MTV drops Best Rock from the VMAs, leaving Best Alternative as the lone holdout
The 2026 nominee list crams everything guitar-adjacent into one field, from Geese and Twenty One Pilots to Olivia Rodrigo and mgk with Fred Durst.
MTV has removed the "Best Rock" category from the VMAs. Going forward, "Best Alternative" stands as the only award at the ceremony that still covers anything close to rock music.
The 2026 nominees in that field pull from wildly different corners: Geese ("Taxes"), mgk & Fred Durst ("FIX UR FACE"), Noah Kahan ("The Great Divide"), Olivia Rodrigo ("the cure"), SOMBR ("Homewrecker"), Tame Impala ("Dracula") and Twenty One Pilots ("Drag Path").
The cut shrinks the room set aside for guitar-driven artists at one of the industry's most visible award shows. Lumping everything from art rock to arena pop into a single race means acts that once competed in separate lanes now share one.
The move adds to long-running complaints about how far MTV has drifted from the scenes it once helped break, back when the network was a primary engine for pushing alternative rock bands toward mainstream audiences. There has been no word on whether the category could return in future editions.
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