Charli xcx leads the nominations for the 2026 UK Music Video Awards with nine nods across six different videos, while Kneecap and GENER8ION also feature heavily in the 19th annual awards. The winners will be announced at London’s Roundhouse on 4 November 2026.
Charli xcx leads with nine nominations
Charli xcx’s nine nominations come across “Camera”, “Rock Music”, “SS26”, “Wink Wink”, “House” featuring John Cale and “Residue” with A.G. Cook.
Her nominations span genre categories and technical awards, including Best UK Pop Video, Best UK Dance/Electronic Video, Best UK Rock Video, Best Cinematography, Best Colour Grading, Best Editing and Best Director.
Kneecap follows with eight nominations across two videos.
“Irish Goodbye”, featuring Kae Tempest, has five nominations, while “Sayonara”, featuring Paul Hartnoll, adds another three.
The Romain Gavras-directed “Storm” by GENER8ION, starring Yung Lean, has six nominations and is the most-nominated individual video this year. The video features in categories including Best International Dance/Electronic Video, Best Performance, Best Casting, Best Choreography, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.
Povoa x madge’s “Beat Bunny”, directed by Tanner K Williams, has four nominations.
Major artists feature across the shortlist
The 2026 UKMVAs have announced shortlists across 39 categories covering music video genres, filmmaking disciplines and industry roles.
A$AP Rocky, who won Video Of The Year at the 2025 UKMVAs, receives four nominations across “Helicopter” and “Punk Rocky”.
Madonna’s “Confessions II”, directed by Torso, receives three nominations for Best International Pop Video, Best Cinematography and Best Special Visual Project.
Ezra Collective features in three categories through “Only Love” featuring Pa Salieu, the film “Here Because of Hope” and “Beto’s Horns”, their collaboration with Fred again.., CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso.
The Rolling Stones also appear with three different videos. “Jealous Lover” is nominated for Best UK Rock Video, “In The Stars” is up for Best Visual Effects, while “Shame, Shame, Shame” competes for Best Animation.
Other artists with multiple nominations include Beabadoobee, Dave, Fred again.., Harry Styles, James Blake, Joy Crookes, PinkPantheress, Tom Misch and Wesley Joseph.
International artists with multiple nominations include Ariana Grande, ROSALÍA, Tove Lo, Balming Tiger, Ibeyi, Rich The Kid, Theodora and Povoa x madge.
Harry Styles, Charli xcx and PinkPantheress compete for UK Pop Video
The Best UK Pop Video category includes Harry Styles with “Aperture”, alongside Charli xcx’s “Camera” and “Wink Wink”, MEEK’s “Fabulous”, FLO’s “Leak It” and PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson’s “Stateside”.
The International Pop Video category features ROSALÍA, Björk and Yves Tumor’s “Berghain”, Madonna‘s “Confessions II”, Theodora’s “Des Mythos”, Tove Lo’s “I’m Your Girl, Right?”, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears” and Angèle and Justice’s “What You Want”.
Other major genre categories include Best UK R&B/Soul/Jazz Video, Best UK Dance/Electronic Video, Best UK Rock Video and Best UK Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Video.
Director and production categories announced
The Best Director shortlist includes Aidan Zamiri, Folkert Verdoorn and Simon Becks, Jake Erland, Lee Suho, Olivia de Camps and Torso.
Zamiri is nominated for work with Charli xcx, while Verdoorn and Becks are recognised for their work with A$AP Rocky and Kun. Erland’s credits include videos for Olivia Dean, Beabadoobee and Foo Fighters.
The Best New Director category features Alex Acy, Ben Harris, Billy King, Léa Esmaili, Melchior Leroux and Tanner K Williams.
The Best Production Company shortlist includes Anonymous Content, CANADA, DIVISION, Iconoclast, Magna Studios and Object & Animal.
Industry categories also recognise agents, creative commissioners, executive producers and producers working behind the year’s nominated videos.
UK Music Video Awards 2026 ceremony
The 2026 UK Music Video Awards will take place at The Roundhouse in Camden, London, on 4 November.
It will be the first time the ceremony has returned to the venue since 2021. The awards recognise artists, directors, production companies and filmmaking talent across areas including casting, production design, choreography, styling, cinematography, colour grading, editing, animation and visual effects.
The UKMVAs were established in 2008 and are now in their 19th year.
The Video Of The Year winner will be announced during the ceremony.
RELATED
