MTV Video Music Awards nominations: Justin Bieber and Megan Thee Stallion lead the VMA list with Olivia Rodrigo landing in the Best New Artist category

By HEIDI PARKER, US DEPUTY SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR

Published: | Updated:

Justin Bieber leads this year's list of nominees at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.

The pop star is followed closely by Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, BTS, Doja Cat, Drake, Giveon, Lil Nas X and first-time nominee Olivia Rodrigo.

The Canadian artist has seven nods, including video of the year and best direction for POPSTAR, artist of the year, best cinematography for Holy and best pop song, best editing and best collaboration for Peaches.

Scroll down for a list of nominations... 

Way to go: Justin Bieber leads this year's list of nominees at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. Seen in July in LA

Way to go: Justin Bieber leads this year's list of nominees at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. Seen in July in LA

Megan Thee Stallion is right behind with six nominations.

They are  mostly from her hit song WAP, triggering nods for video of the year, artist of the year, best collaboration and best hip-hop song. 

She also was nominated for a second time in the best hip-hop song category for her work on Lil Baby's On Me (The Remix).

Props to her: Megan Thee Stallion is right behind with six nominations. They are mostly from her hit song 'WAP,' triggering nods for video of the year, artist of the year, best collaboration and best hip-hop song. She also was nominated for a second time in the best hip-hop song category for her work on Lil Baby's 'On Me (The Remix)'

Props to her: Megan Thee Stallion is right behind with six nominations. They are mostly from her hit song 'WAP,' triggering nods for video of the year, artist of the year, best collaboration and best hip-hop song. She also was nominated for a second time in the best hip-hop song category for her work on Lil Baby's 'On Me (The Remix)'

Eilish, BTS, Doja Cat, Drake, Giveon, Lil Nas X and Rodrigo each have five nominations. 

Bieber and Megan Thee Stallion will compete with Ariana Grande, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift for artist of the year.

The video of the year category is filled by WAP by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion; POPSTAR by DJ Khaled featuring Drake and Bieber; Kiss Me More by Doja Cat featuring SZA; Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits; Lil Nas X's MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name); and The Weeknd's Save Your Tears.

So many nominations: Eilish (pictured), BTS, Doja Cat, Drake, Giveon, Lil Nas X and Rodrigo each have five nominations

So many nominations: Eilish (pictured), BTS, Doja Cat, Drake, Giveon, Lil Nas X and Rodrigo each have five nominations

On top: Bieber and Megan Thee Stallion will compete with Ariana Grande (pictured), Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift for artist of the year

On top: Bieber and Megan Thee Stallion will compete with Ariana Grande (pictured), Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift for artist of the year

WAP is also up for song of the year.

So is Mood by 24kGoldn featuring iann dior; Leave The Door Open by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic; Dynamite by BTS; Dua Lipa's Levitating and Rodrigo's drivers license.

The best new artist nominees are: 24kGoldn, Giveon, The Kid LAROI, Olivia Rodrigo, Polo G and Saweetie. 

New: The best new artist nominees are: 24kGoldn, Giveon, The Kid LAROI, Olivia Rodrigo (pictured), Polo G and Saweetie

New: The best new artist nominees are: 24kGoldn, Giveon, The Kid LAROI, Olivia Rodrigo (pictured), Polo G and Saweetie

Best rock song nominees are Evanescence's Use My Voice, Foo Fighters' Shame Shame, John Mayer's Last Train Home, The Killers' My Own Soul's Warning, Kings Of Leon's The Bandit and Lenny Kravitz's Raise Vibration.

The 2021 VMAs will return to New York City, airing from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on September 12. 

The show will simulcast across CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land, VH1 and The CW Network.

As Covid cases continue to surge nationwide, MTV stresses that the health and safety of artists, fans, staff and partners remain the number one priority, and it and Barclays Center are working closely with state and local officials to implement best practices in order to safely bring together music fans from around the globe, according to a report this week from Deadline.

