Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Lady Gaga, Ozzy Osbourne Get Immediate Chart Push from VMAs, But No Love for Ariana Grande (Who Won Best Video) or Mariah

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The MTV Video Music Awards were like a sewer fest at best. It was like watching cars pile up in a highway disaster.

The show helped a couple of the performers sell records over night, but not many.

The VMAs named an Ariana Grande song Best Video of the Year. However, no one knows the song — called “Brighter Days Ahead.” It was never a chart hit, and still isn’t. There’s no sign of it on the iTunes Top 100 today.

Also, the “Brighter Days” video is not just a three minute deal. It’s over 20 minutes, a long form video, so you’d think that would be another category.

Mariah Carey also didn’t get any bounce. She performed an underwhelming medley of some hits and moved like she’d just been awakened from a coma. The result is none of those songs appearing on the Top 100 this morning. If she’d just sung her one big number, “Vision of Love,” something might have happened.

On the other hand, the VMAs were very kind to Lady Gaga. Watching her amazing live performance from Madison Square Garden, viewers have put five of her songs onto the top 100 including the two she performed, “Abracadabra” and “The Dead Dance.” It also helped “Die with a Smile,” her duet with Bruno Mars that continues its chart stay after months and months.

Ozzy Osbourne made out okay. The tribute to him has sent his songs back onto the chart, especially “Mama I’m Coming Home.” Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were so terrific performing it, it sent fans right to their phones.

Ratings? We’ll see…

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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