Taylor Swift Made History At The 2024 VMAs

Taylor Swift had a banner night at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. At the Sept. 11 ceremony, the singer broke the record for most VMAs won by an artist with 30 career wins, surpassing Beyoncé, who previously held the record with 23 wins.

Swift entered the VMAs with 12 nominations — the most of any artist — including nods for Artist of the Year and Video of the Year, for her Tortured Poets Department single “Fortnight.” She started the night off strong, with “Fortnight” winning Song of the Summer before the show even began. Her winning streak continued at the top of the ceremony, when she and her “Fortnight” duet partner Post Malone won for Best Collaboration.

Swift and Post Malone accepted the award together, though Swift did most of the talking — and was sure to focus part of the speech on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, given that the show took place on Sept. 11. “Waking up this morning in New York on September 11th, I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago, everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost,” she said. “That is the most important thing about today.”

Later in the ceremony, Swift took home four more awards off-camera, including Best Pop, Best Direction, and Best Editing for “Fortnight,” as well as Artist of the Year — making her the first person to win the Artist of the Year category twice, after first taking home the award in 2023.

At the end of the night, Swift took home Video of the Year, the night’s biggest honor, once again for “Fortnight.” This marked Swift’s fifth VOTY win. Prior to the 2024 VMAs, Swift held the record for most VMA wins in one category with four VOTY wins; now, her record is that much stronger.

In her speech, Swift shouted out Post Malone once again, and also thanked the editor and cinematographer who worked with her on the video. However, she saved her biggest shoutout for boyfriend Travis Kelce, revealing that he was “cheering and like woo-ing from across the studio where we were shooting” the video. “I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot because I will always remember that,” she added.

In addition to shattering the record for most VMAs won by an artist, and improving her record for most wins in one category, Swift also marked another milestone tonight: winning Video of the Year three years in a row. Last year, she won for 2022 video “Anti-Hero,” and the year before that, she took home the prize for her 2021 short film, “All Too Well.”