Madonna Claims Artist of the Year at 2026 VMAs, Reflects on Self-Discovery

VMAs 2026

Madonna Wins Artist of the Year at 2026 VMAs: ‘I Spent the Last Year-and-a-Half Finding Myself’

Later she won the VMA for Best Dance, inviting presenters Charli XCX and Troye Sivan to her side

By

Jon Blistein , Jaeden Pinder September 27, 2026

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Madonna took home the Moon Person for Artist of the Year at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, beating out nominees Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift. Later, she won the VMA for Best Dance for “Confessions II – The Film.”

“First of all, I would like to thank my fingers because I can always count on them,” Madonna joked before launching into an anecdote about her debut at the very first VMAs, hosted back in 1984. “I had a little problem with my shoes … and I dove onto the stage to try to make myself look cute and sexy and like I meant to do it,” she said. “I went backstage feeling really proud of myself and my manager told me that my career was over.”

She continued in her Artist of the Year speech: “I spent the last year-and-a-half finding myself, believing in myself and really making the music I wanted to make … My hope for all of you here tonight is that you spend the next year or the next 10 years or the rest of your life doing the same.” She also thanked long-time confidant and producer Stuart Price, calling him her “ride or die.”

“Who knew that 20 years after Confessions [on a Dancefloor] we could pull it off again [with Confessions II ]?”

When Madonna came onstage to accept the Moon Person for Best Dance, she invited presenters Charli XCX and Troye Sivan to her side as she gave her speech after making a joke about having a laser somewhere NSFW didn’t land with the audience. “I want to thank [ Confessions II – The Film director] Torso for going on this adventure with me,” she said. “I came to New York to be a dancer and dance is where everything happened for me in my life.”

“I came to life on the dance floor, I fell in love with people on the dance floor, and I lost many people I loved on the dance floor,” she continued, “[And] dance brings everybody together. We’re all equal on the dance floor.”

The award helps cement a major VMAs year for Madonna, who came into the show leading all nominees with 13. While most of them were for the short film she made for her celebrated new album, Confessions II , the Sabrina Carpenter-featuring “Bring Your Love” also won Best Collaboration.

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_Originally reported by [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/madonna-vmas-2026-artist-of-the-year-1235631848/)._