MTV Video Music Award for Best Group | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Presented by | MTV |
Formerly called | Best Group Video, Group of the Year |
First awarded | 1984 |
Currently held by | Blackpink |
Most awards | BTS (4) |
Most nominations | U2 (7) |
Website | VMA website |
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Group (also known as the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video and MTV Video Music Award for Group of the Year) is given to recording artists at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). The award was introduced at the inaugural ceremony in 1984[1] by vocalist Ric Ocasek of the Cars. American rock band ZZ Top was the first act to receive the honor for its "Legs" music video.[2] Tim Newman, the video's director, accepted the award on behalf of the band.[3]
In 2007, a revamp of the ceremony saw the award renamed from Best Group Video to simply Best Group.[4][5] In 2008, the VMAs returned to their original format, but the award was not included.[6][7] It was brought back for the 2019 edition of the show, as one of three social-media voted categories, instead of being determined by industry personnel as in previous years.[8][9] In 2021, it was renamed from Best Group to Group of the Year, though it was changed back to Best Group in 2024.[10]
BTS is the most-awarded artist in this category, having won the award four times, and is the only nominee to win the award in consecutive years, from 2019 to 2022.[11] U2 is the most-nominated act, with seven of its videos receiving nominations in six different years between 1985 and 2005. TLC was the first girl group to win the award, doing so twice with their videos for "Waterfalls" (1995) and "No Scrubs" (1999). Blackpink is the most-nominated girl group, having received five nominations from 2019 to 2023, and was the second girl group after TLC to win the award in 2023.
MTV wasn't unaware of the criticism. A few days ago, they announced a trio of trophies to be voted on by fans: Best Power Anthem, Song of Summer and Best Group.
The original VMAs were determined by a panel made up of record company execs, video producers and directors, and other industry stalwarts..."...a jury of [the artists'] peers. It didn't have a lot to do with what...the fans thought," Sykes said.