The Best VMA Video of the Year Winners
Winning the VMA for Video of the Year is a fact; being the best of the winners is an argument, so the ranking belongs to whoever turns up to vote. Two things qualify: the award, at any ceremony since 1984, and an official upload: the artist's channel, their Vevo, or the label that owns the master. The award decides who is in, the upload rule only which copy stands for it, and the award half carries the list. Tiers are coarser: three retrospective winner rankings by Slant, Yardbarker and Stereogum, one masthead each. Rankings that predate a ceremony could not have placed that year's winner, so each entry is measured only against those eligible to include it, and prints that denominator. Top third on two or more makes the first tier, on one the second, and the third takes the remainder. A winner too recent to have been ranked twice cannot reach the first tier: publication dates, not quality. Read it as how retrospective critics have handled each winner, not a consensus. Every ceremony adds one, so the roster grows.
Sinéad O'Connor — Nothing Compares 2 U is #1 on “The Best VMA Video of the Year Winners”.
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Sinéad O'Connor — Nothing Compares 2 U
John Maybury shot it almost entirely as one held close-up, sadness tipping into anger and back, which carried the 1990 Video of the Year. Near the end two tears roll down her face, one on each cheek, and O'Connor later said she had been thinking about her mother. The rest is the Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris. Its three eligible retrospective winner rankings all file it in the top third.
- 2
Beyoncé — Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Jake Nava directed, and the titanium roboglove is its one piece of jewellery. The choreography was liberally adapted from Bob Fosse's 1969 Mexican Breakfast routine, and MTV handed it the 2009 Video of the Year. The award cites Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), while the upload is labelled a Video Version, so the linked cut carries a different title from the citation. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; all three file it in the top third.
- 3
Beyoncé — Formation
Melina Matsoukas set it in New Orleans after Katrina, and the first image is the sinking New Orleans police car with Beyoncé crouched on the roof. It closes on a boy in a hoodie facing riot police, who raise their hands back, then a wall reading Stop shooting us. Six nominations and six wins, including the 2016 Video of the Year. Both of its two eligible retrospective winner rankings file it in the top third.
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Peter Gabriel — Sledgehammer
Stephen R. Johnson directed, and Nick Park animated the two dancing dead chickens years before Wallace and Gromit, all for the 1987 Video of the Year. It was up in ten categories that night and lost just one of them, so close to a clean sweep of its own ballot that the nine trophies remain a record, and the official upload carries the suffix HD version. Three top-third placings from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
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The Smashing Pumpkins — Tonight, Tonight
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris built it out of painted theatre backdrops and puppetwork by Wayne White, work that took the 1996 Video of the Year. A couple travel to the moon, meet the locals, escape by rocket and come down in the water, and the merman in the sea sees the song out. Two of its three eligible retrospective winner rankings file it in the top third.
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Pearl Jam — Jeremy
Mark Pellington cut stills, text and live action into a collage, with twelve-year-old Trevor Wilson as the boy, and won the 1993 Video of the Year. MTV made him crop the gun out by zooming in on Jeremy's upper face, which left the classmates frozen with blood on them and a generation reading the ending as a shooting rather than a suicide. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; two file it in the top third.
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The Cars — You Might Think
Jeff Stein made it with Charlex on a Quantel Paintbox, a graphics workstation driven by a pressure-sensitive pen, and took the first Video of the Year ever awarded, in 1984. Ocasek as a fly, King Kong on the Empire State Building, Greg Hawkes as a dentist. RHINO holds the upload, because Warner's reissue label owns the master. Two top-third placings from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
- 8
Madonna — Ray of Light
Jonas Åkerlund ran the whole thing as time lapse: subways, food counters, bowling alleys, classrooms, freeways, all racing past while Madonna dances in front of them. A revolving Earth turns up, and it ends with her falling asleep on the dance floor. Five VMAs, no other Madonna video has matched that, and one is the 1998 Video of the Year. Counted against the three rankings published after its ceremony, it takes a top third in two.
