Singers, songwriters, and stars galore descended upon Newark, New Jersey this Sunday for the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28. The event is held yearly to honor the best in the music video medium, and is often a catalyst in pop culture drama. Major moments include Madonna’s controversial performance of “Like a Virgin”, Britney Spears’ iconic “Slave 4 U” dance, and the infamous Kanye West and Taylor Swift incident. In comparison to these bombshells, the 2022 VMAs were rather tame, but the award show had its fair share of excitement. Though there were many big names nominated, only one artist could take a “Moon Person” home. Here’s a full recap of the night’s winners:

Video Vanguard Award honoree:

Nicki Minaj

Global Icons honorees:

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Video of the year: 

Taylor Swift – “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” 

Artist of the year:

Bad Bunny 

Song of the year:

Billie Eilish – “Happier Than Ever” 

Best new artist:  

Dove Cameron 

Push performance of the year:

December 2021: SEVENTEEN – “Rock With You” 

Best collaboration:

Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow – “INDUSTRY BABY” 

Best pop:

Harry Styles – “As It Was” 

Best hip-hop:

Nicki Minaj ft. Lil Baby – “Do We Have A Problem?” 

Best rock:

Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Black Summer” 

Best alternative:

Måneskin – “I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE” 

Best Latin:

Anitta – “Envolver” 

Best R&B:

The Weeknd – “Out of Time” 

Best K-pop:

LISA – “LALISA” 

Video for good:

Lizzo – “About Damn Time” 

Best metaverse performance:

BLACKPINK The Virtual | PUBG 

Best longform video:

Taylor Swift – “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” 

Best cinematography:

Harry Styles – “As It Was”

Best direction:

Taylor Swift – “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” 

Best art direction:

Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow – “INDUSTRY BABY” 

Best visual effects:

Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow – “INDUSTRY BABY”

Best choreography:

Doja Cat – “Woman” 

Best editing: 

ROSALÍA – “SAOKO”

Group of the year:

BTS

Song of the summer:

Jack Harlow – “First Class”

Album of the year:

Harry Styles – Harry’s House

In addition to the standard award presentations and acceptance speeches, there were a couple of standout moments. Johnny Depp appeared publicly for the first time since his defamation trial against Amber Heard, albeit virtually as his face was projected onto giant “Moon Person” award statues. Yung Gravy walked the carpet with TikTok star Addison Rae’s mother Sheri Easterling, generating plenty of chatter across social media. 

Some of the most high energy performances of the night were delivered by Nicki Minaj, who sang a medley of some of her most iconic songs, and Blackpink, who performed their new single “Pink Venom” to promote their upcoming album, Born Pink. Despite all this, perhaps the biggest news of the night was dropped by Taylor Swift as she accepted the award for “Video of the Year.” The pop star announced that she would be releasing an album on October 21, 2022 titled Midnights. 

That’s a wrap on the 2022 MTV Music Video Awards!