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.^[1]

MTV Video Music Award for Artist of the Year
Taylor Swift is the recent recipient.
Country	United States
Presented by	MTV
First award	2017
Currently held by	Taylor Swift (2024)
Most wins	Taylor Swift (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[a]	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
2017	Ed Sheeran	Ariana Grande Kendrick Lamar Lorde Bruno Mars The Weeknd	[2]
2018	Camila Cabello	Cardi B Drake Ariana Grande Post Malone Bruno Mars	[3]
2019	Ariana Grande	Cardi B Billie Eilish Halsey Jonas Brothers Shawn Mendes	[4]

2020s

Recipients

Year[b]	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
2020	Lady Gaga	Justin Bieber DaBaby Megan Thee Stallion Post Malone The Weeknd	[5]
2021	Justin Bieber	Doja Cat Ariana Grande Megan Thee Stallion Olivia Rodrigo Taylor Swift	[6]
2022	Bad Bunny	Drake Jack Harlow Lil Nas X Lizzo Ed Sheeran Harry Styles	[7]
2023	Taylor Swift	Beyoncé Doja Cat Karol G Nicki Minaj Shakira	[8]
2024		Bad Bunny Sabrina Carpenter Eminem Ariana Grande SZA	[9]
2025	Pending	Bad Bunny Beyoncé Kendrick Lamar Lady Gaga Taylor Swift Morgan Wallen The Weeknd

Artists with multiple nominations

5 nominations

• Ariana Grande

4 nominations

• 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

Notes

1. Each year is linked to the article about the MTV Video Music Awards held that year.
2. Each year is linked to the article about the MTV Video Music Awards held that year.