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Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris — We Found Love
County Down and north Belfast are the locations, with Melina Matsoukas directing and Agyness Deyn reading a monologue over the open of the 2012 Video of the Year. The relationship goes down through pills, a rave where Calvin Harris DJs, and a Pontiac Trans Am driven flat out. The couple in the supermarket have not started arguing yet. Two top-third placings from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
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Missy Elliott — Work It
Dave Meyers opened on the bee-covered mannequin head, a prop refurbished from One Minute Man a year earlier, which is the 2003 Video of the Year. Alyson Stoner was picked out of four to five hundred children who auditioned. Aaliyah and Lisa Lopes are airbrushed onto Elliott's jacket and a car hood. Timbaland, Tweet and Eve turn up. Two of its three eligible retrospective winner rankings file it in the top third.
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Aerosmith — Cryin'
Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Dorff and Josh Holloway carry a plot the band interrupts from a Fall River church, and Marty Callner took the 1994 Video of the Year. Silverstone gets her navel pierced on screen. She chases a purse thief, climbs onto an overpass, and the bungee rope catching her over the freeway leaves her dangling and laughing. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; two file it in the top third.
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Jamiroquai — Virtual Insanity
Jonathan Glazer put the set on wheels, bolted the camera to one wall, and had crew push the walls and furniture outside the frame, all for the 1997 Video of the Year. The floor never moved, which is why Jay Kay seems to slide across a room that will not hold still. A cockroach crosses the floor and the couches bleeding arrives without explanation. Two top-third placings from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
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Dire Straits — Money for Nothing
Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair built the blocky computer-animated deliverymen on a Bosch FGS-4000, and Steve Barron cut them against rotoscoped stage footage in neon to make the 1986 Video of the Year. Knopfler did not want the treatment and MTV insisted. It was also the first video MTV Europe aired, on 1 August 1987. Counted against the three rankings published after its ceremony, it takes a top third in two.
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R.E.M. — Losing My Religion
Tarsem Singh opened in a dark room with water coming through the window, the band crossing it while Stipe sits, and the pitcher of milk shattering on the floor, lifted from Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice. Saint Sebastian and the Incredulity of Thomas follow in the 1991 Video of the Year. Stereogum ranked it worst of thirty; Yardbarker had it second of thirty-five. A single top-third placing across its three eligible retrospective winner rankings.
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Lauryn Hill — Doo Wop (That Thing)
Shot in Washington Heights, with a sixties Hill in a beehive and a zebra-print dress on one side of the frame and the Hill of 1998, when the video was released, on the other, this took the 1999 Video of the Year. The split screen block party runs both eras at once. Monty Whitebloom and Andy Delaney of Bigtv directed. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; one files it in the top third.
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Lady Gaga — Bad Romance
A white bathhouse with a sign reading Bath Haus of GaGa, where supermodels drug Gaga and sell her to the Russian mafia for a million rubles, is the 2010 Video of the Year. Francis Lawrence directed. Razor-blade glasses, latex, coffin-like pods, a lap dance in a diamond-covered crown, and then the smouldering skeleton on the burnt bed. One top-third placing from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
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OutKast — Hey Ya!
Bryan Barber restaged the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and moved the broadcast to Britain, so an American act plays the British Invasion backwards and walks off with the 2004 Video of the Year. There are eight versions of André 3000 on that stage, including Benjamin André on keys and Johnny Vulture on guitar, plus three backing singers called the Love Haters. Counted against the three rankings published after its ceremony, it takes a top third in one.
- 18
Don Henley — The Boys of Summer
Jean-Baptiste Mondino chose black and white and the French New Wave, and the song's man appears at three ages, a boy played by a seven-year-old Josh Paul, a young adult and a middle-aged one, each remembering the same relationship. Henley singing from the pickup truck ties the three together in the 1985 Video of the Year. Eligible for three retrospective winner rankings, it takes the top third in one.
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The Weeknd — Blinding Lights
Fremont Street in Las Vegas and downtown Los Angeles over four days, with Anton Tammi directing and banks of LED lights doing the eighties, made the 2020 Video of the Year. It opens on blood running down his face as he laughs, after the bouncers are done with him. A rigged Mercedes-AMG GT let him perform while driving. Its one eligible retrospective winner ranking files it in the top third, on a denominator of one.
- 20
Kendrick Lamar — Humble
Dave Meyers and the Little Homies put Lamar in a cope at the open, then rebuild Leonardo's painting with him in the centre chair and the disciples eating without reverence, inside the 2017 Video of the Year. The Last Supper reassembled is the centrepiece, shot through a fisheye. The official upload capitalises the title and adds a full stop. One of its two eligible retrospective winner rankings files it in the top third.
