2025 VMA Nominations Revealed: Lady Gaga Leads With 12, Followed by Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar

Lady Gaga is the leading nominee for the 2025 Video Music Awards, and one of her collaborators is right on her heels.

Gaga has 12 nominations for the VMAs, including for video of the year (for “Die With a Smile”), artist of the year and album of the year for Mayhem. Bruno Mars has 11 total nominations, all for his collaborations with Lady Gaga on “Die With a Smile” and K-pop artist Rosé on “APT.”

Kendrick Lamar picked up 10 nominations, seven of them for his video for “Not Like Us.” It will compete for video of the year with “Die With a Smile,” “APT.,” Ariana Grande’s “Brighter Days Ahead,” Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” and The Weeknd and Playboy Carti’s “Timeless.”

The VMAs added two categories for this year’s ceremony, best pop artist and best country video. Among the first-time nominees are Alex Warren, Blake Shelton, Gigi Perez, Lainey Wilson and Mac Miller.

The VMAs will are set for Sept. 7 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. The awards will air on CBS for the first time in addition to their longtime home on MTV and stream live on Paramount+ (for subscribers to the service’s premium plan). Former MTV head Van Toffler and his company Gunpowder & Sky will produce the show along with Den of Thieves.

The full list of nominees is below.

Video of the Year

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

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

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 – “No Chill”
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”