6 Unforgettable Moments from the MTV VMAs

MTV Video Music Awards 2025: Key High­lights

For the first time in its 41-year his­to­ry, the MTV Video Music Awards aired on CBS, bring­ing MTV’s youth-dri­ven spir­it to a net­work known for its old­er prime-time audi­ence. Host­ed by LL Cool J, the night mixed nos­tal­gia with big new moments.

Doja Cat threw it back to the ’80s

With teased hair and a Max Headroom–inspired video intro, Doja Cat kicked off the show per­form­ing “Jeal­ous Type.” Her set blend­ed glam-rock aes­thet­ics with chore­og­ra­phy rem­i­nis­cent of Janet Jackson’s ear­ly hits.

Mari­ah Carey and Bus­ta Rhymes final­ly got their due

Intro­duced by Ari­ana Grande, Mari­ah Carey received the Video Van­guard Award and per­formed a shim­mer­ing med­ley of clas­sics along­side her new sin­gle. She lat­er added anoth­er moon per­son for Best R&B.

After 16 nom­i­na­tions with­out a win, Bus­ta Rhymes earned his first-ever VMA tro­phy — the Rock the Bells Vision­ary Award.

Sab­ri­na Car­pen­ter made it a drag cel­e­bra­tion

Per­form­ing “Tears” with queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Sabrina’s set dou­bled as a col­or­ful ode to New York in the ’80s, com­plete with bold polit­i­cal mes­sages onstage.

Tate McRae deliv­ered a dance-fueled debut

In her first main-stage VMA per­for­mance, Tate McRae show­cased viral chore­og­ra­phy dur­ing a med­ley from her album So Close to What, earn­ing her first moon per­son ear­li­er in the evening.

Lady Gaga pulled off dou­ble duty

Nom­i­nat­ed 12 times, Gaga accept­ed Artist of the Year before rush­ing back to her May­hem Ball tour stop at Madi­son Square Gar­den. Her pre-record­ed VMA set fea­tured “Abra­cadabra” and “The Dead Dance” in true the­atri­cal Gaga fash­ion.

A rock trib­ute to Ozzy Osbourne

Yung­blud, Joe Per­ry, and Steven Tyler hon­ored the late Prince of Dark­ness with per­for­mances of “Crazy Train” and “Mama, I’m Com­ing Home,” intro­duced by Osbourne’s son Jack in a heart­felt video mes­sage.

From retro-inspired pop to long-over­due hon­ors, jaw-drop­ping chore­og­ra­phy, and heart­felt trib­utes, the 2025 VMAs cel­e­brat­ed both past leg­ends and ris­ing stars, prov­ing the show’s stay­ing pow­er in pop cul­ture.