At the Sept. 27 event, the pop megastar received the inaugural Artist Director Honors and was nominated for 11 awards

NEED TO KNOW

• Taylor Swift won Video of the Year at the 2026 MTV VMAs
• Swift was also given another big award, the first-ever Artist Director Honors
• Swift premiered the music video for her new single “Patient Zero,” starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, at the VMAs

Taylor Swift’s fate was golden at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards.

Shortly after winning the VMAs’ first-ever Artist Director Honors, which was followed by the premiere of her latest music video, “Patient Zero,” the Grammy winner took home another major Moon Person award: Video of the Year.

Swift’s “Fate of Ophelia” beat out Ariana Grande’s “hate that i made you love me, Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might,” GENER8ION’s “STORM starring Yung Lean,” Madonna’s “Confessions II – The Film,” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears.”

After hugging host Snoop Dogg, Swift, 36, began her speech by thanking fans for voting for “Fate of Ophelia” as Video of the Year.

She explained how she grew as a director by shooting the video as if it were one continuous shot, and thanked some of her collaborators, including choreographer Mandy Moore.

Swift also made sure to take time to remember Dolly Parton, who died at the age of 80 on Aug. 25.

“I want to thank and dedicate this award to one person without whom this wouldn’t be happening, and that person is the ultimate showgirl, Dolly Parton,” said Swift.

“Every single song that she wrote, her storytelling was so vivid and so rich,” explained Swift. “Listening to her songs, it’s like watching the best music video you have ever seen in your life, every single time you hear what she’s written. And she handled this thing with such grace and joy and love and gratitude for the fact that she got to do this, and everything that happened in her life or her career, she channeled back into love and gratitude and appreciation for her fans.”

“I am lucky I got to be one of them, and I will always be one of them,” she said. “I think that we were all very lucky to share this planet with Dolly Parton for a time. And thank you for this amazing moment, I love you all.”

It’s been a busy time for Swift, who, in the days leading up to the 2026 Video Music Awards, released an expanded edition of The Life of a Showgirl.

Fans watching the VMAs also got the music video for one of the songs on the newly released album, “Patient Zero,” which stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell. The pop star also directed the music video, which features the work of Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant, Birdman and and Gravity).

Swift released The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore on Sept. 25.

On Sept. 22, she announced the single “Patient Zero,” before announcing the project, which features three new songs: “Pink Clouding,” “Babylon” and “Cleveland!”

Ahead of Sunday’s awards ceremony, it was also announced that Swift was awarded the first-ever Artist Director Honors for “groundbreaking music artists whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling,” according to a press release.

Swift made her solo directorial debut in 2020 with the “The Man” music video and won Best Direction at the MTV VMAs that year.

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In 2021, she made her filmmaking debut with All Too Well: The Short Film, which took home VMAs for Video of the Year, Best Longform Video and Best Direction — as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Video.

Additionally, Swift has directed music videos for “Cardigan,” “Willow,” “Anti-Hero,” “Bejeweled,” “Lavender Haze,” “Karma,” “I Can See You,” “Fortnight,” “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Opalite.”

Swift received 11 nominations at this year’s MTV VMAs, including Video of the Year, Best Pop, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects for “The Fate of Ophelia” plus Best Direction for “Opalite,” Best Album for The Life of a Showgirl, Song of Summer for “I Knew It, I Knew You” and Artist of the Year.

Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the 2026 VMAs are airing live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 27, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET (4:30 to 6:30 p.m. PT) on CBS, with a simulcast on MTV and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. The show will be available globally on Paramount+ and MTV the following day.

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