MTV VMAs 2025: Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande Take Top Prizes; Sabrina Carpenter, Mariah Carey Shine on Stage

Lady Gaga was the top winner at the 2025 VMAs, closing the night with four “Moon Person” trophies, including the award for artist of the year, while fellow pop stars Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter both took home three awards on Sunday night, with Grande winning the top honor for video of the year for “brighter days ahead.”

“This project is about all the hard work that is healing all different kinds of trauma, and coming home to our young selves and creating safety in our own lives, which is a lifelong process and a daily exercise,” Grande, who also won for best pop and best longform video, told the crowd Sunday night. “If you’re on that journey, please continue onward, because I promise there are brighter days ahead.”

Check out the full list of winners from the 2025 VMAs here.

This year’s awards show, which aired live from UBS Arena in New York and was hosted by LL Cool J, aired on CBS for the first time ever (while still being broadcast on its longtime home on MTV), a reminder of MTV’s continued demise, with the VMAs remaining the last vestige of the network’s status among pop culture. 

Beyond the new network home, this year’s VMAs were about in line with the shows of the past several years. Paramount hoped to give a little something for everyone, booking a wide swath of both legacy icons and viral up-and-comers, running the gamut from bedroom pop to country to old-school hip-hop and heavy metal.

Women were the overwhelming winners for this year’s awards, winning in 24 of the VMAs’ 30 categories, reflecting how female-led much of the pop landscape has been for the past several years, between the likes of Billie Eilish, Grande, Gaga, Charli xcx, Doja Cat, Tate McRae and Carpenter, to name a few.

Carpenter’s provocative “Tears” was the most memorable performance of the night, leaning into a campy, grimy ‘90s New York aesthetic as she sang the single’s viral chorus: “I get wet at the thought of you / being a responsible guy / treating me like you’re supposed to do / tears run down my thighs.” Still not for the pearl-clutchers. 

And in a night that could almost veer on sterile with how safe many of the performances felt, Carpenter was the one artist willing to make an outwardly political statement all evening, standing up for the transgender community. Her performance featured drag queens, and her dancers held up signs that included the phrases “Protect Trans Rights” and “In Trans We Trust.” 

She further spoke up during her acceptance speech for best album. “To my incredible cast and dancers and queens on stage with me tonight, this world as we all know can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity,” Carpenter said. “So to get to be part of something that can bring light, make you smile, make you dance and make you feel like the world is your fucking oyster, I’m so grateful to do that.”

Doja Cat kicked off the night with a throwback vibe, leaning into the ’80s aesthetic of her upcoming album Vie as she tapped Kenny G to kick of her performance of “Jealous Type,” interrupting LL Cool J’s opening introduction with a Max Headroom-style video the OG Gen-X MTV fans may have more appreciation for than her younger fans.

In the VMAs of yesteryear, it would’ve been unheard of for the show to feature pre-taped or remote performances, though the pandemic and the changing nature of award shows themselves has ripped off that Band-Aid. This year’s VMAs featured multiple beamed-in performances from Post Malone, Jelly Roll and Lady Gaga, the former of whom was performing from Germany and the latter of whom showed up briefly to accept her artist of the year award before making the quick jaunt half an hour down the road for her Madison Square Garden Mayhem Ball date.

Perception-wise, one could argue remote performances reflect waning relevancy of some of these award shows, and while it’s less compelling for those in the audience, for TV viewers, it doesn’t feel all that different.

The legacy acts provided some of the best moments of the night, between Mariah Carey finally winning her very first moon man — “What in the Sam Hill took you so long,” Carey joked during her speech after a rousing seven-song medley Sunday night — to Busta Rhymes nailing it with his still-unmatched mile-a-minute rapping before he was bestowed his Rock the Bells Visionary Award. Ricky Martin, meanwhile, was awarded the show’s first-ever Latin Icon award, giving one of the more fun performances of the night as he brought “Livin La Vida Loca” out to the MTV crowd.

There was, of course, the tribute to Ozzy Osbourne as well, which teamed Yungblud up with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, giving the prince of darkness his due after his tragic death earlier this summer.

“Ozzy forever!” Yungblud shouted, commemorating the late icon.