With six wins on Wednesday night, September 11, Taylor Swift ruled the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, though she didn’t dominate them quite the way she did last year, when she took home a near-record nine trophies. See this year’s complete list of winners here.
Swift took home Video of the Year, Best Direction, Best Editing and Song of Summer for “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone. She also claimed Artist of the Year and Best Pop, the latter of which surprisingly had no specific video specified for it like usual, just recording artists. Her Video of the Year win extends her record for the most victories in that category; she has now claimed that trophy five times, including the last three in a row. And her Best Directing win puts her ahead of Spike Jonze and David Fincher on the list of the most awarded filmmakers.
But she was defeated six times on Wednesday night. Two of those times were in fan-voted categories, which are normally her bread and butter. Song of the Year went to Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Espresso” instead of “Fortnight,” which calls into question whether Carpenter might have defeated Swift if she had been up for Video of the Year. Swift also lost VMAs Most Iconic Performance to Katy Perry‘s “Roar” from 2013; Swift had been nominated for her 2009 rendition of “You Belong with Me.” This elder millennial thinks it’s wild Madonna didn’t win for “Like a Virgin” or that so few pre-2000 performances were even nominated, but I don’t want to date myself (born in 1983).
The other awards Swift lost were in professional categories. Best Cinematography went to Ariana Grande‘s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” instead of “Fortnight.” Best Visual Effects went to Eminem‘s “Houdini” (which also claimed Best Hip-Hop) instead of “Fortnight.” And Best Art Direction went to Megan The Stallion‘s “Boa” over “Fortnight.” So Swift isn’t quite indomitable at these awards, but she is nevertheless the biggest artist ever. Long live the queen.