History made with all-female nominations list for MTV’s Artist of the Year Award

MTV have announced an all-female nominations list for this year’s Video Music Award (VMA) Artist of the Year award.

This is the first time a male-identifying artist has not been nominated for Artist of the Year in the MTV VMAs’ 39 year history.

From the inaugural VMAs in 1984 up until 2017, MTV divided the Artist of the Year award by gender. However, this year’s nominations for the combined award is the first time a male-identifying artist has not been included in eight years.

Female and non-binary artists make up most nominations in several categories of this year’s VMAs, which will take place September 12 in New Jersey, US.

To add to her collection of 14 VMAs, Taylor Swift has been nominated eight times for this year’s awards, including the award for Artist of the Year. She has the third most number of VMAs, behind Madonna with 20 wins and Beyonce with the all-time record of 28 wins.

Swift and Beyonce join Doja Cat, Karol G, Nicki Minaj and Shakira on the all-female Artist of the Year nominations list.

We have liftoff – here are your nominees for Video Of The Year, presented by @BurgerKing 🚀⭐️

✨ @DojaCat
✨ @MileyCyrus
✨ @NICKIMINAJ
✨ @oliviarodrigo
✨ @samsmith, @kimpetras
✨ @sza
✨ @taylorswift13

Vote at https://t.co/hEh9YTg5A1 – & watch the 2023 #VMAs on September 12! pic.twitter.com/aOhrTJUVkw

— MTV (@MTV) August 8, 2023

Female artists have also dominated the nominations for the Video of the Year award, with Sam Smith, who identifies as non-binary, joining SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus and others on the list.

The all-female indie group Boygenuis – featuring Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker – has been nominated for the first time in the Best Alternative and Best Art Direction categories.

When the category for Best K-pop was added in 2019, BLACKPINK was the only girl group to be nominated for their song Kill This Love. This year, K-pop girl groups make up half of the Best K-pop nominations, with BLACKPINK, aespa and FIFTY FIFTY making the list.

In the Best Latin category, Latina artists, including Shakira, Karol G and Rosalia, make up four out of the seven award nominations.

Male artists continue to dominate the Best Afrobeats category, as well as the award for Best Rock, where all but one of the bands nominated are all-male.

The 2023 MTV VMAs will take place on September 12 and 8pm ET (September 12 at 10am AEST).