MTV Video Music Awards Nominations 2021

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – 'WAP'

DJ Khaled ft. Drake – 'POPSTAR (Starring Justin Bieber)'

Doja Cat ft. SZA – 'Kiss Me More'

Ed Sheeran – 'Bad Habits'

Lil Nas X – 'MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)'

The Weeknd – 'Save Your Tears'

 

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Ariana Grande

Doja Cat

Justin Bieber

Megan Thee Stallion

Olivia Rodrigo

Taylor Swift

SONG OF THE YEAR

24kGoldn ft. iann dior – 'Mood'

Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic – 'Leave The Door Open'

BTS – 'Dynamite'

Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – 'WAP'

Dua Lipa – 'Levitating'

Olivia Rodrigo – 'drivers license'

 

BEST NEW ARTIST

24kGoldn

Giveon

The Kid LAROI

Olivia Rodrigo

Polo G

Saweetie

 

PUSH PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

September 2020: Wallows – 'Are You Bored Yet?'

October 2020: Ashnikko – 'Daisy'

November 2020: SAINt JHN – 'Gorgeous'

December 2020: 24kGoldn – 'Coco'

January 2021: JC Stewart – 'Break My Heart'

February 2021: Latto – 'Sex Lies'

March 2021: Madison Beer – 'Selfish'

April 2021: The Kid LAROI – 'WITHOUT YOU'

May 2021: Olivia Rodrigo – 'drivers license'

June 2021: girl in red 'Serotonin'

July 2021: Fousheé – 'my slime'

August 2021: jxdn – 'Think About Me'

 

BEST COLLABORATION

24kGoldn ft. iann dior – 'Mood'

Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – 'WAP'

Doja Cat ft. SZA – 'Kiss Me More'

Drake ft. Lil Durk – 'Laugh Now Cry Later'

Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon – 'Peaches'

Miley Cyrus ft. Dua Lipa – 'Prisoner'

 

BEST POP

Ariana Grande – 'positions'

Billie Eilish – 'Therefore I Am'

BTS – 'Butter'

Harry Styles – 'Treat People With Kindness'

Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon – 'Peaches'

Olivia Rodrigo – 'good 4 u'

Shawn Mendes – 'Wonder'

Taylor Swift – 'willow'

 

BEST HIP-HOP

Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – 'WAP'

Drake ft. Lil Durk – 'Laugh Now Cry Later'

Lil Baby ft. Megan Thee Stallion – 'On Me (remix)'

Moneybagg Yo – 'Said Sum'

Polo G – 'RAPSTAR'

Travis Scott ft. Young Thug & M.I.A. – 'FRANCHISE'

 

BEST ROCK

Evanescence – 'Use My Voice'

Foo Fighters – 'Shame Shame'

John Mayer – 'Last Train Home'

The Killers – 'My Own Soul's Warning'

Kings of Leon – 'The Bandit'

Lenny Kravitz – 'Raise Vibration'

BEST ALTERNATIVE

Bleachers – 'Stop Making This Hurt'

Glass Animals – 'Heat Waves'

Imagine Dragons – 'Follow You'

Machine Gun Kelly ft. blackbear – 'my ex's best friend'

twenty one pilots – 'Shy Away'

WILLOW ft. Travis Barker – 't r a n s p a r e n t s o u l'

 

BEST LATIN

Bad Bunny x Jhay Cortez – 'Dákiti'

Billie Eilish & ROSALÍA – 'Lo Vas A Olvidar'

Black Eyed Peas and Shakira – 'GIRL LIKE ME'

J. Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, Tainy – 'UN DIA (ONE DAY)'

Karol G – 'Bichota'

Maluma – 'Hawái'

 

BEST R&B

Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN, WizKid – 'BROWN SKIN GIRL'

Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic – 'Leave The Door Open'

Chris Brown and Young Thug – 'Go Crazy'

Giveon – 'HEARTBREAK ANNIVERSARY'

H.E.R. ft. Chris Brown – 'Come Through'

SZA – 'Good Days'  

 

 BEST K-POP

(G)I-DLE – 'DUMDi DUMDi'

BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez – 'Ice Cream'

BTS – 'Butter' – BIGHIT MUSIC Monsta X – 'Gambler'

SEVENTEEN – 'Ready to love'

TWICE – 'Alcohol-Free'

VIDEO FOR GOOD

Billie Eilish – 'Your Power'

