MTV Video Music Award for Artist of the Year

The MTV Video Music Award for Artist of the Year is given at the annual MTV Video Music Awards. It was first introduced at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, replacing both the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video and Best Female Video as MTV wanted to eliminate gender-specific awards.

MTV Video Music Award for Artist of the Year
Lady Gaga is the most recent recipient.
Country	United States
Presented by	MTV
First award	2017
Currently held by	Lady Gaga (2025)
Most wins	Taylor Swift & Lady Gaga (2)
Most nominations	Ariana Grande (5)
Website	VMA website

Ed Sheeran was the first recipient of the award in 2017. Ariana Grande has the most nominations in the category with five, winning the award in 2019. The Jonas Brothers is the only group that has been nominated for this award, receiving a nomination in 2019.

Recipients

2010s

Recipients

Year	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
2017	Ed Sheeran	Ariana Grande Kendrick Lamar Lorde Bruno Mars The Weeknd
2018	Camila Cabello	Cardi B Drake Ariana Grande Post Malone Bruno Mars
2019	Ariana Grande	Cardi B Billie Eilish Halsey Jonas Brothers Shawn Mendes

2020s

Recipients

Year	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
2020	Lady Gaga	Justin Bieber DaBaby Megan Thee Stallion Post Malone The Weeknd
2021	Justin Bieber	Doja Cat Ariana Grande Megan Thee Stallion Olivia Rodrigo Taylor Swift
2022	Bad Bunny	Drake Jack Harlow Lil Nas X Lizzo Ed Sheeran Harry Styles
2023	Taylor Swift	Beyoncé Doja Cat Karol G Nicki Minaj Shakira
2024		Bad Bunny Sabrina Carpenter Eminem Ariana Grande SZA
2025	Lady Gaga	Bad Bunny Beyoncé Kendrick Lamar Taylor Swift Morgan Wallen The Weeknd

Artists with multiple nominations

5 nominations

• Ariana Grande

4 nominations

L

• Taylor Swift

3 nominations

• The Weeknd
• Bruno Mars
• Drake
• Bad Bunny

2 nominations

• Cardi B
• Doja Cat
• Ed Sheeran
• Justin Bieber
• Megan Thee Stallion
• Post Malone
• Kendrick Lamar
• Lady Gaga