Madonna is heading back to one of the stages that helped define her career.
The pop icon will open the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards on September 27, delivering her first live performance at the ceremony in 23 years. The appearance brings Madonna back to an awards show where some of the biggest moments of her career have unfolded.
Her return also comes with some serious momentum.
Madonna enters the ceremony with 11 nominations, the most of any artist this year and the highest single-year total of her career. Among the categories in which she is competing are Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year.
It is the third time she has led the VMA nominations. Madonna previously topped the field in 1990, when “Vogue” helped drive her nine nominations, and again in 1998, when “Ray of Light” and “Frozen” contributed to another nine.
This year’s comeback follows the release of Confessions II, which reached No. 1 and put Madonna firmly back at the center of the pop conversation.
Of course, Madonna and the VMAs have quite a history.
At the inaugural ceremony in 1984, she delivered her unforgettable performance of “Like a Virgin,” helping establish the VMAs as a place where pop stars could create moments that went far beyond simply collecting trophies.
Six years later, Madonna transformed “Vogue” into an elaborate theatrical production for the 1990 show, creating another performance that became part of VMA history.
Then came 2003.
Madonna opened that year’s ceremony with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in a performance that quickly became one of the most talked-about moments in the show’s history. It would also turn out to be Madonna’s final VMA performance for more than two decades.
Now the drought is ending.
Madonna heads into the 2026 ceremony with 19 competitive VMA victories already on her résumé, giving her another opportunity to add to a relationship with the awards show that stretches back more than four decades.
Snoop Dogg will host this year’s VMAs from Los Angeles, with the ceremony airing live September 27 on CBS and MTV and streaming on Paramount+.
And with Madonna getting the opening slot, the VMAs are once again putting one of their most historically reliable headline-makers exactly where she has spent much of her career: center stage.
