The 2025 MTV Video Music Awards brought the music world to UBS Arena in New York on Sunday, Sept. 7, with LL Cool J as host and a lineup that was pure spectacle. From powerhouse performances to history-making wins, this year’s VMAs leaned into queer icons, fan-favorite allies, and the artists pushing culture forward.

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Lady Gaga dominated nominations going in with 12, including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Video of the Year. She walked away victorious, snagging Artist of the Year and cementing her role as the night’s main event. Gaga also hit the stage with Bruno Mars for their soaring duet “Die With A Smile,” which had the crowd on its feet.

Queer artists and allies were front and center throughout the night. Sabrina Carpenter delivered her viral hit “Manchild,” while ROSÉ, one of K-pop’s brightest stars, shared the spotlight with Mars on “APT.” Alex Warren, who has been open about his queer identity, had a breakout moment after winning Best New Artist. Meanwhile, Mariah Carey and Ricky Martin—two legends beloved by LGBTQ+ fans—were honored with special performances.

Other major winners included Tate McRae, who secured Song of the Summer for “Just Keep Watching” from F1: The Movie, and sombr, who took home Best Alternative for “back to friends.” Mariah Carey added another accolade to her career with Best R&B for “Type Dangerous.”

The show’s fashion moments were just as memorable, with Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Charli xcx all bringing distinct style to the pink carpet.

Below is the full list of winners and nominees across the night’s top categories:

Video of the Year (presented by Burger King®)

  • Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead” — WINNER
  • Billie Eilish – “Birds of a Feather”
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
  • Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With A Smile”
  • ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.”
  • Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”
  • The Weeknd & Playboi Carti – “Timeless”

Artist of the Year

  • Bad Bunny
  • Beyoncé
  • Kendrick Lamar
  • Lady Gaga — WINNER
  • Morgan Wallen
  • Taylor Swift
  • The Weeknd

Song of the Year

  • Alex Warren – “Ordinary”
  • Billie Eilish – “Birds of a Feather”
  • Doechii – “Anxiety”
  • Ed Sheeran – “Sapphire”
  • Gracie Abrams – “I Love You, I’m Sorry”
  • Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With A Smile”
  • Lorde – “What Was That”
  • ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.” — WINNER
  • Tate McRae – “Sports Car”
  • The Weeknd & Playboi Carti – “Timeless”

Best New Artist

  • Alex Warren — WINNER
  • Ella Langley
  • Gigi Perez
  • Lola Young
  • sombr — Finalist
  • The Marías — Finalist

Best Pop Artist

  • Ariana Grande
  • Charli xcx
  • Justin Bieber
  • Lorde
  • Miley Cyrus
  • Sabrina Carpenter — WINNER
  • Tate McRae

MTV Push Performance of the Year (presented by Bacardi® Rum)

  • KATSEYE – “Touch” — WINNER
  • Shaboozey – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
  • Ayra Starr – “Last Heartbreak Song”
  • Mark Ambor – “Belong Together”
  • Lay Bankz – “Graveyard”
  • Dasha – “Bye Bye Bye”
  • Jordan Adetunji – “KEHLANI”
  • Leon Thomas – “YES IT IS”
  • Livingston – “Shadow”
  • Damiano David – “Next Summer”
  • Gigi Perez – “Sailor Song”
  • ROLE MODEL – “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out”

Best Collaboration (presented by Under Armour)

  • Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs – “Backup Plan”
  • Kendrick Lamar & SZA – “luther”
  • Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With A Smile” — WINNER
  • Post Malone ft. Blake Shelton – “Pour Me A Drink”
  • ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.”
  • Selena Gomez & benny blanco – “Sunset Blvd”

Best Hip-Hop

  • Doechii – “Anxiety” — WINNER
  • Drake – “NOKIA”
  • Eminem ft. Jelly Roll – “Somebody Save Me”
  • GloRilla ft. Sexyy Red – “Whatchu Kno About Me”
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
  • LL Cool J ft. Eminem – “Murdergram Deux”
  • Travis Scott – “4X4”

Best R&B

  • Chris Brown – “Residuals”
  • Leon Thomas & Freddie Gibbs – “MUTT (Remix)”
  • Mariah Carey – “Type Dangerous” — WINNER
  • PARTYNEXTDOOR – “N o C h i l l”
  • Summer Walker – “Heart of a Woman”
  • SZA – “Drive”
  • The Weeknd & Playboi Carti – “Timeless”

Best Alternative

  • Gigi Perez – “Sailor Song”
  • Imagine Dragons – “Wake Up”
  • Lola Young – “Messy”
  • mgk & Jelly Roll – “Lonely Road”
  • sombr – “back to friends” — WINNER
  • The Marías – “Back To Me”

Best Rock

  • Coldplay – “All My Love” — WINNER
  • Evanescence – “Afterlife”
  • Green Day – “One Eyed Bastard”
  • Lenny Kravitz – “Honey”
  • Linkin Park – “The Emptiness Machine”
  • twenty one pilots – “The Contract”

