Sometimes the best part of awards-show night is remembering the performance you are STILL talking about decades later.
Spotify has opened a VMA video collection, and the lineup is a very good argument for letting the dishes sit a little longer.
According to Spotify’s announcement, the archive includes Madonna performing “Like a Virgin” in 1984, Nirvana doing “Lithium” in 1992 and Cardi B’s 2017 “Bodak Yellow” performance.
Three very different reasons to say, “Okay, just one more.”
Where to find the performances
Start at Spotify’s official VMAs hub. The company says its desktop, web and TV experience gathers the VMA videos in one place, while mobile adds editorial commentary and personalized discovery.
The partnership with Paramount also includes an official MTV VMAs video playlist and a Nirvana Video Vanguard 2026 hub.
My pick for where to start? Nirvana. There is something especially appealing about revisiting the actual performance instead of another person explaining why it mattered.
This is different from watching the whole ceremony
Spotify says select performances from the 2026 show will join after the broadcast. That does not mean every performance, and it is not a promise of a complete ceremony replay.
If you want the full evening, we have a separate guide to rewatching the 2026 VMAs on Paramount+.
For a trip through the older performances, though, this is a much more tempting use of a screen than refreshing the same argument about who should have won.
Pick your decade. The dishes were not going anywhere anyway.
