2018 MTV Video Music Awards


The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards was held on August 20, 2018 at Radio City Music Hall in 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 Latin artist 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.

Performances

This artist performed as part of the Push Artist Stage.

Presenters

Pre-show

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.

[MTV [Video Music Award for Video of the Year|Video of the Year]]

Camila Cabello — "Havana"
Camila Cabello
Post Malone – "Rockstar"
Cardi B
Jennifer Lopez – "Dinero"
Hayley Kiyoko
Ariana Grande – "No Tears Left to Cry"
Nicki Minaj – "Chun-Li"
J Balvin and Willy William – "Mi Gente"
Avicii – "Lonely Together"
Imagine Dragons – "Whatever It Takes"
Childish Gambino – "This Is America"
The Carters – "Apeshit"
Childish Gambino – "This Is America"
The Carters – "Apeshit"
Childish Gambino – "This Is America"
N.E.R.D and Rihanna – "Lemon"
Kendrick Lamar and SZA – "All the Stars"
Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin – "I Like It"
NominationsArtist
13Cardi B
8The Carters
7Childish Gambino
7Drake
6Bruno Mars
5Ariana Grande
5Camila Cabello
4Ed Sheeran
4Khalid
4Young Thug
3Dua Lipa
3Alessia Cara
3Janelle Monáe
3Shawn Mendes
3SZA
3Taylor Swift
2Post Malone
2Chloe x Halle
2Hayley Kiyoko
2Jennifer Lopez
2DJ Khaled
2Logic
2N.E.R.D
2Rihanna
2Jessie Reyez
2Demi Lovato
221 Savage
2J. Cole
2Eminem
2Maluma
2Avicii
2Rita Ora
2Calvin Harris
2Justin Timberlake
2Maroon 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."