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Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and P!nk — Lady Marmalade
Paul Hunter filmed it in March 2001 on a rebuild of the original Moulin Rouge, using the film's own props and costumes, which became the 2001 Video of the Year. The four of them in lingerie on the cabaret stage is the staging, Missy Elliott introduces the number, and Tina Landon choreographed. Stereogum gave it eleventh place among the winners it ranked. None of its three eligible retrospective winner rankings, one masthead each, files it in the top third.
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Justin Timberlake — Mirrors
Floria Sigismondi runs one couple across three eras: a 1950s bar, an unmarried pregnancy, and an old woman packing up her dead husband's things. The wedding ring dropped and caught is the hinge, she lets go and Timberlake catches it. He dedicated the piece to his grandparents, married sixty-three years, and the piece won the 2013 Video of the Year. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; none files it in the top third.
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Taylor Swift — Anti-Hero
Swift wrote and directed, and plays three versions of herself in the 2023 Video of the Year. A 1970s kitchen, ghosts in tablecloths, then the giant version crawling into a dinner party where a guest shoots at her with a bow and arrow. A nightmare funeral has her fictional sons reading the will. One shot, of a bathroom scale, was cut after release. Its one eligible retrospective winner ranking leaves it outside the top third.
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Miley Cyrus — Wrecking Ball
Terry Richardson shot the singing against a white backdrop in July 2013, a year before it took the 2014 Video of the Year. Cutting between Cyrus and the demolition: her licking the sledgehammer, then swinging on the ball itself. She starts in a tank top, underwear and boots and finishes in the boots. Neither of its two eligible retrospective winner rankings files it in the top third.
- 25
TLC — Waterfalls
F. Gary Gray shot it at Universal Studios Hollywood on a million-dollar budget, and Homer and Associates built the effects with motion capture, which is how the three of them standing on the ocean works. Two stories run underneath, a teenager killed dealing and a couple who find out too late, and it carried the 1995 Video of the Year. No top-third placing from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
- 26
Eminem — The Real Slim Shady
Kathy Griffin as the ward nurse presides over a psychiatric ward with D12 and Fred Durst in it. Philip G. Atwell and Dr. Dre shot it across four days that April, winning the 2000 Video of the Year. The Vevo channel holds only a Clean Version, so what is linked is not the cut that took the award. Counted against the three rankings published after its ceremony, it takes a top third in none.
- 27
Rihanna ft. JAY-Z — Umbrella
Chris Applebaum closed the set down to three people and covered Rihanna in silver paint for the 2007 Video of the Year. A twenty-four-second effects sequence is the centrepiece: the silver strands of liquid crossing the frame answer her movements. The upload is an Orange Version, one of several official cuts rather than a single canonical one. Eligible for three retrospective winner rankings, it takes the top third in none.
- 28
Van Halen — Right Now
Mark Fenske assembled the block-letter captions first, with footage cut to match each claim, and took the 1992 Video of the Year. The captions name unprotected sex, minimum wage and, at one point, the lyrics the viewer is not listening to. Carolyn Beug produced. The upload on the band's own channel is tagged HD Remaster. None of its three eligible retrospective winner rankings, one masthead each, files it in the top third.
- 29
Katy Perry — Firework
Shot in Budapest, with Dave Meyers directing and Natricia Bernard on choreography, this is the 2011 Video of the Year. Perry described the fireworks coming from her gut rather than from anywhere else, and around that sit small stories: a boy between arguing parents, a girl at a pool party, a child on a leukaemia ward, a teenager kissing his friend. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; none files it in the top third.
- 30
Lil Nas X — Montero (Call Me By Your Name)
Tanu Muino and Lil Nas X open in the Garden of Eden, him as both Adam and the serpent, and an opening that won the 2021 Video of the Year. He rises toward an angel, grabs a pole, and the pole ride down to hell reverses it. A lap dance for Satan follows. On the upload the title is capitalised as MONTERO. One retrospective winner ranking could have reached it; it is not top third on that one.
- 31
Taylor Swift — All Too Well: The Short Film
Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien falling apart is the whole of it, written and directed by Swift and premiered at a fan event in New York on 12 November 2021, the day the re-recorded album came out. A Grammy for Best Music Video followed, along with Best Longform Video, Best Direction and the 2022 Video of the Year. No top-third placing from the one ranking old enough to have judged it.
