Taylor Swift just made MTV VMA history at the 2026 awards

Taylor Swift is now the music industry's most-awarded artist by the MTV Video Music Awards.

The 'Patient Zero' singer blew past Beyoncé after winning the MTV VMA Artist Director prize.

Having previously tied with the 'Single Ladies' diva on 30 gongs each, Taylor managed to clear her competitor on Sunday night by taking home the newly introduced award.

"I want to say thank you to MTV for giving this platform to music videos so long ago," Taylor, 36, told the audience at the ceremony, held at LA's Peacock Theater.

She went on to explain she had personally written and directed 18 of the 60 or so music videos she had released over the course of her career, before thanking her fans.

"The main reason why I love writing and directing music videos so much is because you, the fans, make it so much fun," Taylor gushed. "You make it so rewarding."

The inaugural artist-director prize was introduced this year to recognise musical artists "whose directorial work has advanced the art of music video and storytelling".

Taylor was nominated for 11 different awards at this year's event: Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best Pop, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography, Best Visual Effects, Best Album and Song of the Summer.