Madonna To Open VMAs With First Ceremony Performance Since 2003
I’ve got a confession, too: @Madonna will perform at the 2026 #VMAs 🚨🚀🎙️
Dance along LIVE – Sunday, September 27th on @CBS & streaming on @paramountplus. pic.twitter.com/eLbWXjb1nr
— Video Music Awards (@vmas) September 16, 2026
MTV announced today that Madonna will be the opening act at the 2026 VMAs, where she leads all nominees with a career-high 11 nominations for her Confessions II masterpiece. The last time Madonna performed on the VMAs was back in 2003, when she opened the show with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliott.
Because no one watches MTV and the network doesn’t play music videos anymore, the awards will air on CBS (then again, no one watches CBS either) and will be “hosted” by Snoop Dogg, but I doubt he’ll do much of anything. I wish I could say that I’d turn the show off immediately after Madonna’s performance, but I’ll probably end up leaving it on till the end to see if she wins the award for Video of the Year.
I still hold that the 2003 medley featuring “Like A Virgin,” “Hollywood,” and “Work It” (along with all the audience cutaway shots—whoever was directing this at MTV is brilliant) is the most iconic cultural moment and best award show performance of the century, so there’s likely no way Madonna will top herself later this month. The 2026 show airs on September 27th, and here’s the 2003 performance:
