Rihanna to Receive Vanguard Award at MTV VMA’s

At just 28 years old, Rihanna has successfully established herself as one of the biggest names in music and fashion with 61 million albums and 215 million tracks sold worldwide. This year she will be able to add one more accomplishment to that list as MTV awards Rihanna with its highest honor, the “Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award,” for her decade-long impact on music, pop culture, fashion, film, and philanthropy during this year’s VMA ceremony. Rihanna will join the prestigious list of past Vanguard recipients including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, Guns N’ Roses, Beastie Boys, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, BEYONCÉ and Kanye West.

Rihanna is the first performer to be announced for this year’s ceremony, so stay tuned for more announcements, especially since this year has been one of the craziest years for music.
Fans can vote for their favorites in VMA categories including, “Video of The Year,” “Best Male Video,” “Best Female Video,” new category, “Breakthrough Long Form Video” and more by visiting vma.mtv.com. Vote across all categories to enter to win the chance to go to the VMAs in NYC, thanks to Verizon, the presenter of this year’s award voting. Additionally, voting for the “Best New Artist” award, presented by Taco Bell®, will remain live through the 2016 “MTV Video Music Awards” Pre-Show airing at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and new this year, fans can cast their votes for the category via Facebook Messenger starting August 15th. The top two artists will be revealed during the pre-show, kicking off a live hashtag vote with the winner being announced during the live main telecast.

This year’s MTV VMA ceremony will be broadcast live from New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden on Sunday, August 28 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on MTV.