Abracadabra! Lady Gaga leads 2025 MTV VMA nominationsAbracadabra! Lady Gaga leads 2025 MTV VMA nominations

Lady Gaga has conjured up a leading 12 nominations for the 2025 MTV VMAs, thanks to her visuals for her Bruno Mars collaboration “Die With a Smile” and “Abracadabra.”

Gaga, who has 18 VMAs to her name, is up for video of the year, artist of the year, best album and many other categories. This is the third time she’s been the leading nominee at the VMAs. Her “Die With a Smile” partner Bruno is the second-most-nominated artist, with 11 nods.

Other leading nominees include Kendrick Lamar with 10; ROSÉ and Sabrina Carpenter with eight each; Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven; Billie Eilish with six; and Charli XCX with five. Other nominees include Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran and Jelly Roll.

The 2025 VMAs will air coast to coast on Sept. 7 on CBS and MTV starting at 8 p.m. ET, live from the UBS Arena in New York, and will stream on Paramount+.

Fan voting is now open in 19 categories at vote.mtv.com. You can vote through Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. ET. On Aug. 18, the song of the year category will be cut from 10 to six nominees.

Here are the nominees:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR, presented by Burger King® 
Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead” 
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
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.” 
Tate McRae – “Sports Car” 
The Weeknd, Playboi Carti – “Timeless”

BEST NEW ARTIST
Alex Warren 
Ella Langley
Gigi Perez 
Lola Young 
sombr 
The Marías

BEST POP ARTIST
Ariana Grande 
Charli XCX
Justin Bieber
Lorde 
Miley Cyrus
Sabrina Carpenter 
Tate McRae

MTV PUSH PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR, presented by BACARDÍ® Rum
August 2024 – Shaboozey – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” 
September 2024 – Ayra Starr – “Last Heartbreak Song”
October 2024 – Mark Ambor – “Belong Together”
November 2024 – Lay Bankz – “Graveyard” 
December 2024 – Dasha – “Bye Bye Bye” 
January 2025 – KATSEYE – “Touch”
February 2025 – Jordan Adetunji – “KEHLANI”
March 2025 – Leon Thomas – “YES IT IS”
April 2025 – Livingston – “Shadow” 
May 2025 – Damiano David – “Next Summer”
June 2025 – Gigi Perez – “Sailor Song” 
July 2025 – ROLE MODEL – “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out”

BEST COLLABORATION, presented by Under Armour
Bailey Zimmerman with Luke Combs – “Backup Plan (Stagecoach Official Music Video)” 
Kendrick Lamar & SZA – “luther” 
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With A Smile” 
Post Malone ft. Blake Shelton – “Pour Me A Drink”
ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.” 
Selena Gomez, benny blanco – “Sunset Blvd”

BEST POP
Alex Warren – “Ordinary” 
Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead” 
Ed Sheeran – “Sapphire” 
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With A Smile” 
ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.” 
Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”

BEST HIP-HOP
Doechii – “Anxiety” 
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”
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” 
The Marías – “Back To Me”

BEST ROCK
Coldplay – “ALL MY LOVE” 
Evanescence – “Afterlife (From the Netflix Series “Devil May Cry”)”
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”

BEST K-POP
aespa – “Whiplash”
JENNIE – “like JENNIE”
Jimin – “Who”
JISOO – “earthquake” 
LISA ft. Doja Cat & RAYE – “Born Again”
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 (FLY) (Remix)”
Rema – “Baby (Is It A Crime)”
Tems ft. Asake – “Get It Right”
Tyla – “PUSH 2 START”
Wizkid ft. Brent Faiyaz – “Piece Of My Heart”

BEST COUNTRY 
Chris Stapleton – “Think I’m In Love With You”
Cody Johnson with Carrie Underwood – “I’m Gonna Love You”
Jelly Roll – “Liar”
Lainey Wilson – “4x4xU”
Megan Moroney – “Am I Okay?”
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 
The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow

BEST LONG FORM VIDEO 
Ariana Grande – “brighter days ahead” 
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 featuring Billie Eilish” 
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 featuring Billie Eilish” 
Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us” 
Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra” 
ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT.” 
Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”

BEST ART DIRECTION
Charli XCX – “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” 
Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us” 
Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra” 
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” 
Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra” 
Miley Cyrus – “Easy Lover” 
Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”

BEST EDITING
Charli XCX – “Guess featuring 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)”

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Doechii – “Anxiety” 
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” – 
Tate McRae – “Just Keep Watching (From F1® The Movie)” 
The Weeknd – “Hurry Up Tomorrow”

 

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