The nominees for the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) are out!
On August 18 local time, MTV officially announced the nominations for this year’s award ceremony, which included nods for several K-pop artists.
BTS’s recent hit “SWIM” scored two nominations: one for Song of the Year and one for Best K-Pop. Also nominated for Song of the Year is HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” the smash hit from the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” (sung by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami).
Meanwhile, BLACKPINK’s Lisa racked up a total of four solo nominations for her “Dream” music video featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi, which is in the running for Best Pop, Best K-Pop, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. BLACKPINK also snagged a separate nomination as a group in the Best K-Pop category for their hit song “JUMP.”
In what marks the first-ever VMA nominations of their career, CORTIS earned two nods: one for Best New Artist and one for Best K-Pop (for their latest hit “REDRED”).
KATSEYE also scored two nominations with their single “PINKY UP,” which is in the running for Best Choreography and Best K-Pop.
Finally, LE SSERAFIM’s hit song “SPAGHETTI” (featuring BTS’s j-hope) has been nominated for Best K-Pop. This year’s nominees for the K-pop category are BLACKPINK’s “JUMP,” BTS’s “SWIM,” CORTIS’s “REDRED,” KATSEYE’s “PINKY UP,” LE SSERAFIM’s “SPAGHETTI,” and Lisa’s “Dream.”
The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards will air live from Los Angeles on September 27 at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. In the meantime, you can vote for the awards on MTV’s website here! (Voting for most categories will be open until September 25 at 6 p.m. ET, while voting for Best New Artist will remain active all the way into the live show.)
Which of this year’s nominees are you rooting for?
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