The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 13, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Comedian Russell Brand hosted the event for the second time in a row. Madonna opened the show with a speech about Michael Jackson. Janet Jackson made an appearance at the VMAs to pay musical tribute to her late brother and honor his career.
On August 4, the nominees were announced. Beyoncé and Lady Gaga led the pack with 9 nominations each, closely followed by Britney Spears with 7. Beyoncé, Green Day and Lady Gaga got 3 awards each, the most of the VMAs.
The show was watched by a total of 9 million people, a 17% increase over 2008's show and the biggest ratings since the 2004 award show. This year was also the first year since 2006 to return to the Radio City Music Hall for the awards and unlike last year, where the show was held in a warehouse, this show was at a real venue with a live audience.
Nominations
Winners are in bold .
Video of the Year
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
- Eminem — "We Made You"
- Lady Gaga — "Poker Face"
- Britney Spears — "Womanizer"
- Kanye West — "Love Lockdown"
Best Male Video
- Eminem — "We Made You"
- Jay-Z — "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
- Ne-Yo — "Miss Independent"
- T.I. (featuring Rihanna) — "Live Your Life"
- Kanye West — "Love Lockdown"
Best Female Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
- Kelly Clarkson — "My Life Would Suck Without You"
- Lady Gaga — "Poker Face"
- Katy Perry — "Hot N Cold"
- Pink — "So What"
- Taylor Swift — "You Belong with Me"
Best New Artist
- 3OH!3 — "Don't Trust Me"
- Drake — "Best I Ever Had"
- Kid Cudi — "Day 'n' Nite"
- Lady Gaga — "Poker Face"
- Asher Roth — "I Love College"
Best Pop Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
- Cobra Starship (featuring Leighton Meester) — "Good Girls Go Bad"
- Lady Gaga — "Poker Face"
- Britney Spears — "Womanizer"
- Wisin & Yandel — "Abusadora"
Best Rock Video
- Coldplay — "Viva la Vida"
- Fall Out Boy — "I Don't Care"
- Green Day — "21 Guns"
- Kings of Leon — "Use Somebody"
- Paramore — "Decode"
Best Hip-Hop Video
- Eminem — "We Made You"
- Flo Rida — "Right Round"
- Jay-Z — "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
- Asher Roth — "I Love College"
- Kanye West — "Love Lockdown"
Breakthrough Video
- Anjulie — "Boom"
- Bat for Lashes — "Daniel"
- Chairlift — "Evident Utensil"
- Cold War Kids — "I've Seen Enough"
- Death Cab for Cutie — "Grapevine Fires"
- Gnarls Barkley — "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
- Major Lazer — "Hold the Line"
- Matt and Kim — "Lessons Learned"
- Passion Pit — "The Reeling"
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs — "Heads Will Roll"
Best Direction in a Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Director: Jake Nava)
- Cobra Starship (featuring Leighton Meester) — "Good Girls Go Bad" (Director: Kai Regan)
- Green Day — "21 Guns" (Director: Marc Webb)
- Lady Gaga — "Paparazzi" (Director: Jonas Åkerlund)
- Britney Spears — "Circus" (Director: Francis Lawrence)
Best Choreography in a Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Choreographers: Frank Gatson and JaQuel Knight)
- Ciara (featuring Justin Timberlake) — "Love Sex Magic" (Choreographers: Jamaica Craft and "Marty")
- Kristinia DeBarge — "Goodbye" (Choreographer: Jamaica Craft)
- A.R. Rahman and the Pussycat Dolls (featuring Nicole Scherzinger) — "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" (Choreographers: Robin Antin and Mikey Minden)
- Britney Spears — "Circus" (Choreographer: Andre Fuentes)
Best Special Effects in a Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Special Effects: VFX Effects and Louis Mackall V)
- Eminem — "We Made You" (Special Effects: Ingenuity Engine)
- Gnarls Barkley — "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Special Effects: Gradient Effects and Image Metrics)
- Lady Gaga — "Paparazzi" (Special Effects: Chimney Pot)
- Kanye West (featuring Mr Hudson) — "Paranoid" (Special Effects: Wizardflex and Ghost Town Media)
Best Art Direction in a Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Art Director: Niamh Byrne)
- Coldplay — "Viva la Vida" (Art Director: Gregory de Maria)
- Gnarls Barkley — "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Art Director: Zach Matthews)
- Lady Gaga — "Paparazzi" (Art Director: Jason Hamilton)
- Britney Spears — "Circus" (Art Directors: Laura Fox and Charles Varga)
Best Editing in a Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)
- Coldplay — "Viva la Vida" (Editor: Hype Williams)
- Miley Cyrus — "7 Things" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)
- Lady Gaga — "Paparazzi" (Editors: Danny Tull and Jonas Åkerlund)
- Britney Spears — "Circus" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)
Best Cinematography in a Video
- Beyoncé — "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Director of Photography: Jim Fealy)
- Coldplay — "Viva la Vida" (Director of Photography: John Perez)
- Green Day — "21 Guns" (Director of Photography: Jonathan Sela)
- Lady Gaga — "Paparazzi" (Director of Photography: Eric Broms)
- Britney Spears — "Circus" (Director of Photography: Thomas Kloss)
Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman)
- Beastie Boys — "Sabotage"
- Björk — "Human Behaviour"
- Dr. Dre — "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang"
- Foo Fighters — "Everlong"
- George Michael — "Freedom! '90"
- OK Go — "Here It Goes Again"
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — "Into the Great Wide Open"
- Radiohead — "Karma Police"
- David Lee Roth — "California Girls"
- U2 — "Where the Streets Have No Name"
Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Video
- Blaq Star — "Shining Star"
- Nerds in Disguise — "My Own Worst Enemy"
- One (Wo)Man Band — "Bad Reputation"
- The Sleezy Treezy — "Here It Goes Again"
- Synopsis — "The Kill"
Best Breakout Artist Awards
Eight local "MTV VMA Best Breakout Artist Awards" were awarded. The table below lists the number of bands considered in each city, the three finalist nominees selected by MTV for each VMA, and the winner in bold: The winners were featured on MTV on local cable during the live VMAs and received featured coverage on MTV and MTV2 (or MTV Tr3́s in the case of the LA contest). The winners did not receive a moonman. Neither the awards nor the winners were listed on the mtv.com "Winners" page, nor were they mentioned elsewhere on mtv.com.
