The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards took over the UBS Enviornment in Elmont, New York, on Wednesday (Sept. 11). Hosted by Megan Thee Stallion, the 2024 VMAs boasted a surprisingly constant, ingenious and spectacular run of performances.
This 12 months’s broadcast marks 40 years of the VMAs, which had its inaugural present at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor on Sept. 14, 1984. One in all that evening’s large winners – Cyndi Lauper – was current at this 12 months’s present, introducing a efficiency by 2024 breakthrough Sabrina Carpenter. Plus, dozens of clips from VMAs previous had been peppered all through the present, reminding viewers of wierd moments they could have forgotten and legendary ones nobody may.
“We’re going to be revisiting among the present’s most iconic moments that made the VMAs the popular culture beast it’s in the present day,” Bruce Gillmer (an government producer of this 12 months’s present alongside Jesse Ignjatovic) informed Billboard simply days forward of the printed. “It’s a homecoming of kinds, so we’ll rejoice turning 40 by flashing again to moments on stage and display screen.”
It was becoming that for a fortieth anniversary present, new historical past was made on the 2024 VMAs, with Taylor Swift tying Beyoncé as the highest VMA winner of all time. Swift, who not too long ago endorsed Kamala Harris for President of america, appeared in individual to just accept two awards and honor the victims and reminiscence of 9/11 on its anniversary.
However awards and speeches have by no means actually been the thrust of the VMAs – it’s all the time been in regards to the musical performances. From Katy Perry’s Video Vanguard Award medley to LL COOL J’s fortieth anniversary salute to Def Jam to units from rising stars Chappell Roan and Carpenter, listed below are the most effective performances from the 2024 VMAs, ranked. (Observe: Abbreviated performances, like these from Jessie Murph and Teddy Swims, will not be included within the rating, nor are pre-show performances.)
