 and 2020. The pop icon is currently sitting at 18 VMAs won, behind Taylor Swift and Beyoncé who each have 30.
Gaga earned a large number of her nominations thanks to her Bruno Mars collaboration, “Die With a Smile,” which is up for Video and Song of the Year, as well as Best Collaboration. Gaga is also nominated for Artist of the Year, while her latest LP, Mayhem, is up for Album of the Year. The video for Gaga’s Mayhem single “Abracadabra” earned a number of nods, too, including Best Directing, Cinematography, and Choreography.
Elsewhere, Lamar’s 10 nominations came mostly to his Grammy-winning hit “Not Like Us.” For that song, he’s up for Video of the Year, Best Hip-Hop, and a number of categories for the video including Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Choreography. He’s also up for Artist of the Year and Best Collaboration for “Luther,” featuring SZA.
Carpenter, who won her first VMA last year for “Espresso,” earned eight nominations, including Video of the Year for her recent single “Manchild.”
In the event’s biggest category, Video of the Year, Gaga and Mars’ “Die With a Smile” will go up against Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” Carpenter’s “Manchild,” Grande’s “Brighter Days Ahead,” Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” Rosé and Mars’ “APT,” and the Weeknd and Playboi Carti’s “Timeless.”
Artist of the Year features Gaga, Lamar, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift, and the Weeknd.
Song of the Year nominees include Gaga and Mars’ “Die With a Smile,” Rosé and Mars’ “APT,” the Weeknd and Carti’s “Timeless,” Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” Doechii’s “Anxiety,” Ed Sheeran’s “Sapphire,” Gracie Abrams’ “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” Lorde’s “What Was That,” and Tate McRae’s “Sports Car.” This collection of songs will be reduced down to six nominees by August 18, with voting continuing through September 5.
Fan voting for all 19 gender-neutral VMA categories is open now and will end on September 5. Voting for Best New Artist will continue into the show itself, which is set to air live, September 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, MTV, and Paramount+.
