Mariah Carey will take center stage at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, where she is set to receive the prestigious Video Vanguard Award and deliver a career-spanning performance. The ceremony airs live on Sunday, September 7, from UBS Arena in New York at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS, with simultaneous broadcasts on MTV and Paramount+ in the U.S.
The honor makes Carey, 56, the oldest recipient of the award to date—a milestone she may not dwell on, given her oft-quoted line that she doesn’t “acknowledge” age. She surpasses Richard Lester, director of A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, who received the award at 52 during the inaugural VMAs in 1984. Carey’s recognition also extends an eight-year streak of female honorees, following Rihanna, Pink, Jennifer Lopez, Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj, Shakira, and Katy Perry.
For Carey, the award marks a full-circle moment with the VMAs. She last performed on the telecast in 2005, showcasing “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off” with Jadakiss and Jermaine Dupri. She first graced the VMA stage in 1991 with “Emotions” and returned in 1998 in a pop culture standout moment alongside Whitney Houston, when the two stars jokingly wore identical gowns before presenting an award to Will Smith. In another twist of symmetry, Carey once presented the Vanguard Award to LL COOL J in 1997; this year, LL returns as the ceremony’s host.
MTV’s announcement of the award has referred to it by both its current and original title, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award—a nod to Carey’s own longtime label ties to Sony during Jackson’s era of dominance. The recognition arrives as Carey maintains an extraordinary chart legacy.
With 19 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles—spanning from 1990’s “Vision of Love” to her perennial “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which most recently topped the chart in January 2025—she stands as the most successful solo artist in Hot 100 history, just one hit shy of The Beatles’ all-time record. Remarkably, she co-wrote 18 of those chart-toppers. Beyond her singles run, Carey has six No. 1 albums, five Grammys, and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022. She has also been nominated twice for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a recognition many observers believe is overdue.
Her VMAs spotlight also aligns with the release of her 16th studio album, Here for It All, out September 26. Its lead single, “Type Dangerous,” is nominated this year for Best R&B Video—giving Carey her ninth career nomination. Despite her decades of dominance, she has yet to win a competitive VMA, making the Vanguard recognition both celebratory and corrective.
This year’s broadcast features an eclectic lineup of performers, including Sabrina Carpenter, Alex Warren, J Balvin with DJ Snake, Ricky Martin, and Busta Rhymes, who will receive the Rock the Bells Visionary Award. Martin will be honored separately with the inaugural Latin Icon Award. On the nominations front, Lady Gaga leads the field with 12 nods, followed by Bruno Mars with 11.
For Carey, though, the night will mark something more enduring: a rare return to the VMAs stage, two decades since her last. In a career that has stretched across four decades, the Video Vanguard Award acknowledges not just her longevity, but her role in shaping the visual and cultural landscape of pop music itself.
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