2016 MTV Video Music Awards: The WINNERS

“Lemonade” Takes Home Eight Moonmen in Total;

BEYONCÉ Recreates Groundbreaking Visual Album with Surprise Performance

Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award Winner Rihanna

Electrifies Madison Square Garden with Career-Spanning Four-Act Performance

NEW YORK, NY – August 28, 2016 – BEYONCÉ’s groundbreaking visual album “Lemonade” won eight Moonmen, including “Video of the Year” for “Formation,” at the 2016 “MTV Video Music Awards,” which aired live tonight from New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.   The global megastar surprised the audience with a jaw-dropping “Lemonade” medley that recreated the stunning imagery of the visual album.  Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award-winner Rihanna dazzled with a career-spanning four-act performance – including an electrifying opening dance medley and a trio of stirring ballads to close – before accepting the VMAs highest honor with a heartfelt tribute by Drake.

Kanye West made a special appearance to deliver a meditation on fame before introducing the steamy and surreal video for “Fade,” starring actress and GOOD Music recording artist Teyana Taylor and her fiancée, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Iman Shumpert.  Future tore through a blistering performance of his 2015 hit “F**k Up Some Commas,” after being introduced by legendary Olympian Michael Phelps, who revealed he’d been listening to Future in the meme-launching photo of him in Rio. Britney Spears made a triumphant return to the VMA stage with a soaring performance of her G-Eazy collaboration “Make Me…”

The following is a complete list of winners and performances:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
BEYONCÉ – “Formation”
Director: Melina Matsoukas

MICHAEL JACKSON VIDEO VANGUARD AWARD
Rihanna

BEST FEMALE VIDEO
BEYONCÉ – “Hold Up”
Director: Jonas Åkerlund, Beyoncé Knowles Carter

BEST MALE VIDEO
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
Director: Emil Nava

BEST COLLABORATION
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – “Work From Home”
Director: Director X

BEST HIP HOP VIDEO
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Director: Director X

BEST POP VIDEO
BEYONCÉ – “Formation”
Director: Melina Matsoukas

BEST ROCK VIDEO
twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
Director: Andrew Donoho

BEST ELECTRONIC VIDEO
Calvin Harris & Disciples – “How Deep Is Your Love”
Director: Emil Nava

BREAKTHROUGH LONG-FORM VIDEO
BEYONCÉ – Lemonade

BEST NEW ARTIST
Presented by Taco Bell®
DNCE

SONG OF SUMMER
Presented by Verizon
Fifth Harmony featuring Fetty Wap – “All In My Head (Flex)”

BEST ART DIRECTION
David Bowie – “Blackstar”
Production Designer: Jan Houllevigue

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
BEYONCÉ – “Formation”
Choreographer: Chris Grant, JaQuel Knight, Dana Foglia

BEST DIRECTION
BEYONCÉ – “Formation”
Director: Melina Matsoukas

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BEYONCÉ – “Formation”
Cinematographer: Malik Sayeed

BEST EDITING
BEYONCÉ – “Formation”
Editor: Jeff Selis

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Coldplay – “Up&Up”
VFX Editor: Vania Heymann

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2025 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (November) - November 20, 2024
• ‘Sugarcane,’ ‘Soundtrack to A Coup d’Etat’ Lead 40th IDA Documentary Awards Nominations - November 20, 2024
• AwardsWatch Partners with Vision Media to Revolutionize the Awards Season Experience - November 20, 2024