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Wikipedia / MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction

The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly renamed Best Director. The category acquired its current name with the 2008 awards.

American artist Taylor Swift is the biggest winner in this category with four wins from six nominations.

The most nominated directors are David Fincher and Dave Meyers with eight nominations. Remarkably, seven of Fincher's nominations were achieved in a three-year span (1989–1991), as he was nominated a record three times in both 1989 and 1990. Fincher's recent nomination (and win) occurred over twenty years later in 2013 for his work on Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie." Closely following him are Taylor Swift and Francis Lawrence with six. Hype Williams is the director with the most nominations and no wins at five.

The performers whose videos have won the most awards are Madonna and Taylor Swift, whose videos have garnered three direction moonmen respectively. However, Eminem's videos have received the most nominations with seven. Swift is also the only performer to have won four moonmen in this category for her work directing.

Five other performers have won a moonman in this category for their work directing/co-directing their videos: George Michael, Beck, Erykah Badu, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Nas X. An additional nine performers have been nominated for their work co-directing/directing videos: Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Christina Aguilera, Jared Leto (as Bartholomew Cubbins), Ryan Lewis, Bruno Mars, Billie Eilish, Tyler, the Creator (as Wolf Haley) and Travis Scott.

Christian Breslauer has been nominated five consecutive times (2022–2026).

Recipients

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Director statistics

Multiple wins

  1. 4 wins

  2. Taylor Swift

  3. 3 wins

  4. David Fincher

  5. 2 wins

  6. Samuel Bayer

  7. Spike Jonze

  8. Jonathan Dayton

  9. The Little Homies

  10. Valerie Faris

Multiple nominations

  1. 8 nominations

  2. David Fincher

  3. Dave Meyers

  4. Taylor Swift

  5. 6 nominations

  6. Francis Lawrence

  7. 5 nominations

  8. Steven Barron

  9. Mark Romanek

  10. Spike Jonze

  11. Jonathan Dayton

  12. Valerie Faris

  13. Hype Williams

  14. Christian Breslauer

  15. 4 nominations

  16. Joseph Kahn

  17. 3 nominations

  18. Daniel Kleinman

  19. Dr. Dre

  20. Phillip Atwell

  21. Billie Eilish

  22. Jonas Åkerlund

  23. Bruno Mars

  24. Director X

  25. Dave Free

  26. Rich Lee

  27. Anthony Mandler

  28. Tanu Muino

  29. Floria Sigismondi

  30. 2 nominations

  31. Tim Newman

  32. Andy Morahan

  33. Daniel Ramos

  34. Tarsem

  35. Stéphane Sednaoui

  36. Matthew Rolston

  37. F. Gary Gray

  38. Jesse Peretz

  39. Jonathan Glazer

  40. David LaChapelle

  41. Joe Hahn

  42. Jake Nava

  43. Bartholomew Cubbins

  44. Kendrick Lamar

  45. Vania Heymann

  46. Gal Muggia

  47. Romain Gavras

  48. Samuel Bayer

  49. Hannah Lux Davis

  50. Cameron Duddy

  51. Nabil Elderkin

  52. Missy Elliott

  53. Michel Gondry

  54. Jason Koenig

  55. The Little Homies

  56. Melina Matsoukas

  57. Hiro Murai

  58. Colin Tilley

  59. Marc Webb

  60. Margaret Qualley

Artist statistics

Multiple wins

  1. 4 wins

  2. Taylor Swift

  3. 3 wins

  4. Madonna

  5. 2 wins

  6. Fatboy Slim

  7. Green Day

  8. Jay-Z

  9. Justin Timberlake

  10. Kendrick Lamar

  11. Lady Gaga

  12. Lil Nas X

  13. R.E.M.

Multiple nominations

  1. 8 nominations

  2. Eminem

  3. Taylor Swift

  4. 6 nominations

  5. Jay-Z

  6. Kendrick Lamar

  7. 5 nominations

  8. Beyoncé

  9. Billie Eilish

  10. R.E.M.

  11. Rihanna

  12. 4 nominations

  13. Ariana Grande

  14. Bruno Mars

  15. Drake

  16. Missy Elliott

  17. Madonna

  18. Justin Timberlake

  19. Red Hot Chili Peppers

  20. 3 nominations

  21. Coldplay

  22. Green Day

  23. Kanye West

  24. Lady Gaga

  25. Lil Nas X

  26. Linkin Park

  27. Sabrina Carpenter

  28. ZZ Top

  29. 2 nominations

  30. Adele

  31. Aerosmith

  32. Beastie Boys

  33. Childish Gambino

  34. Chris Isaak

  35. Doja Cat

  36. Don Henley

  37. Ed Sheeran

  38. En Vogue

  39. Fatboy Slim

  40. Foo Fighters

  41. George Michael

  42. Harry Styles

  43. Janet Jackson

  44. Katy Perry

  45. Megan Thee Stallion

  46. M.I.A.

  47. OutKast

  48. Steve Winwood

  49. The Smashing Pumpkins

  50. The Weeknd

  51. The White Stripes

  52. Thirty Seconds to Mars

  53. TLC

  54. U2

  55. Van Halen

References

See also

Notes