The nominations for the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards were announced on Tuesday, 18th August, with Ella Langley, Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Shaboozey, Stella Lefty and Tucker Wetmore securing coveted nods. The VMAs take place at Los Angeles' Peacock Theater on Sunday, 27th September 2026.

Country music had to wait 41 years for its own MTV VMA category. That finally changed in 2025, when Best Country was introduced for the first time in the awards show's history. Now, one year later, the category is back for only its second ever outing.

The VMAs serve as MTV's annual celebration of music videos, performances and pop culture in general. First held in 1984, they became famous for creating the sort of moments people still talk about decades later, including Madonna performing the now-iconic 'Like A Virgin' at the very first ceremony. Winners take home MTV's famous Moon Person trophy, with fans voting in many of the major categories.

Which makes it fairly remarkable that country had to wait until 2025 to get a category of its own.

Rock had been recognised in some form since 1989, Alternative followed in 1991, R&B in 1993 and Pop and Hip-Hop in 1999. More recently MTV added Latin in 2010, K-Pop in 2019 and Afrobeats in 2023. Country finally joined them in 2025, 41 years after the first ceremony. Quite a wait for a genre that’s been routed in American culture for decades.

It wasn't because country artists had never been good enough to get through the door. In 2003, Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' received six VMA nominations in 2003, including Video of the Year, and won Best Cinematography. Taylor Swift won Best Female Video for 'You Belong With Me' in 2009. Country could compete at the VMAs, it just didn't have a permanent home there.

There is some history behind this. Country actually had its own dedicated music video television network before the first VMAs even took place. CMT launched in March 1983 and spent decades giving country videos, artists and audiences a space of their own.

By 2002, the CMT awards were reworked into the fan voted CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards, deliberately styled in a similar way to MTV's VMAs. In other words, while pop, rock and hip-hop largely lived inside MTV's world, country was standalone and outside of the circle.

That probably helps explain how the separation lasted for so long. But doesn't necessarily explain why it needed to.

Interestingly, Paramount paused the CMT Music Awards in early 2025 as part of plans to “reimagine and optimize” its events slate. Later that same year, MTV introduced Best Country. There has been no official suggestion that one decision directly caused the other, but it marked a significant shift for a genre whose major fan-voted video awards had traditionally existed separately from MTV.

And if you're wondering why country finally arrived at the VMAs when it did, the answer might simply be that by 2025, it had become almost impossible to ignore in the mainstream.

The previous year had seen Beyoncé take Cowboy Carter to No. 1 on the country albums chart, Shaboozey turn 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' into one of the biggest songs in America and Post Malone launching his country eta with the momentous F-1 Trillion. Country was no longer something mainstream audiences had to deliberately go looking for. It was already on their playlists. And it could not be overlooked.

When Best Country finally arrived in 2025, Megan Moroney became its first winner with 'Am I Okay?'. Morgan Wallen was simultaneously nominated for the all-genre Artist of the Year award, while Jelly Roll was competing across Country, Hip-Hop and Alternative categories. Even in year one, country was already escaping the box MTV had finally built for it.

Which brings us to 2026.

Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' appears in Best Country but also Song of the Year, with the 18-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 (and counting) surely a favourite to win in this category.

Morgan Wallen is nominated for Artist of the Year alongside Madonna, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars and Sabrina Carpenter. Stella Lefty lands both Best Country and Best New Artist, Shaboozey's 'Cowgirl' crosses into Best Cinematography and Noah Kahan brings the folkier side of this world into Best Alternative.

Perhaps that is the clearest indication of how overdue the category really was.

MTV finally gave country music its own seat at the table in 2025. By 2026, country appears to have many seats at the table - and we are here for it.

For the full list of the country and folk nominations at the 2026 MTV VMA Awards, see below:

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Ariana Grande
Bruno Mars
Madonna
Morgan Wallen
Sabrina Carpenter
Taylor Swift

SONG OF THE YEAR

BTS “Swim”
Ella Langley “Choosin’ Texas”
HUNTR/X EJAE, Audrey Nuna “Golden”
Madonna & Sabrina Carpenter “Bring Your Love”
Olivia Dean “Man I Need”
PinkPantheress “Stateside + Zara Larsson”
RAYE “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”

BEST NEW ARTIST

Bella Kay
CORTIS
Magnus Ferrell
Malcolm Todd
Myles Smith
Sienna Spiro
Stella Lefty

BEST ALTERNATIVE

Geese “Taxes”
mgk & Fred Durst “FIX UR FACE”
Noah Kahan “The Great Divide”
Olivia Rodrigo “the cure”
SOMBR “Homewrecker”
Tame Impala “Dracula”
twenty one pilots “Drag Path”

BEST COUNTRY

Ella Langley “Choosin’ Texas”
Kacey Musgraves “Dry Spell”
Lainey Wilson “Somewhere Over Laredo”
Luke Combs “Back in the Saddle”
Shaboozey “Cowgirl”
Stella Lefty “Boston”
Tucker Wetmore “Brunette”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

A$AP Rocky “PUNK ROCKY”
Ariana Grande “hate that i made you love me”
LISA “Dream feat. Kentaro Sakaguchi”
Madonna “Confessions II The Film”
Shaboozey “Cowgirl”
Taylor Swift “The Fate of Ophelia”