Grammy Award for Best Music Video

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  In 1987, the Grammy Award for Best Music Video went to Dire Straits for Brothers in Arms. The directors and producers behind the video received no award. The Recording Academy has never publicly explained why. That silence points toward something unusual in a category where the question of credit has always been complicated. The award was first presented at the 1984 ceremony, yet the rules for deciding who counts as a recipient have been revised more than once. What it means to author a music video is a question this category has answered differently in different years. Whether the performer or the filmmaker holds that claim has never been entirely settled.

• 2. A Prize With Shifting Rules

  ›

  The Grammy ceremony itself dates to 1958, when it was known as the Gramophone Awards. The short-form music video category arrived twenty-six years later, paired from the start with a companion Long Form Music Video prize. In those first two years, the Grammy went only to the performing artist. Directors and producers were not included.

  Beginning in 1986, that changed. The category adopted a new name, Best Music Video, Short Form, and for the first time directors and producers could share the award with the performing artist. In 1988 and 1989, the rules shifted more dramatically. The single award was replaced by two separate prizes: Best Concept Music Video and Best Performance Music Video. The unified format returned in 1990.

  A further renaming introduced Best Short Form Music Video, a title held until 2012. From 2013, the award became simply Best Music Video. Quincy Jones was among the first producers to be recognized under the expanded rules. He took a Grammy in 1986 as producer of We Are the World - The Video Event by USA for Africa.

• 3. Three Wins for Romanek

  ›

  Mark Romanek's first nomination in this category came in 1993, for Free Your Mind by En Vogue, which did not win. His record of six nominations in total spreads across twenty-five years, from 1993 to 2018.

  Scream by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson took the prize in 1996. Got 'til It's Gone by Janet Jackson won in 1998. Hurt by Johnny Cash earned the award in 2004. These three victories give Romanek a total no other director in the category has matched.

  His remaining non-winning nominations were Picasso Baby by Jay-Z in 2014 and The Story of O.J., also by Jay-Z, in 2018. David Fincher won the award twice: Love Is Strong by the Rolling Stones in 1995 and Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake in 2014. Joseph Kahn's two wins came a decade apart, with Eminem's Without Me in 2003 and Taylor Swift's Bad Blood in 2016.

  Among producers, Nathan Scherrer holds the overall record with eight nominations. His credits include videos by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, and Coldplay.

• 4. Records and Near-Misses

  ›

  Kendrick Lamar holds the record for most wins as a performer in this category, with three. His first came in 2016 as a featured artist on Taylor Swift's Bad Blood. Humble in 2018 and Not Like Us in 2025 followed as his own lead videos.

  Icelandic singer Björk carries a different kind of distinction: four nominations without a single win. Her nominated videos include Human Behaviour from 1994, It's Oh So Quiet from 1996, and Bachelorette from 1999. A fourth nomination, for All Is Full of Love, came in 2000.

  Taylor Swift brought a milestone to the category in 2023. She won for All Too Well: The Short Film, directing it without a co-director. No other performing artist had claimed that distinction before.

  The 2026 prize went to Doechii for Anxiety, directed by James Mackel, extending a winner's list that now spans more than four decades.