2018 MTV Video Music Awards

The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Monday night, August 20, 2018 at 9:00–11:43pm EDT at Radio City Music Hall in Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City. The 35th annual award show aired live from the venue for the 12th time, the most of any previous venue in its history. Cardi B led the list of nominees with twelve nominations. Cardi and Childish Gambino were the most awarded of the night with three each. Camila Cabello won Video of the Year and Artist of the Year, while Jennifer Lopez became the first Latino to receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. This edition of the MTV Video Music Awards saw yet another severe drop in ratings, only achieving a mere 2.2 million viewers on MTV, and only seeing 4.87 million viewers on all of its sister networks.

Presenters

Pre-show

Terrence J – presented Song of Summer and Push Artist of the Year

Main show

Cardi B – opened the show and introduced Shawn Mendes
Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish – did a brief comedy routine and presented Best Hip Hop
G-Eazy and Shay Mitchell – introduced Bazzi on the Push Artist stage
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively – presented Best Pop
Teyana Taylor and Kyle – introduced Logic and Ryan Tedder
Ken Jeong – announced the top 2 nominees for Best New Artist and explained voting procedures
Jimmy Fallon – introduced Panic! at the Disco
Backstreet Boys – presented Song of the Year
Liam Payne and Shanina Shaik – presented Best Latin
Shawn Mendes – presented the Video Vanguard Award
Social House and Karlie Kloss – introduced Ariana Grande
Keegan-Michael Key and Olivia Munn – presented Artist of the Year
Millie Bobby Brown – presented Best New Artist
DJ Khaled – introduced Travis Scott and James Blake
Gucci Mane – presented Best Collaboration
Amandla Stenberg, Algee Smith and Sabrina Carpenter – presented Video with a Message
Rita Ora and Bebe Rexha – introduced Maluma
Madonna – made a tribute speech about Aretha Franklin and presented Video of the Year
Lenny Kravitz – introduced Post Malone and 21 Savage

Source:

Winners and nominees

The nominees for most categories were revealed on July 16, 2018, via an IGTV video. Nominees for Song of Summer, however, were announced on August 13, 2018. Cardi B had the most nominations with 12, with The Carters behind with 8, while Childish Gambino and Drake both received 7 nominations each. Winners were announced on August 20, 2018, on the Video Music Awards broadcast.

