Mariah Carey will take heart stage on the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, the place she is about to obtain the distinguished Video Vanguard Award and ship a career-spanning efficiency. The ceremony airs reside on Sunday, September 7, from UBS Enviornment in New York at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS, with simultaneous broadcasts on MTV and Paramount+ within the U.S.
The dignity makes Carey, 56, the oldest recipient of the award up to now—a milestone she might not dwell on, given her oft-quoted line that she doesn’t “acknowledge” age. She surpasses Richard Lester, director of A Arduous Day’s Evening and Assist!, who acquired the award at 52 through the inaugural VMAs in 1984. Carey’s recognition additionally extends an eight-year streak of feminine honorees, following Rihanna, Pink, Jennifer Lopez, Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj, Shakira, and Katy Perry.
For Carey, the award marks a full-circle second with the VMAs. She final carried out on the telecast in 2005, showcasing “We Belong Collectively” and “Shake It Off” with Jadakiss and Jermaine Dupri. She first graced the VMA stage in 1991 with “Feelings” and returned in 1998 in a popular culture standout second alongside Whitney Houston, when the 2 stars jokingly wore an identical robes earlier than presenting an award to Will Smith. In one other twist of symmetry, Carey as soon as offered the Vanguard Award to LL COOL J in 1997; this yr, LL returns because the ceremony’s host.
MTV’s announcement of the award has referred to it by each its present and authentic title, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award—a nod to Carey’s personal longtime label ties to Sony throughout Jackson’s period of dominance. The popularity arrives as Carey maintains a rare chart legacy.
With 19 Billboard Scorching 100 No. 1 singles—spanning from 1990’s “Imaginative and prescient of Love” to her perennial “All I Need for Christmas Is You,” which most just lately topped the chart in January 2025—she stands as essentially the most profitable solo artist in Scorching 100 historical past, only one hit shy of The Beatles’ all-time report. Remarkably, she co-wrote 18 of these chart-toppers. Past her singles run, Carey has six No. 1 albums, 5 Grammys, and induction into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2022. She has additionally been nominated twice for the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame, a recognition many observers consider is overdue.
Her VMAs highlight additionally aligns with the discharge of her sixteenth studio album, Right here for It All, out September 26. Its lead single, “Kind Harmful,” is nominated this yr for Greatest R&B Video—giving Carey her ninth profession nomination. Regardless of her many years of dominance, she has but to win a aggressive VMA, making the Vanguard recognition each celebratory and corrective.
This yr’s broadcast options an eclectic lineup of performers, together with Sabrina Carpenter, Alex Warren, J Balvin with DJ Snake, Ricky Martin, and Busta Rhymes, who will obtain the Rock the Bells Visionary Award. Martin will likely be honored individually with the inaugural Latin Icon Award. On the nominations entrance, Woman Gaga leads the sphere with 12 nods, adopted by Bruno Mars with 11.
For Carey, although, the evening will mark one thing extra enduring: a uncommon return to the VMAs stage, 20 years since her final. In a profession that has stretched throughout 4 many years, the Video Vanguard Award acknowledges not simply her longevity, however her function in shaping the visible and cultural panorama of pop music itself.
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