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Did MTV Just Quietly Kill Off the VMA for Best Rock Video?

It’s possible the nominations for Best Rock Video will be rolled out later, but we have a hunch about this year’s MTV VMAs.

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The 2026 MTV VMA nominations have been released, and we’re crowding the halls like high school drama kids trying to see who scored the lead in the musical. Madonna tops the list with 11 nominations this year, beating her own previous record of nine. Taylor Swift has the second most nominations with nine of her own, then Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter each with seven, then Bruno Mars, PinkPantheress, and Zara Larsson have five each.

Notably, past Video of the Year winners Grande, Madonna, and Swift are nominated for the big winner category once again. There are of course first-time nominees, some promising Best New Artist nominations, and the return of the Best Dance category after seven years.

But with all the announcements from the MTV VMAs, some categories are worryingly absent. Two big genre categories, to be exact. Best Rock and Best Afrobeats were not included among the nominees. They were included in last years awards, but not heavily featured during the broadcast.

It’s possible that these categories........

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