# Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, is a merit given to recording artists and music video directors at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), a ceremony that was established in 1984. It is presented by MTV for "outstanding contributions" and "profound impact" on music videos and popular culture. As the ceremony's special category, the trophy is a gold-plated "moonman" rather than the silver ones of the other VMA categories. The Beatles and director Richard Lester were honored with the Video Vanguard Award at the inaugural VMAs for "essentially inventing the music video." David Bowie also received the award at the same ceremony. Two years later, Madonna became the first female recipient. In 1991, the award was renamed after Michael Jackson, who had previously won the 1988 trophy.
It was presented as the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2003 VMAs to Duran Duran, and in 2006 as the Video Vanguard Award to director Hype Williams. Following Jackson's death, the award returned with his name restored in 2011. According to MTV, his name was attached to the award due to "Jackson's groundbreaking work as a video artist". This naming again caused controversy after the release of Leaving Neverland (2019), a documentary about alleged child sexual abuse by Jackson. As in previous ceremonies, MTV did not explicitly display Jackson's name on the television broadcast of the 2019 VMAs, although its website MTV.com still called it Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. The year's recipient, Missy Elliott, did mention Jackson in her speech, as did Nicki Minaj in her 2022 speech. Katy Perry is the most recent recipient of the award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.
Since its inception, the Video Vanguard Award has been awarded to 35 acts, with most of them being of American or British origin, except Russell Mulcahy (1985, Australian), Zbigniew Rybczyński (1986, Polish), U2 (2001, Irish), Rihanna (2016, Barbadian), Nicki Minaj (2022, Trinidadian), and Shakira (2023, Colombian). Out of all the winners, nine acts have also won the VMAs' biggest prize, Video of the Year, including Peter Gabriel and Justin Timberlake, who both earned the two awards in the same night. Since 2013, recipients have been invited to perform a medley of hits leading up to their acceptance speech.

## Recipients

Key :
| * | Indicates Video of the Year winners |
| Year | Image | Recipient | Nationality | Notes | Ref. |
| 1984 | | The Beatles | United Kingdom | Presented by the Police members Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland. The Beatles and Richard Lester, director of A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), were honored for "essentially inventing the music video." | [5] [17] |
| 1984 | | Richard Lester | United States | Presented by the Police members Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland. The Beatles and Richard Lester, director of A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), were honored for "essentially inventing the music video." | [5] [17] |
| 1984 | | David Bowie | United Kingdom | Presented by Herbie Hancock. | |
| 1985 | | David Byrne | United Kingdom | Presented by Chrissie Hynde. Byrne was honored for his work with Talking Heads. | |
| 1985 | — | Russell Mulcahy | Australia | Presented by John Taylor and Andy Taylor. Mulcahy was the director of The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star", the first video played on MTV. | |
| 1985 | | Godley & Creme | United Kingdom | Presented by Herbie Hancock. | |
| 1986 | | Madonna * | United States | Presented by Robert Palmer. Madonna became the first woman to receive the honor. She later won the Video of the Year for "Ray of Light" in 1998. | [21] [22] [23] |
| 1986 | | Zbigniew Rybczyński | Poland | Presented by Pet Shop Boys. | |
| 1987 | | Peter Gabriel * | United Kingdom | Presented by Laurie Anderson. Gabriel also won the Video of the Year for "Sledgehammer" on the same night. | [23] [25] |
| 1987 | | Julien Temple | United Kingdom | Presented by David Bowie. | |
| 1988 | | Michael Jackson | United States | Presented by Peter Gabriel. Jackson was the first African-American artist to receive the honor. | [6] [26] [27] |
| 1989 | | George Michael | United Kingdom | Presented by Madonna. | |
| 1990 | | Janet Jackson | United States | Presented by Magic Johnson. Jackson remains the youngest person to receive the honor at 24 years old. | [26] [29] |
| 1991 | | Bon Jovi | United States | Presented by Arsenio Hall. The honor was renamed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. | [30] [31] |
| 1991 | | Wayne Isham | United States | Presented by Arsenio Hall. The honor was renamed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. | [30] [31] |
| 1992 | | Guns N' Roses | United States | Presented by Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor. | |
| 1993 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1994 | | The Rolling Stones | United Kingdom | Presented by Jann Wenner. Given as the Lifetime Achievement Award. | |
| 1994 | | Tom Petty | United States | Presented by Billy Corgan. | |
| 1995 | | R.E.M. * | United States | Presented by Drew Barrymore. R.E.M. previously won the Video of the Year for "Losing My Religion" in 1991. | |
| 1996 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1997 | | LL Cool J | United States | Presented by Mariah Carey. LL Cool J became the first hip-hop rapper to receive the honor. | [35] [36] |
| 1997 | | Mark Romanek | United States | Presented by Janet Jackson. | |
| 1998 | | Beastie Boys | United States | Presented by Chuck D. | |
| 1999 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2000 | | Red Hot Chili Peppers | United States | Presented by Chris Rock and Lance Crouther | |
| 2001 | | U2 | Ireland | Presented by Carson Daly. | |
| 2002 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2003 | | Duran Duran | United Kingdom | Presented by Kelly Osbourne and Avril Lavigne. Given as the Lifetime Achievement Award. | |
| 2004 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2005 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2006 | — | Hype Williams | United States | Presented by Kanye West. Given as the Video Vanguard Award. | |
| 2007 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2008 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2009 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2010 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2011 | | Britney Spears * | United States | Presented by Lady Gaga. The award was renamed again to the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Spears previously won the Video of the Year for "Piece of Me" in 2008. | [23] [42] |
| 2012 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2013 | | Justin Timberlake * | United States | Presented by Jimmy Fallon. Timberlake also won the Video of the Year for "Mirrors" on the same night. | |
| 2014 | | Beyoncé * | United States | Presented by her husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy Carter. Beyoncé won the Video of the Year twice, for "Single Ladies" in 2009 and "Formation" in 2016. | [23] [43] |
| 2015 | | Kanye West | United States | Presented by Taylor Swift. | |
| 2016 | | Rihanna * | Barbados | Presented by Drake. Rihanna previously won the Video of the Year twice, for "Umbrella" in 2007 and "We Found Love" in 2012. | [23] [45] |
| 2017 | | P!nk * | United States | Presented by Ellen DeGeneres. P!nk previously won the Video of the Year for "Lady Marmalade" in 2001. | [23] [46] |
| 2018 | | Jennifer Lopez | United States | Presented by Shawn Mendes. Lopez became the first ethnic Latin artist to receive the honor. Lopez was later the recipient of the MTV Generation Award at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards, becoming the first entertainer to receive both honors from MTV. | |
| 2019 | | Missy Elliott * | United States | Presented by Cardi B. Elliott previously won the Video of the Year for "Work It" in 2003. She became the first female rapper to receive the honor. | [23] [48] |
| 2020 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2021 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2022 | | Nicki Minaj | Trinidad and Tobago | Presented by members of her fan club "The Barbz". Minaj also won the award for Best Hip Hop for her song "Do We Have a Problem" along with Lil Baby during the same ceremony. | [49] [50] [51] |
| 2023 | | Shakira | Colombia | Presented by Wyclef Jean. Shakira is the first South American artist to receive the honor. | |
| 2024 | | Katy Perry * | United States | Presented by Perry's partner, Orlando Bloom. Perry previously won the Video of the Year for "Firework" in 2011. | |