Performances
- Janet Jackson - Tribute to Michael Jackson featuring "Thriller", "Bad", "Smooth Criminal", and "Scream"
- Katy Perry and Joe Perry - "We Will Rock You"
- Taylor Swift - "You Belong with Me"
- Lady Gaga - "Poker Face" intro/"Paparazzi"
- Green Day - "East Jesus Nowhere"
- Beyoncé - "Sweet Dreams" intro/"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
- Muse - "Uprising"
- Pink - "Sober"
- Jay-Z - "Empire State of Mind" featuring Alicia Keys (closing act)
The house band was rapper Wale and go-go band UCB. The following performed along with the band:
- 3OH!3
- The All-American Rejects
- Daniel Merriweather
- Pitbull
- Kid Cudi
- Solange
Presenters
- Justin Bieber
- Jack Black
- Adam Brody
- Gerard Butler
- Kristin Cavallari
- Alexa Chung
- Chace Crawford
- Miranda Cosgrove
- Eminem
- Jimmy Fallon
- Megan Fox
- Nelly Furtado
- Taylor Lautner
- Jennifer Lopez
- Madonna
- Leighton Meester
- Tracy Morgan
- Ne-Yo
- Robert Pattinson
- Katy Perry
- Andy Samberg
- Gabe Saporta
- Shakira
- Jamie-Lynn Sigler
- Kristen Stewart
- Pete Wentz
- Serena Williams
Kanye West controversy and debated incidents
While Taylor Swift was making her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", Kan
Beyonce Finally Comments On Kanye West's VMA Antics - News Story ...
Beyonce Finally Comments On Kanye West's VMA ... was the inspiration behind Kanye West's now-infamous onstage antics at the 2009 MTV ... Relive Kanye's rant, Russell's exploits, and ...
VMA 2009: Watch Kanye West Freak Out Back In 2005 » MTV Buzzworthy ...
Kanye West freaks out yet again back in 2005
Kanye West apologises for interrupting Taylor Swift at VMAs ...
Kanye West apologises for interrupting Taylor Swift at VMAs ... During the MTV Europe Music awards in 2006, the ... Here is Kanye's Katrina rant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ...
Kanye West Crashes VMA Stage During Taylor Swift's Award Speech - News ...
Kanye West Crashes VMA Stage During Taylor Swift's Award ... The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards are live now! Stay ... Relive Kanye's rant, Russell's exploits, and every incredible ...
Kanye West | MTV UK
The Brooklyn MC defends good friend, after a rant at his Baltimore gig ... Kanye West’s New MTV Show
Kanye West's MTV Tirade | SPIKE ...
Is Kanye happy just to be nominated? Hell no! In a bizarre rant, everyone's favorite ... You are commenting on: Kanye West's MTV Tirade
YouTube - RAW VIDEO: Kanye West's Backstage Meltdown!
Lol stop talking shit dude you sound dumb. You're argument was weak and I exposed it just deal with it. No need to call me names and say insults that make you sound retarded
Kanye Apologises | Kanye West | News | MTV UK
In a sensational rant, the rapper, who believed he should ... Speaking to MTV UK, he said, "I dont have anything ... Kanye West Profile Page
Barack Obama 'Calls Kanye West A Jackass' Over MTV Rant, ABC News ...
Barack Obama has called rapper Kanye West a "jackass", an ABC News anchorman has reported on Twitter.
YouTube - Kanye West MTV Rant
This is really sad. It's not even about race cuz plenty of other black people have won awards. He acts as if he is the Michael Jordan of Hip Hop when he's not.