10 celebrities with the most social media mentions during the 2018 MTV VMAs
These award winners, performers, hosts, and guests racked up the most mentions on Twitter, Facebook, and more.
The MTV VMAs always stir up a lot of feelings, controversy, and excitement. This year’s proved to be no different, with many of the artists and acts taking up the top slots on the Twitter trends list. According to social media analytics firm TalkWalker, these are the 10 celebrities with the most social media mentions last night.
1. Nicki Minaj — 86.8k mentions
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In a pre-recorded segment, Nicki performed a medley of songs off her new ‘Queen’ album. She also threw some shade while accepting her Moon Person award for Best Hip-Hop Video, saying, “Don’t be coming for Fifth Harmony because Normani is that bitch” in response to Tiffany Haddish’s comment that the rest of the group besides Camila Cabello was watching from home.
2. Ariana Grande — 52.7k mentions
Not only did Ariana recreate Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ painting with a stage full of women to kick off her performance of ‘God is a Woman’, she also had five nominations and won for Best Pop Video. Beyond all that, though, she created a whole lot of online chatter with her new beau, Pete Davidson, and her radical hairstyle change.
3. Shawn Mendes — 35.2k mentions
Shawn kicked off the 2.5 hour+ VMAs with his performance of his latest single, ‘In My Blood’, which also included some pretty intense rain effects (read: a soaking wet Shawn on stage). The ‘In My Blood’ music video was nominated for Best Pop Video, Best Cinematography, and Best Direction. His half blue, half green Paul Smith suit for the pink carpet also garnered a lot of attention.
4. Travis Scott — 21k mentions
TMZ reported that Travis (along with Kylie Jenner) was originally supposed to be seated behind Nicki Minaj, but a last minute switch-up had them on opposite sides of the room. “We’re told it’s more about avoiding bad optics — Travis has the top album and shouldn’t sit BEHIND the artist with the No. 2 spot — and not about fear of retaliation or continued beef from Nicki,” they claim. This game of musical chairs continued to stir up the drama created by Nicki’s slew of tweets against Travis and Kylie a few days ago.
5. Beyoncé — 18.1k mentions
Beyoncé doesn’t even have to show up to an awards show to become one of the night’s top 10 most mentioned celebrities on social media. The Carters’ ‘APES**T’ took home the Moon Person for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction after being nominated for eight categories, including Video of the Year.
6. Tiffany Haddish — 17.1k mentions
As mentioned, Tiffany threw some deep, dark shade at Fifth Harmony when she not-so-subtly implied that Camila Cabello was in the room to collect all her awards while the rest of the ladies in the group sat and watched from their sofas at home. Fifth Harmony’s fierce fanbase did not take lightly to this, racking up most of those 17,000+ mentions.
7. Jennifer Lopez — 16.3k mentions
Jennifer received the coveted Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, an award that dates back to 1984. She joined the ranks of lifetime achievers like Madonna, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé. In what was undoubtedly the best performance of the night, JLo blew the roof off Radio City Music Hall with a dance-heavy medley of her greatest hits — including a surprise guest, Ja Rule.
8. Post Malone — 15.5k mentions
Post Malone closed out the night with a performance that started with 21 Savage (their track ‘rockstar’ won for Song of the Year) and ended with Aerosmith. Whether it was ‘rockstar’, Aerosmith, or Postie’s smiley face onesie that garnered all these mentions, we’ll never know.
9. Pete Davidson — 13.6k mentions
Did Pete Davidson do much during the VMAs? No, he’s not a musician. But his new relationship with Ariana Grande has been the talk of the world since news of it broke this summer. The couple posed on the pink carpet together, sat side-by-side in the audience, and Ariana even gave him a quick thank-you while accepting her award for Best Pop Video.
10. Lady Gaga — 10.2k mentions
Lady Gaga had been the subject of many a VMAs rumor with some fans and news outlets speculating that she’d be a surprise performer. But alas, there was no sign of her throughout the night.
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