Which Country Stars Have Performed at the MTV Video Music Awards?

Historically, country has been represented less than genres like pop, rock and hip-hop at the MTV Video Music Awards.

That's beginning to change: Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen, Shaboozey and Tyler Childers are all nominated at the 2024 awards show. Taylor Swift and Post Malone — two artists with country connections — are the two most nominated artists at this year's show, and Beyoncé's country single "Texas Hold 'Em" is nominated for Song of the Year.

It makes sense that country representation is bumping up in 2024. Increasingly, the genre is finding more and more popularity outside its home fan base, both because of big-ticket acts like Post and Beyoncé releasing country projects, and because of the undeniable crossover success of artists like Wallen, Shaboozey and Luke Combs.

Country music has become more competitive in all-genre venues and charts: As of this week, Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" has spent eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

Wallen, who's also a frequent flier at the top of the Hot 100, is leading another all-genre chart this week: He's at the top of the Billboard all-genre Songs of the Summer chart for the second year running.

Even though country performances have been sparse at VMAs past, they've been big ones: In fact, a couple of country star-focused moments have been some of the biggest in VMA history!

Flip through the gallery below to see a round-up of the country or country-adjacent acts who've performed on the VMAs stage, and get ready for this list of performers to grow as the genre's popularity gets bigger and bigger.

6 Country Artists Who Have Performed at the MTV VMAs

Historically, the country genre hasn't been represented much at the MTV Video Music Awards. That's all set to change in 2024, with Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen, Shaboozey, Post Malone and Tyler Childers all nominated for awards at the show.

But even though appearances from country stars have been sparse at VMAs past, there are a handful of country and country-adjacent stars who've performed at the show in years past. Let's take a walk down memory lane to see what they are.

Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak

15 Epic Country Concert Photos That Will Get You Fired Up!

You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, we've got 15,000 words for you below.

These are some of the most epic photos of your favorite country artists totally in their performance element.

Carena Liptak is an Associate Editor and staff writer at Taste of Country. She specializes in breaking country music news, interviews and lists. In particular, she’s got a soft spot for sad songs — check out her roundup of the 50 Saddest Country Songs of All Time!