The first VMA ceremony was held in 1984 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. The ceremonies are normally held in either New York City or Los Angeles.
However, the ceremonies have also been hosted in Miami and Las Vegas. The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards took place on August 26, 2019, in Newark for the first time. The Washington Post and HuffPost stated that the stature of the ceremony had declined by 2019. HuffPost cited reasons such as a lack of interest (declining attendances and viewership: in 2019 ratings hit an all-time low for the third straight year), lack of musical diversity, lack of celebrity, lack of credibility, and access to music online.
