Ella Langley Leads 2026 CMA Awards Nominations With Nine, as Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves Also Score Big Tallies

2026/09/10

Categories: entertainment

In perhaps the least surprising development in recent CMA Awards history, Ella Langley emerged at the front of the pack when nominations for the 2026 telecast were announced Thursday morning, scoring nine in all, just one shy of the all-time single-year record set by Alan Jackson in 2002.

Miranda Lambert has this year second-most nominations, with seven. Some are for her own releases, but it’s notable that four of Lambert’s nods come for her work as a songwriter or producer on recordings by… Ella Langley.

Others being rewarded by Country Music Association voters with multiple nominations include Kacey Musgraves and Ben West (Langley’s co-producer) with five each; Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Stephen Wilson Jr. with four each; and Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs and Dave Clauss (Langley’s mix engineer) with three nominations each. (Scroll down for the full list of nominees.)

Foremost among Langley’s nine nods is her first-tine nomination for the CMAs’ top prize, entertainer of the year. Given that Langley has the biggest hit of the year in any genre with “Choosin’ Texas,” a smash that helped propel her to arena headliner status, she has to be considered a frontrunner for the top prize despite this being her first time landing in that rarefied territory.

This marks the first time in three years that two women have been simultaneously nominated for that award, with defending champion Lainey Wilson also earning another shot at it. (Wilson, who picked up EOTY in 2023 and again in 2025, was also announced last week as host for the CMAs telecast for the third year in a row.)

The other three candidates for entertainer of the year are Luke Combs, Cody Johnson and Chris Stapleton. The list of candidates for the top prize duplicates last year’s roster of EOTY nominees, with the exception of Langley taking the spot that went to Morgan Wallen in 2024.

Although he remains undeniably country’s biggest modern superstar, Wallen takes a lower profile in this year’s nods with just two nominations, both of them for collaborations that got nods in the musical event category, including a duet with (surprise) Langley. It was just two years ago that Wallen won entertainer of the year, but his not showing up for the ceremony to claim country music’s highest annual honor may have affected how voters felt about honoring him as EOTY going forward. But it’s also worth noting that, as recordings go, he was off-cycle, with his “I’m the Problem” album predating the 2026 eligibility period and his latest single, “Been by Now,” too fresh to have been considered.

Pop’s biggest superstar, Taylor Swift, returned to her CMA-winning roots by getting a nomination for “I Knew it, I Knew You” for single of the year. It is her first nomination in that category since 2013, when she was nominated for top single for a featured appearance on Tim McGraw’s “Highway Don’t Care.” It is only her second CMA nomination this decade, the last having been for video of the year in 2022 for “I Bet You Think About Me,” a duet with Chris Stapleton. It’s the first stop in what looks to be a long awards season for “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the country-flavored closing theme song from “Toy Story 5,” which is likely to figure into upcoming Grammys and Oscars consideration.

If you’re looking at who has the most increased profile in CMA nominations this year, that would be Stephen Wilson Jr., who last year had just one nomination — for best new artist — even though he was given a big look with repeat appearances on the 2025 telecast. This year, the critically acclaimed artist returns with four nominations, including another shot at best new artist, plus his entree into the coveted male vocalist of the year category and a nom for song of the year for his single “Gary.”

Musgraves received plenty of attention this year for an album, “Middle of Nowhere,” and single, “Dry Spell,” that were perceived as her return to a more identifiably country sound. The CMAs did not abandon her as she explored other musical strains; her previous album, “Deeper Well,” was also nominated for album of the year. But 2026 does mark the first time she has received four nominations in a single year since 2013.

One of the most notable nominations is the one shared by Musgraves and Lambert, who were perceived to have had a decade-long beef. That perceived feud was actually the subject of their duet-and-make-up collaboration, “Horses and Divorces,” which is up for musical event of the year. Regardless of its merits as a song (which are strong), CMA voters may be tempted to vote for the collab just to enjoy the historic sight of the two renewed pals sharing the podium to accept, after clips were shared of a previous CMAs moment years back when Musgraves appeared to be glaring at Lambert during the latter’s acceptance speech for a song Musgraves co-wrote.

Lambert was between album cycles this eligibility period — with her “Crisco” album not due till later this fall — but that didn’t stop her from adding to her huge list of historic CMA nominations. She has four nods for co-writing or co-producing Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” and “Be Her” singles and her “Dandelion” album. Lambert was also nominated doubly in the musical event category, with a preview single from her upcoming album, “A Song to Sing,” done in partnership with Stapleton, joining her appearance on Musgraves’ album for consideration.

Langley will compete against herself in one of the marquee categories, single of the year, as she is nominated not just for “Choosin’ Texas” but its followup hit, “Be Her.” Most of the time, artists might be worried about splitting their vote, but “Choosin’ Texas” losin’ any of the the CMAs it’s up for seems like the least likely possibility in a world of theoretical outcomes, as anyone with a song positioned against it this year can consider themselves happy just to be nominated.

The Country Music Association would no doubt say it doesn’t do “snubs,” but there were some artists who had a lower profile than predicted this year. After tying last year for a leading six nominations, Megan Moroney had to settle for two this year, female vocalist of the year and song of the year (“Beautiful Things”). Moroney is hardly hurting right now, playing to manic audiences on a sold-out arena tour. But she might have been expected to also contend for single of the year and album of the year. It seems less likely that the widely acclaimed Moroney has fallen out of favor with the country music intelligentsia than that 2026 has just offered an embarrassment of riches for the genre.

The album slot that some expected to go to Moroney instead went to Parker McCollum’s self-titled album — which shouldn’t have come as such a surprise if you remember that it won album of the year this spring at the rival ACM Awards. It marks McCollum’s lone nomination, but probably the prize he was most going after, as he emphasized in interviews that he focused on this as a complete body of work more than chasing hit singles this time.

Coming up empty, meanwhile, was Stella Lefty, one of the biggest newcomers in country, with “Boston,” a song that continues to remain lodged in the top 5 of both the Hot 100 and the country airplay chart. Although she and her music have hardly been without controversy, Lefty was still thought to be a contender for a best new artist nomination, but voters instead favored Carter Faith, Avery Anna and Emily Ann Roberts there, as well as two artists who’ve had considerable success and are back up for the honor for the second year in a row, Tucker Wetmore and Stephen Wilson Jr.

Voting among the Country Music Association’s membership will take place between Oct. 1. and Oct. 27.

“The 60th Annual CMA Awards” airs live Nov. 18 from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming on Hulu. 

“THE 60TH ANNUAL CMA AWARDS” – FINAL NOMINEES (by ballot category order):  

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist, Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR  
Award goes to Artist, Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)

SONG OF THE YEAR 
Award goes to Songwriter(s)

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR 

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR  

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR  
Award goes to Artists and Producer(s)  

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR  
Award goes to Artist(s) and Director(s)

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

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