Video of the Year	Song of the Year
Camila Cabello — "Havana" The Carters — "Apeshit" Childish Gambino — "This Is America" Drake — "God's Plan" Ariana Grande — "No Tears Left to Cry" *Bruno Mars — "Finesse (Remix)"	Post Malone – "Rockstar" Camila Cabello – "Havana" Drake – "God's Plan" Dua Lipa – "New Rules" Bruno Mars – "Finesse (Remix)" *Ed Sheeran – "Perfect"
Artist of the Year	Best New Artist
Camila Cabello Cardi B Drake Ariana Grande Post Malone *Bruno Mars	Cardi B Bazzi Chloe x Halle Hayley Kiyoko Lil Pump *Lil Uzi Vert
Best Collaboration	Push Artist of the Year
Jennifer Lopez – "Dinero" The Carters – "Apeshit" Logic – "1-800-273-8255" Bruno Mars – "Finesse (Remix)" N.E.R.D and Rihanna – "Lemon" *Bebe Rexha – "Meant to Be"	Hayley Kiyoko Bishop Briggs Chloe x Halle Noah Cyrus Tee Grizzley Kacy Hill Khalid Kyle Lil Xan PrettyMuch Jessie Reyez Sigrid SZA Grace VanderWaal Why Don't We
Best Pop	Best Hip Hop
Ariana Grande – "No Tears Left to Cry" Camila Cabello – "Havana" Demi Lovato – "Sorry Not Sorry" Shawn Mendes – "In My Blood" Pink – "What About Us" *Ed Sheeran – "Perfect"	Nicki Minaj – "Chun-Li" Cardi B – "Bartier Cardi" The Carters – "Apeshit" J. Cole – "ATM" Drake – "God's Plan" *Migos – "Walk It Talk It"
Best Latin	Best Dance
J Balvin and Willy William – "Mi Gente" Daddy Yankee – "Dura" Luis Fonsi and Demi Lovato – "Échame la Culpa" Jennifer Lopez – "Dinero" Maluma – "Felices los 4" *Shakira – "Chantaje"	Avicii – "Lonely Together" The Chainsmokers – "Everybody Hates Me" David Guetta and Sia – "Flames" Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa – "One Kiss" Marshmello – "Silence" *Zedd and Liam Payne – "Get Low"
Best Rock	Video with a Message
Imagine Dragons – "Whatever It Takes" Fall Out Boy – "Champion" Foo Fighters – "The Sky Is a Neighborhood" Linkin Park – "One More Light" Panic! at the Disco – "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" *Thirty Seconds to Mars – "Walk on Water"	Childish Gambino – "This Is America" Drake – "God's Plan" Dej Loaf and Leon Bridges – "Liberated" Logic – "1-800-273-8255" Janelle Monáe – "Pynk" *Jessie Reyez – "Gatekeeper"
Best Art Direction	Best Choreography
The Carters – "Apeshit" Childish Gambino – "This Is America" J. Cole – "ATM" Janelle Monáe – "Make Me Feel" Taylor Swift – "Look What You Made Me Do" *SZA – "The Weekend"	Childish Gambino – "This Is America" Camila Cabello – "Havana" The Carters – "Apeshit" Dua Lipa – "IDGAF" Bruno Mars – "Finesse (Remix)" *Justin Timberlake – "Filthy"
Best Visual Effects	Best Editing
Kendrick Lamar and SZA – "All the Stars" Avicii – "Lonely Together" Eminem – "Walk on Water" Ariana Grande – "No Tears Left to Cry" Maroon 5 – "Wait" *Taylor Swift – "Look What You Made Me Do"	N.E.R.D and Rihanna – "Lemon" The Carters – "Apeshit" Childish Gambino – "This Is America" Bruno Mars – "Finesse (Remix)" Janelle Monáe – "Make Me Feel" *Taylor Swift – "Look What You Made Me Do"
Best Cinematography	Best Direction
The Carters – "Apeshit" Alessia Cara – "Growing Pains" Childish Gambino – "This Is America" Eminem – "River" Ariana Grande – "No Tears Left to Cry" *Shawn Mendes – "In My Blood"	Childish Gambino – "This Is America" The Carters – "Apeshit" Drake – "God's Plan" Shawn Mendes – "In My Blood" Ed Sheeran – "Perfect" *Justin Timberlake – "Say Something"
Song of Summer	Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award
Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin – "I Like It" DJ Khaled – "No Brainer" Drake – "In My Feelings" Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa – "One Kiss" Juice Wrld – "Lucid Dreams" Ella Mai – "Boo'd Up" Post Malone – "Better Now" *Maroon 5 – "Girls Like You"	Jennifer Lopez

Artists with multiple wins and nominations

Nominations	Artist
12	Cardi B
8	The Carters
8	Drake
7	Childish Gambino
6	Bruno Mars
5	Ariana Grande
5	Camila Cabello
4	Dua Lipa
4	Ed Sheeran
4	Khalid
4	Young Thug
3	Alessia Cara
3	DJ Khaled
3	Janelle Monáe
3	Post Malone
3	Shawn Mendes
3	SZA
3	Taylor Swift
2	Chloe x Halle
2	Hayley Kiyoko
2	Jennifer Lopez
2	DJ Khaled
2	Logic
2	N.E.R.D
2	Rihanna
2	Jessie Reyez
2	Demi Lovato
2	21 Savage
2	J Balvin
2	J. Cole
2	Eminem
2	Maluma
2	Avicii
2	Rita Ora
2	Calvin Harris
2	Justin Timberlake
2	Maroon 5

Critical reception

Entertainment Weeklys writer Darren Franich gave the show a B− and said, "MTV's tagline for the 2018 Video Music Awards was 'Everything might happen.' Hey, they said might. The 35th VMAs had some fiery performances, but the show never quite sparked This was a reasonably satisfying awards show, not the boring trainwreck some VMAs have been, not the exciting trainwreck supernova some VMAs dare to be." For Variety, Daniel D'addario said, "There was a time when the VMAs were a change-of-season status report on pop: As MTV’s target audience heads back to school and those slightly outside that audience get ready to turn their mind to graver things, the pop world had historically united to put on a show that could carry viewers into the fall." and unfavorably compared it to the 2013 show line up. In Billboard, Leila Cobo wrote, "although this year's awards haven't escaped criticism, it hasn't been for lack of Latin power," noting that "Maluma, Cardi B, Jennifer Lopez and Camila Cabello put Latin music center stage at VMAs."