Will CORTIS Win Best New Artist Tonight? Data Ranks Rookie Group No. 1

CORTIS is heading into the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards with three nominations, including a shot at one of the ceremony's genre-neutral honors, Best New Artist.

The 2026 MTV VMAs will take place Sept. 27 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with Snoop Dogg hosting the ceremony.

CORTIS is nominated for Best New Artist, Best K-pop for "REDRED" and Best Group, marking a significant showing at the awards just over a year after the group's debut.

Among the three, Best New Artist stands out as the only category not tied to a specific genre or group designation. CORTIS will compete against a field of emerging artists for the award.

Data analytics platform Viberate has also placed CORTIS at the top of its Best New Artist ranking ahead of the ceremony. Using its own data-based model, the company gave the group a score of 76.85, narrowly ahead of Malcolm Todd at 76.57. Sienna Spiro followed with 73.74.

Viberate said its ranking weighs an artist's current audience size at 60% and discovery, which measures the rate at which new listeners are finding an artist, at 40%.

CORTIS also faces a crowded field in Best K-pop. "REDRED" is nominated alongside BTS' "SWIM," BLACKPINK's "JUMP," KATSEYE's "PINKY UP," LE SSERAFIM's "SPAGHETTI" featuring j-hope and Lisa's "Dream feat. Kentaro Sakaguchi."

In Best Group, CORTIS is up against BTS, BLACKPINK, KATSEYE, FLO, Fuerza Regida, Geese and Twenty One Pilots.

The three nominations give CORTIS a chance to add another major milestone to a year that has already seen the rookie group build momentum both in Korea and overseas. Whether that momentum translates into its first VMA trophy will be decided tonight.