@HeadlinePlanet Founder | Entertainment Journalist | Harvard Grad | Loud UConn Fan | Author Of The World's Most On-Point Music & TV Opinions
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Joined December 2011
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To enter the discourse: I think questions around "what's organic" also explain why chart battles seem less fun than we remember.
There was ALWAYS considerable calculation behind chart races. But now that everything's public and we see how the sausage is made, it's really disillusioning.
We get bombarded with evidence of chart battles being about strategy (from labels, artists, and fans), so we convince ourselves (fairly or not) that these battles aren't really about "which song resonated the best."
We're in such a weird place when it comes to the music charts right now, in part because there's no real consensus on what counts as "organic."
Driven by sales? Some say "not organic" because it's about hardcore fans showing support not the general public showing interest.
Driven by social? Some say "not organic" because the virality potentially started with the artist/label "pushing" the song on influencers. Plus, there's STILL a stigma toward "TikTok songs."
Driven by streaming or radio? Some say "not organic" because curators have power, plus streaming success doesn't always correlate with support for physicals/merch/tours.
VMA ratings are fascinating.
The show drew an average of 8.4 million total viewers. Great number, as expected.
But here's the thing: the opening segment drew 15 million.
Whether you credit the NFL lead-in or Madonna specifically for that opening boost ... the show clearly did a terrible job of holding that initial interest.
The numbers also help explain that "weird start time" issue. Clearly, CBS wanted to go right into the performance to keep interest coming out of the NFL game. If they advertised an 8PM start, there would have been downtime. If they planned for a rolling start, there still could have been difficulty launching immediately after the game.
With some big name appearances (Taylor, Madonna, etc) and a direct lead-in from a major, down-to-the-wire NFL game ... ratings could end up looking OK.
But the pop culture significance has largely evaporated.
Bizarre VMAs. Weird start time issue. Ridiculously short show, yet it still dragged for much of the night. Snoop didn't really do any "hosting."
Performances were generally good, but the lineup was missing way too many of the year's biggest hits/acts.
Given what the MTV VMAs have historically meant in pop culture ... the idea of doing the 2026 iteration without *any* from the list of Ella, Olivia Rodrigo, Harry, KATSEYE, Usher/Chris Brown, BTS, Drake, Ariana, Noah, Karol, Tame Impala/JENNIE, etc is preposterous.
And realistically there should have been time for the year's big breakthroughs like ADELA, Slayyyter, and Turnstile to have their big "VMAs moment."
This could be one of those years where the remote performance is the best ... because Bruno stole the early part of this show #VMAs
Starting the VMAs significantly before the broadcast is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.
Knowing it was post-football which can always go a little long, why not just schedule the ceremony for 8PM?