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Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar — Bad Blood
Joseph Kahn directed, Swift produced, and the result is an action film set in a fictional London where the cast chose their own character names. Swift as Catastrophe, Kendrick Lamar as Welvin da Great, Selena Gomez as Arsyn, Karlie Kloss as Knockout. Swift had won VMAs since 2009, but none in the top category until the 2015 Video of the Year. Two retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; neither files it in the top third.
- 33
INXS — Need You Tonight / Mediate
Richard Lowenstein cut up 35mm film and photocopied the individual frames, then re-layered them, and the photocopied frames over the live action are the whole look of the 1988 Video of the Year. The award cites both songs, while the official channel carries Need You Tonight alone, so Mediate and its flipped cue cards are not on the linked cut. No top-third placing from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
- 34
Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug — Havana
Dave Meyers nests two frames, and Karla, played by Cabello, watches a telenovela until her grandmother tells her to go and live, so she sees a film called Camila in Havana, itself the 2018 Video of the Year. Karla walking out of the cinema is where the two meet: she bumps into the film's cyclist. No top-third placing from the two rankings old enough to have judged it.
- 35
Britney Spears — Piece of Me
Wayne Isham opens with four blonde women as photographers shoot them through the windows, then puts all five in bob wigs, sunglasses and trench coats for the club, which is the 2008 Video of the Year. Spears finds a man with a hidden camera, and Sucker written on his forehead is what he leaves with. Counted against the three rankings published after its ceremony, it takes a top third in none.
- 36
Green Day — Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Samuel Bayer strands the band in the desert with a stalled 1968 Mercury Monterey, and the band walking the dusty road is most of what happens in the 2005 Video of the Year. Los Angeles street footage cuts in, plus performance in an abandoned warehouse. Six VMAs in all, and what is linked is tagged a 4K Upgrade. Eligible for three retrospective winner rankings, it takes the top third in none.
- 37
Ariana Grande — Brighter Days Ahead
Christian Breslauer and Grande, on her first job as a director, follow an elderly woman called Peaches through a clinic named Brighter Days Inc, the setting of the 2025 Video of the Year. Peaches signing the consent form starts the procedure, four memories to relive then destroy, among them childhood home footage and her singing career. The official upload prints the title in lower case. Counted against the single ranking published after its ceremony, it misses the top third.
- 38
Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone — Fortnight
Rodrigo Prieto's camera is black and white throughout, Swift directed from her own script, and she spends the open chained to a suspended bed in an institution, all in the 2024 Video of the Year. A pill gets her into the room full of typewriters, where Post Malone sits across from her. Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles run the tests. Eligible for one retrospective winner ranking, it does not reach the top third.
- 39
Panic! at the Disco — I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Shane Drake stages a circus wedding, the bride's family asleep in formal rows with the eyes painted on their eyelids, for the 2006 Video of the Year. The groom's side are carnival folk who break it up, and Urie narrates as ringmaster before turning out to be the groom. Fueled By Ramen holds the upload rather than a Vevo channel. None of its three eligible retrospective winner rankings, one masthead each, files it in the top third.
- 40
Neil Young — This Note's for You
Julien Temple parodied beer advertising and the musicians who took the cheque, with impersonators of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson and a Spuds McKenzie lookalike. The Michael Jackson impersonator's hair catching fire is the line it crossed. MTV banned it after legal threats from Jackson's lawyers, then reversed, put it in heavy rotation and handed it the 1989 Video of the Year. Three retrospective winner rankings could have reached it; none files it in the top third.
- 41
Taylor Swift — You Need to Calm Down
Swift and Drew Kirsch set it in a bright trailer park, with Todrick Hall executive producing and cameos from Ellen DeGeneres, RuPaul, Billy Porter and the Fab Five, many of them LGBT. Video of the Year came out of the 2019 ceremony. The protesters outside the trailer park stand in for the groups that picketed her shows. Its one eligible retrospective winner ranking files it below the top third.
- 42
Eminem — Without Me
Joseph Kahn puts Dr. Dre as Batman and Eminem as Rap Boy, with some Blade mixed in, on a mission to stop a kid playing an album with explicit lyrics, a premise that took the 2002 Video of the Year. Around that sit parodies of ER, The Real World, a talk show and an infomercial. No top-third placing from the three rankings old enough to have judged it.
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