# MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video

The MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock was first given out in 1989, one of the four original genre categories added to the VMAs that year. In its first year, the award was called Best Heavy Metal Video, and from 1990 to 1995, it was renamed Best Metal/Hard Rock Video. The category underwent a third, brief name change in 1996, when it was renamed Best Hard Rock Video. In 1997, the award acquired its most enduring name, Best Rock Video, which it retained until 2016. The following year, the word "Video" was removed from all genre categories at the VMAs (despite nominations still going to specific videos), giving this award its current name: Best Rock.
Like all other genre categories at the VMAs, this category was retired briefly in 2007, when the VMAs were revamped and most original categories were eliminated. In 2008, though, MTV brought back this award, along with several of the others that had been retired in 2007.
Aerosmith is the most frequent winner of this award, with a total of four wins between 1990 and 1998. The Foo Fighters are the most nominated acts in this category, having received ten nominations. Closely following them are Aerosmith and Linkin Park, with eight nominations. In 1995, White Zombie's bassist Sean Yseult became the first woman to win this award, while in 2014, New Zealand singer Lorde became the first female solo act to win this male-dominated category.

## Recipients
### 1980s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees | Ref. |
| 1989 | Guns N' Roses | "Sweet Child o' Mine" | Aerosmith — "Rag Doll" Def Leppard — "Pour Some Sugar on Me" Metallica — "One" | |

### 1990s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees |
| 1990 | Aerosmith | "Janie's Got a Gun" | Faith No More — "Epic" Mötley Crüe — "Kickstart My Heart" Slaughter — "Up All Night" |
| 1991 | Aerosmith | "The Other Side" | AC/DC — "Thunderstruck" Alice in Chains — "Man in the Box" The Black Crowes — "She Talks to Angels" Faith No More — "Falling to Pieces" Guns N' Roses — "You Could Be Mine" Queensrÿche — "Silent Lucidity" Warrant — "Uncle Tom's Cabin" |
| 1992 | Metallica | "Enter Sandman" | Def Leppard — "Let's Get Rocked" Ugly Kid Joe — "Everything About You" Van Halen — "Right Now" |
| 1993 | Pearl Jam | "Jeremy" | Aerosmith — "Livin' on the Edge" Helmet — "Unsung" Nine Inch Nails — "Wish" |
| 1994 | Soundgarden | "Black Hole Sun" | Aerosmith — "Cryin'" Anthrax — "Black Lodge" Rollins Band — "Liar" |
| 1995 | White Zombie | "More Human than Human" | Green Day — "Basket Case" Meat Puppets — "We Don't Exist" Stone Temple Pilots — "Interstate Love Song" |
| 1996 | Metallica | "Until It Sleeps" | Alice in Chains — "Again" Marilyn Manson — "Sweet Dreams" Rage Against the Machine — "Bulls on Parade" |
| 1997 | Aerosmith | "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" | Foo Fighters — "Monkey Wrench" Marilyn Manson — "The Beautiful People" Dave Matthews Band — "Crash into Me" Rage Against the Machine — "People of the Sun" |
| 1998 | Aerosmith | "Pink" | Foo Fighters — "Everlong" Dave Matthews Band — "Don't Drink the Water" Metallica — "The Unforgiven II" |
| 1999 | Korn | "Freak on a Leash" | Kid Rock — "Bawitdaba" Lenny Kravitz — "Fly Away" Limp Bizkit — "Nookie" The Offspring — "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" |

### 2000s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees | Ref. |
| 2000 | Limp Bizkit | "Break Stuff" | Creed — "Higher" Kid Rock — "Cowboy" Korn — "Falling Away from Me" Metallica — "I Disappear" Rage Against the Machine — "Sleep Now in the Fire" | |
| 2001 | Limp Bizkit | "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" | Aerosmith — "Jaded" Linkin Park — "Crawling" Staind — "It's Been Awhile" Weezer — "Hash Pipe" | |
| 2002 | Linkin Park | "In the End" | Creed — "My Sacrifice" Jimmy Eat World — "The Middle" Korn — "Here to Stay" P.O.D. — "Youth of the Nation" System of a Down — "Chop Suey!" | |
| 2003 | Linkin Park | "Somewhere I Belong" | Evanescence (featuring Paul McCoy) — "Bring Me to Life" Good Charlotte — "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" Metallica — "St. Anger" The White Stripes — "Seven Nation Army" | |
| 2004 | Jet | "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" | The Darkness — "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" Evanescence — "My Immortal" Hoobastank — "The Reason" Linkin Park — "Breaking the Habit" | |
| 2005 | Green Day | "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" | Foo Fighters — "Best of You" The Killers — "Mr. Brightside" My Chemical Romance — "Helena" Weezer — "Beverly Hills" | |
| 2006 | AFI | "Miss Murder" | Green Day — "Wake Me Up When September Ends" Panic! at the Disco — "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" Red Hot Chili Peppers — "Dani California" Thirty Seconds to Mars — "The Kill" | |
| 2007 | — | — | — | — |
| 2008 | Linkin Park | "Shadow of the Day" | Fall Out Boy (featuring John Mayer) — "Beat It" Foo Fighters — "The Pretender" Paramore — "Crushcrushcrush" Slipknot — "Psychosocial" | |
| 2009 | Green Day | "21 Guns" | Coldplay — "Viva la Vida" Fall Out Boy — "I Don't Care" Kings of Leon — "Use Somebody" Paramore — "Decode" | |

