Live from Newark, New Jersey, last night’s MTV Video Music Award show, hosted by Jack Harlow, Nicki Minaj and LL Cool, brought on some delightful surprises, electrifying live performances and many deserving awards.

Kendrick Lamar, Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, Doja Cat and Harry Styles took up prime real estate on the list of nominations this year, with other big names following closely behind. The list is lengthy – let’s rewind and catch up on the winners of this year’s iconic VMA awards.

The definitive VMA award – Video of the Year – landed in the worthy hands of Taylor Swift for her 2021 short film for ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).’ The video chronicles the course of a one-sided romance, starring Dylan O’Brien and Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink. Running nearly fifteen minutes in length, Swift’s music video broke the record as the longest winner in the award’s history. Directed by Swift herself, the ‘All Too Well’ film took home two other awards throughout the night – for Best Longform Video and Best Direction.

Swift was the biggest winner of the night, walking away as the first artist in history to win Video of the Year three times in her career and echoing her legacy Grammy status. But the singer-songwriter staple wasn’t the only big name of the night. Jack Harlow won 4 awards: Song of Summer (‘First Class’) and Best Collaboration alongside Lil Nas X for their hit single ‘Industry Baby,’ with the video reigning in two more technical awards.

Lil Nas X collected three awards for his ‘Industry Baby’ video (Best Collaboration, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction), directed by Christian Breslauer. Harlow and Lil Nas X beat Dua Lipa twice in the category for Best Collaboration, as the British pop star was nominated alongside Megan Thee Stallion for ‘Sweetest Pie’ and the legendary piano man himself, Elton John, for the duo’s single ‘Cold Heart (Pnau Remix).’

Following her Tiktok-trending hit single ‘Boyfriend,’ Dove Cameron took home Best New Artist, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Black Summer’ won the award for Best Rock. The ‘90s group, currently on their international tour, paid tribute to the old and the new with a live performance of ‘Black Summer’ fused with their rowdy mid-noughties hit ‘Can’t Stop.’

Artist of the Year went out to Bad Bunny, marking history as the first non-English-language performer to win the award. The Puerto Rican artist made a standout appearance during the night, performing live from Yankee Stadium as part of his World’s Hottest Tour.

Though nominated, Bad Bunny’s hit single ‘Tití Me Preguntó’ was beat out for this year’s Best Latin award by Anitta’s ‘Envolver.’ The award for Best Hip-Hop was a shock surprise, with Nicki Minaj’s ‘Do We Have a Problem?’ featuring Lil Baby, winning over ‘N95’ by Kendrick Lamar. As her fourth time receiving the award, the win places Minaj as the top winner in the Hip-Hop category over Drake and places her above Missy Elliot as the female rapper with the most VMA wins.

To much surprise, Blackpink’s Lisa took home the Best K-Pop award over international sensation BTS, though the boyband won this year’s Best Group prize. Along with Lisa’s win, Blackpink won Best Metaverse Performance for ‘PUBG,’ with other nominations for the award including Ariana Grande, Charli XCX and Justin Bieber. MTV also awarded an NFT to the winner of this category in partnership with Recur, developing a uniquely eco-friendly companion award.

To little surprise – thanks to his top-tier takeover of the charts for most of this year – Harry Styles won Album of the Year for Harry’s House, beating out other likely Grammy noms from Adele’s 30 to Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever. The multi-talented Brit singer also walked away with Best Pop for hit album single ‘As It Was,’ following in Justin Timberlake’s footsteps as the second artist to win the award as both a member of a group (with One Direction a decade ago) and as a solo act.

‘As It Was’ also won the award for Best Cinematography – well-deserved praise for Ukrainian director and filmmaker Tanu Muino. Other technical awards included: Doja Cat for Best Choreography in ‘Woman,’ Best Editing to Rosalía for ‘Saoko’ and the award for Video for Good to Lizzo for ‘About Damn Time.’

The award for Push Performance of the Year went out to Best Rock nominee and South Korean boyfriend Seventeen for their December 2021 MTV performance of ‘Rock With You.’ Other nominees named rising stars Wet Leg – for their quirky performance of ‘Chaise Lounge’ in May 2022 – and Remi Wolf’s ‘Sexy Villain.’

Eurovision stars Måneskin walked away with the Best Alternative Award for their riotous single ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave,’ doubly earning a nomination for Best New Artist and Best Group. Beating Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Summer Walker and even Cardi B, The Weeknd took home the award for Best R&B thanks to ‘Out of Time,’ while the Song of the Year landed in the hands of ‘Happier Than Ever’ singer Billie Eilish despite some tough Grammy-aiming competition.

Check out more VMA’s coverage, including Taylor Swift’s shock announcement of a new album...