The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, held in the Peacock Theater on Sept. 27, included a variety of exciting performances and speeches, but ultimately received a wide range of criticism.

Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the show opened with a performance from the night’s biggest winner, Madonna, who performed “Bring Your Love” with Sabrina Carpenter and “Danceteria” with Charli xcx.

As the leading nominee with 13 nominations, Madonna took home seven “Moon Person” awards — three of which were on the live broadcast. Her wins included Artist of the Year, Best Dance for “Confessions II – The Film” and Best Collaboration for “Bring Your Love” with Sabrina Carpenter. Madonna had a full-circle moment during one of her speeches, acknowledging that she had performed at the very first VMAs 43 years ago.

Taylor Swift accrued the second-most nominations. Swift took home three awards — of her 11 nominations — including the brand-new Artist Directors Honor award. After winning, she premiered her new music video for her latest single “Patient Zero.”

A stand-out performance of the night included a live-band set with RAYE, performing a medley of her songs “I Will Overcome” and “Where is My Husband,” while Sienna Spiro performed “Great Expectations.” Other performers included Bruno Mars, Shaboozey, Gunna, LISA, Gener8ion and Yung Lean.

After the ceremony, the remainder of the awards were announced, including Ariana Grande’s two awards for Song of the Summer and Best Visual Effects for her song “Hate That I Made You Love Me” on her most recent album, “Petal.” Sabrina Carpenter also took home another award for Best Editing for “House Tour.”

On top of the awards and performances, celebrities stepped out in daring fashion looks. The red carpet was livestreamed prior to the live ceremony, with eye-catching outfits from stars like PinkPantheress, Teyana Taylor and Spiro. All of RAYE’s looks throughout the night were especially striking, channeling Old Hollywood glamor from her silver, sparkly red carpet look to her gravity-defying black gown worn during the George Michael tribute performance.

Although the night proved to be entertaining, some fans criticized the award show trend of prioritizing advertisements, skits or performances over the time allotted to distributing awards. The VMAs live ceremony spanned from around 7:50 p.m. to around 10:20 p.m. — continuing over the 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. projected runtime. This led to only eight awards being announced, with at least 17 awards being posted after the ceremony.

Other fans noted that categories dominated by minority groups, such as Hip-Hop, K-pop and Best Latin, have increasingly been pushed aside and left out of the live ceremony. Following previous trends, winners Cardi B. and Kehlani (Best Hip-Hop), BTS (Best K-pop) and Bad Bunny (Best Latin) were announced only after the show.

Moreover, none of the celebrities who won awards after the ceremony were in attendance besides PinkPantheress, making the viewers’ experience less interesting.

Additionally, Madonna’s seven wins and her three, somewhat aloof, speeches during the live ceremony resulted in some uproar. Some online believe that other artists were more deserving of the awards and that Madonna is no longer relevant — however, as the VMAs are fan-voted, her wins suggest she has had a significant comeback this year in the eyes of the voters.

Despite running over time and only presenting a small selection of awards during the live ceremony, the VMAs still offered an exciting night of entertainment, with excellent performances across genres.