### 2010s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees |
| 2010 | Thirty Seconds to Mars | "Kings and Queens" | Florence + the Machine — "Dog Days Are Over" MGMT — "Flash Delirium" Muse — "Uprising" Paramore — "Ignorance" |
| 2011 | Foo Fighters | "Walk" | The Black Keys — "Howlin' for You" Cage the Elephant — "Shake Me Down" Foster the People — "Pumped Up Kicks" Mumford & Sons — "The Cave" |
| 2012 | Coldplay | "Paradise" | The Black Keys — "Lonely Boy" Imagine Dragons — "It's Time" Linkin Park — "Burn It Down" Jack White — "Sixteen Saltines" |
| 2013 | Thirty Seconds to Mars | "Up in the Air" | Fall Out Boy — "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)" Imagine Dragons — "Radioactive" Mumford & Sons — "I Will Wait" Vampire Weekend — "Diane Young" |
| 2014 | Lorde | "Royals" | Arctic Monkeys — "Do I Wanna Know?" The Black Keys — "Fever" Imagine Dragons — "Demons" Linkin Park — "Until It's Gone" |
| 2015 | Fall Out Boy | "Uma Thurman" | Arctic Monkeys — "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" Florence + the Machine — "Ship to Wreck" Hozier — "Take Me to Church" Walk the Moon — "Shut Up and Dance" |
| 2016 | Twenty One Pilots | "Heathens" | All Time Low — "Missing You" Coldplay — "Adventure of a Lifetime" Fall Out Boy (featuring Demi Lovato) — "Irresistible" Panic! at the Disco — "Victorious" |
| 2017 | Twenty One Pilots | "Heavydirtysoul" | Coldplay — "A Head Full of Dreams" Fall Out Boy — "Young and Menace" Foo Fighters — "Run" Green Day — "Bang Bang" |
| 2018 | Imagine Dragons | "Whatever It Takes" | Fall Out Boy — "Champion" Foo Fighters — "The Sky Is a Neighborhood" Linkin Park — "One More Light" Panic! at the Disco — "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" Thirty Seconds to Mars — "Walk on Water" |
| 2019 | Panic! at the Disco | "High Hopes" | The 1975 — "Love It If We Made It" Fall Out Boy — "Bishops Knife Trick" Imagine Dragons — "Natural" Lenny Kravitz — "Low" Twenty One Pilots — "My Blood" |

### 2020s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees |
| 2020 | Coldplay | "Orphans" | blink-182 — "Happy Days" Evanescence — "Wasted on You" Fall Out Boy (featuring Wyclef Jean) — "Dear Future Self (Hands Up)" Green Day — "Oh Yeah!" The Killers — "Caution" |
| 2021 | John Mayer | "Last Train Home" | Evanescence — "Use My Voice" Foo Fighters — "Shame Shame" The Killers — "My Own Soul's Warning" Kings of Leon — "The Bandit" Lenny Kravitz — "Raise Vibration" |
| 2022 | Red Hot Chili Peppers | "Black Summer" | Foo Fighters — "Love Dies Young" Muse — "Won't Stand Down" Shinedown — "Planet Zero" Three Days Grace — "So Called Life" Jack White — "Taking Me Back" |
| 2023 | Måneskin | "The Loneliest" | Foo Fighters – "The Teacher" Linkin Park – "Lost" Metallica – "Lux Æterna" Muse – "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Tippa My Tongue" |
| 2024 | Lenny Kravitz | "Human" | Bon Jovi – "Legendary" Coldplay – "Feelslikeimfallinginlove" Green Day – "Dilemma" Kings of Leon – "Mustang" U2 – "Atomic City" |