Pop singer Taylor Swift stole the spotlight at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday with an impressive haul of seven trophies including the prestigious Video of the Year and Song of Summer awards, taking her all-time total trophy wins at the annual event to 30.
Held at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, the award ceremony saw Swift’s 1980s-inspired track Fortnight from her latest album The Tortured Poets Department sweeping multiple categories. The song featuring Post Malone won top honours including Video of the Year, Best Direction, Best Collaboration and Best Editing.
Swift made history by winning the coveted Video of the Year award for a record-breaking fifth consecutive time. Apart from these, the 34-year-old emerged as the Artist of the Year and bagged the Best Pop trophy as well.
In her speech on Wednesday night, Swift thanked her boyfriend Travis Kelce for being present on the set of the Fortnight music video and cheering her on. “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic,” she remarked, before turning her attention to the 2024 US presidential election, urging her fans aged 18 and above to cast their votes.
Last year, Swift’s VMA wins brought her total haul at the music gala to 24, one more than Madonna and just two short of Beyonce’s 26 awards. However, this year, the Anti-Hero singer made history, raising her career total to 30 VMAs, tying with Beyoncé for the title of the most-awarded artist in the history of the awards show.
“Your 2024 ARTIST OF THE YEAR: @taylorswift Congrats on your 7 (!!!) awards tonight,” the official Instagram handle of the Video Music Awards wrote alongside a picture of Swift from the event.
Besides Swift, Blackpink member Lisa bagged the Best K-pop award for her comeback solo track Rockstar, marking her second win in the same category after her 2022 song Lalisa. This year also marks Lisa’s solo debut on the VMA stage where she performed a medley of her recent hits like Rockstar and her collaboration song New Woman with Spanish singer Rosalia.
Sabrina Carpenter took home the Song of the Year award for her hit single Espresso, marking her first VMA win. The pop singer thanked her fans, family as well as her “cats and dogs watching at home”.
In her speech, she said, “Well, well, well. I’ve literally never won one of these…The first people I wanna thank are the fans…You guys are the reason that I get to do what I love.” She signed off wittily with a reference to Espresso’s lyrics, saying, “Thank you to me that Espresso.”
Here’s a list of other winners:
Chappell Roan - Best New Artist for Good Luck, Babe!
Le Sserafim - PUSH Performance of the Year for CRAZY and 1-800-hot-n-fun
Eminem - Best Hip-Hop and Best Visual Effects awards for Houdini
SZA - Best R&B award for Snooze
Benson Boone - Best Alternative for Beautiful Memories
Lenny Kravitz - Best Rock for Human
Anitta - Best Latin for Mil Veces
Tyla - Best Afrobeats for Water
Billie Eilish - Video for Good for What Was I Made For?
Ariana Grande - Best Cinematography for We can’t be friends (wait for your love)
Dua Lipa - Best Choreography for Houdini
Megan Thee Stallion - Best Art Direction for BOA and Best Trending Video for Mamushi ft. Yuki Chiba
Seventeen - Best Group
VMAs Most Iconic Performance - Katy Perry for Roar
