The MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year is the most prestigious competitive award and the final award presented at the annual MTV Video Music Awards. The award was created by the U.S. network MTV to honor artists with the best music videos. At the first MTV Video Music Awards ceremony in , the Video of the Year honor was presented to The Cars for the video "You Might Think". Originally, all winners were determined by a special panel of music video directors, producers, and record company executives. Since the awards, winners of major categories are determined by viewers' votes through MTV's website, while the jury decides in the technical categories. Beginning in , Burger King sponsors the category through a partnership with Paramount, resulting in the award being presented as MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year Presented by Burger King.
Taylor Swift holds the record for the most wins, with a total of five for "Bad Blood" (), "You Need to Calm Down" (), All Too Well: The Short Film (), “Anti-Hero" () and "Fortnight" (). Eminem holds the record for the most nominations, with eight as lead artist. David Lee Roth (), U2 (), Lady Gaga () and Bruno Mars () are the only acts to have had two Video of the Year nominations in a single ceremony. Two acts have won both the Video of the Year and the honorary Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in the same night—Peter Gabriel in with "Sledgehammer" and Justin Timberlake in with "Mirrors". Swift is the first artist to win Video of the Year for a self-directed video, with All Too Well: The Short Film; she also ranks as the artist with the most Video of the Year trophies for self-directed videos, with a total of three. Kendrick Lamar, Swift, Lil Nas X, and Ariana Grande have further won the award for a video they co-directed: Lamar for "Humble" in , Swift for "You Need to Calm Down" in 2019, Lil Nas X for "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" in , and Grande for Brighter Days Ahead in .
Recipients
alt=A woman performing on a microphone, wearing a black shirt and pants|thumb|239x239px|[[Taylor Swift is the category's most awarded artist, winning five times: "Bad Blood" (), "You Need to Calm Down" (), All Too Well: The Short Film (), "Anti-Hero" (2023) and "Fortnight" (2024).]]
thumb|upright|The first artist to win Video of the Year twice is [[Eminem, in for "The Real Slim Shady" and in for "Without Me".|alt=Side profile of a man wearing black hat, black coat and black shirt]]
thumb|upright|[[Rihanna became the first woman to win the award twice as a lead artist, in for "Umbrella", and for "We Found Love".|alt=A woman performing on a microphone]]
thumb|upright|Two-time winner [[Beyoncé, did so with "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" in and "Formation" in .|alt=A woman holding a microphone, wearing a bodysuit]]
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