Demi Lovato – 'Dancing With The Devil'

H.E.R. – 'Fight For You'

Kane Brown – 'Worldwide Beautiful'

Lil Nas X – 'MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)'

Pharrell Williams ft. JAY-Z – 'Entrepreneur'

 

BEST DIRECTION

Billie Eilish – 'Your Power'

Directed by Billie Eilish

DJ Khaled ft. Drake – 'POPSTAR (Starring Justin Bieber)'

Directed by Julien Christian Lutz aka Director X

Lil Nas X – 'MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)'

Directed by Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino

Taylor Swift – 'willow'

Directed by Taylor Swift

Travis Scott ft. Young Thug & M.I.A – 'Franchise'

Directed by Travis Scott

Tyler, The Creator – 'LUMBERJACK'

Directed by Wolf Haley

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN, WizKid – 'BROWN SKIN GIRL'

Cinematography by Benoit Soler, Malik H. Sayeed, MOHAMMAED ATTA AHMED, Santiago Gonzalez, Ryan Helfant

Billie Eilish – 'Therefore I Am'

Cinematography by Rob Witt

Foo Fighters – 'Shame Shame'

Cinematography by Santiago Gonzalez

Justin Bieber ft. Chance The Rapper – 'Holy'

Cinematography by Elias Talbot

Lady Gaga – '911'

Cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth

Lorde – 'Solar Power'

Cinematography by Andrew Stroud

 

BEST ART DIRECTION

Beyoncé, Shatta Wale, Major Lazer – 'ALREADY'

Art Direction by Susan Linns, Gerard Santos

Ed Sheeran – 'Bad Habits'

Art Direction by: Alison Dominitz

Lady Gaga – '911'

Art Direction by: Tom Foden, Peter Andrus

Lil Nas X – 'MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)'

Art Direction by: John Richoux

Saweetie ft. Doja Cat – 'Best Friend'

Art Direction by: Alec Contestabile 

Taylor Swift – 'willow'

Art Direction by: Ethan Tobman, Regina Fernandez

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Bella Poarch – 'Build A Bitch'

Visual Effects by Andrew Donoho, Denhov Visuals, Denis Strahhov, Rein Jakobson, Vahur Kuusk, Tatjana Pavlik, Yekaterina Vetrova

Coldplay – 'Higher Power'

Visual Effects by Mathematic

Doja Cat & The Weeknd – 'You Right'

Visual Effects by La Pac, Anthony Lestremau, Julien Missaire, Petr Shkolniy, Alexi Bailla, Micha Sher, Antoine Hache, Mikros MPC, Nicolas Huget, Guillaume Ho Tsong Fang, Benjamin Lenfant, Stephane Pivron, MPC Bangalore, Chanakya Chander, Raju Ganesh, David Rouxel

Glass Animals – 'Tangerine'

Visual Effects by Ronan Fourreau

Lil Nas X – 'MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)'

Visual Effects by Mathematic

P!NK – 'All I Know So Far'

Visual Effects by Dave Meyers, Freenjoy Inc

 

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Ariana Grande – '34+35'

Choreography by Brian Nicholson & Scott Nicholson

BTS – 'Butter'

Choreography by SON SUNG DEUK With BHM PERFORMANCE DIRECTING TEAM

Ed Sheeran – 'Bad Habits'

Choreography by Natricia Bernard

Foo Fighters – 'Shame Shame'

Choreography by Nina McNeely

Harry Styles – 'Treat People With Kindness'

Choreography by Paul Roberts

Marshmello & Halsey – 'Be Kind'

Choreography by Dani Vitale

 

BEST EDITING

Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic – 'Leave The Door Open'

Editing by Troy Charbonnet

BTS – 'Butter'

Editing by Yong Seok Choi from Lumpens

Drake – 'What's Next'

Editing by Noah Kendal

Harry Styles – 'Treat People With Kindness'

Editing by Claudia Wass

Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon – 'Peaches'

Editing by Mark Mayr, Vinnie Hobbs

Miley Cyrus ft. Dua Lipa – 'Prisoner'  

 

DrakeMTV VMABillie EilishJustin Bieber

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