Beyoncé Leads MTV’s VMAs Pack With 11 Nominations

By Sameer Rao Jul 27, 2016

MTV recognized Beyoncé’s pop culture domination this year with 11 Video Music Award (VMA) nominations.

"Lemonade," her 66-minute visual album, is competing in the brand new Breakthrough Long Form Video category. And she faces off against Adele—for "Formation" and "Hello," respectively—and three men for Video of the Year. Adele’s eight nominations put her in the number two spot for total nods.

The videos for "Hold Up" and "Freedom" (featuring Kendrick Lamar) are nominated in the "Best Female Video" and "Best Collaboration Video" category, respectively. The inclusion of "Freedom"—which explores social and racial justice themes—could represent a shift from last year’s contentious awards ceremony. When the 2015 nominations were announced, Nicki Minaj clashed with both Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus around the issue of Black women’s marginalization in the music industry. Neither Minaj, Swift nor Cyrus received VMA nominations this year. 

Other notable nominees of color include Drake and Kanye West, whose "Hotline Bling" and "Famous" videos square off against "Formation" for Video of the Year.

The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards is scheduled for August 28 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Read the full list of nominees here.