Best Latin

  • Bad Bunny – “Baile Inolvidable”
  • J Balvin – “Rio”
  • KAROL G – “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido”
  • Peso Pluma – “La Patrulla”
  • Rauw Alejandro & Romeo Santos – “Khé?”
  • Shakira – “Soltera” — WINNER

Best K-Pop

  • aespa – “Whiplash”
  • JENNIE – “like JENNIE”
  • Jimin – “Who”
  • JISOO – “earthquake”
  • LISA ft. Doja Cat & RAYE – “Born Again” — WINNER
  • Stray Kids – “Chk Chk Boom”
  • ROSÉ – “toxic till the end”

Best Afrobeats

  • Asake & Travis Scott – “Active”
  • Burna Boy ft. Travis Scott – “TaTaTa”
  • MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillibeng & Shenseea – “Shake It To The Max (Remix)”
  • Rema – “Baby (Is It A Crime)”
  • Tems ft. Asake – “Get It Right”
  • Tyla – “PUSH 2 START” — WINNER
  • Wizkid ft. Brent Faiyaz – “Piece Of My Heart”

Best Country

  • Chris Stapleton – “Think I’m In Love With You”
  • Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood – “I’m Gonna Love You”
  • Jelly Roll – “Liar”
  • Lainey Wilson – “4x4xU”
  • Megan Moroney – “Am I Okay?” — WINNER
  • Morgan Wallen – “Smile”

Best Album

  • Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos
  • Kendrick Lamar – GNX
  • Lady Gaga – Mayhem
  • Morgan Wallen – I’m the Problem
  • Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet — WINNER
  • The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow

Best Long Form Video

  • Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead” — WINNER
  • Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos (Short Film)
  • Damiano David – “Funny Little Stories”
  • Mac Miller – “Balloonerism”
  • Miley Cyrus – “Something Beautiful”
  • The Weeknd – “Hurry Up Tomorrow”

Video for Good

  • Burna Boy – “Higher”
  • Charli xcx – “Guess” ft. Billie Eilish — WINNER
  • Doechii – “Anxiety”
  • Eminem ft. Jelly Roll – “Somebody Save Me”
  • Selena Gomez & benny blanco – “Younger and Hotter Than Me”
  • Zach Hood ft. Sasha Alex Sloan – “Sleepwalking”

Best Direction

  • Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead”
  • Charli xcx – “Guess” ft. Billie Eilish
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
  • Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra” — WINNER
  • ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.”
  • Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”

Best Art Direction

  • Charli xcx – “Guess” ft. Billie Eilish
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
  • Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra” — WINNER
  • Lorde – “Man of the Year”
  • Miley Cyrus – “End of the World”
  • ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.”

Best Cinematography

  • Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead”
  • Ed Sheeran – “Sapphire”
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us” — WINNER
  • Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra”
  • Miley Cyrus – “Easy Lover”
  • Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”

Best Editing

  • Charli xcx – “Guess” ft. Billie Eilish
  • Ed Sheeran – “Sapphire”
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
  • Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra”
  • Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”
  • Tate McRae – “Just Keep Watching (from F1: The Movie)” — WINNER

Best Choreography

  • Doechii – “Anxiety” — WINNER
  • FKA twigs – “Eusexua”
  • Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
  • Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra”
  • Tyla – “PUSH 2 START”
  • Zara Larsson – “Pretty Ugly”

Best Visual Effects

  • Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead”
  • Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra”
  • ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.”
  • Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild” — WINNER
  • Tate McRae – “Just Keep Watching (from F1: The Movie)”
  • The Weeknd – “Hurry Up Tomorrow”

Best Group

  • aespa
  • All Time Low
  • Backstreet Boys
  • BLACKPINK — WINNER
  • Coldplay
  • Evanescence
  • Fuerza Regida
  • Grupo Frontera
  • Imagine Dragons
  • Jonas Brothers
  • KATSEYE
  • My Chemical Romance
  • SEVENTEEN
  • Stray Kids
  • The Marías
  • twenty one pilots

Song of the Summer

  • Addison Rae – “Headphones On”
  • Alex Warren – “Ordinary”
  • Benson Boone – “Mystical Magical”
  • BigXthaPlug ft. Bailey Zimmerman – “All The Way”
  • Chappell Roan – “The Subway”
  • Demi Lovato – “Fast”
  • Doja Cat – “Jealous Type”
  • HUNTR/X (EJAE, Audrey Nuna & REI AMI) – “Golden”
  • Jessie Murph – “Blue Strips”
  • Justin Bieber – “Daisies”
  • MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillibeng & Shenseea – “Shake It To The Max (Remix)”
  • Morgan Wallen ft. Tate McRae – “What I Want”
  • Ravyn Lenae ft. Rex Orange County – “Love Me Not”
  • Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”
  • sombr – “12 to 12”
  • Tate McRae – “Just Keep Watching (from F1: The Movie)” — WINNER

The VMAs once again proved themselves to be a night where pop meets politics, queerness meets mainstream, and fans get the moments they’ll be replaying for weeks.