CMA Awards Nominations led by Morgan Wallen, with a Post Malone Assist

Morgan Wallen is the top nominee for the 58th annual CMA Awards, with seven nods. He had some help with that, especially in the form of his duet performance on Post Malone’s hit “I Had Some Help,” which was nominated in four categories.

Wallen’s seven nominations for the Country Music Association’s annual commendations are followed by five for Cody Johnson and Chris Stapleton. Just behind, Post Malone’s four nominations put him in a tie with reigning Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson.

Seven artists or producer-writers each earned three nominations: singers Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Megan Maroney and Kacey Musgraves, along with Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome and Hoskins, all three of whom co-produced and also belong to “I Had Some Help.” to the credited writers on the tune.

Prominent double nominees include Kelsea Ballerini and hotshot newcomer Shaboozey. (Scroll down for the full list of nominations.)

In the battle for entertainer of the year, considered the top category, four of the five nominees are repeats from last year, including Wilson, the returning champion, plus Combs, Stapleton and Wallen. The newcomer to the category is Jelly Roll, which knocked out one of the 2023 nominees, Carrie Underwood. Combs previously claimed the title in 2021 and 2022; Stapleton and Wallen have never won it before, along with debutant Jelly Roll.

Not nominated: Beyoncé, whose country theme “Cowboy Carter” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” single topped the charts but achieved limited success at country radio.

An artist who appeared as a guest on Beyoncé’s album, Shaboozey, fared better, receiving two nominations.

The new artist category is particularly charged this year. It includes Shaboozey, who has another nomination for single of the year, with his breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” When Billboard released its latest Songs of the Summer chart, “A Bar Song” came in second behind “I Had Some Help” – with it landing in the top two, further proof of the power of the genre at the moment. Shaboozey appears to be the top contender just based on his recent dominance on the Hot 100 and his No. 1 status in country airplay. But the industry also has a lot of love for Moroney, a rare woman to reach the top of the airplay charts, and Bailey Zimmerman, who has had pop crossover success. Nate Smith, Mitchell Tenpenny and Zach Top are also up for a new artist – with the fact that six are nominated instead of the usual five indicative of a tie.

Some attention will be paid to the fact that Zach Bryan received only one nomination, for Musical Event of the Year, for his song “I Remember Everything,” which also earned a nod for his duet partner, Musgraves. It is Bryan’s second nomination in total, after landing in the best new artists category last year. Bryan’s lack of nominations at the CMA, ACM and CMT awards ceremonies, respectively, contrasts with the general public belief that he has been the most popular country artist in recent years, aside from Wallen. Still, he hasn’t fully officially embraced the role of country artist, and his songs aren’t actively promoted on country radio, putting him somewhat at odds with Nashville’s mainstream by his absence there. (Interestingly, the new entry in country awards, the People’s Choice Country Awards, has earned Bryan a whopping eleven nominations for his upcoming second annual show, no doubt hoping to stand out from the more established programs.)

It looks like Entertainer of the Year may be more up for grabs than usual this year, with a strong case for any of the five candidates being a serious contender to win. Jelly Roll, the newcomer to the category, has had a monstrous year and may have become the new poster boy for country, in much the same way that last year’s winner Wilson had become the new poster girl.

Stapleton may seem like a long shot for entertainer of the year, given his history of being nominated seven times without winning – a record. But it is precisely that ‘overdue’ status that can make the ‘White Horse’ artist the dark horse of the category. As for Wallen, his chair-throwing incident could be seen as impacting the “leadership” portion of the official criteria for the entertainer award — yet it’s possible industry voters are willing to overlook that when it comes to a man who has the greatest of them all. genre album of the past two years and now the biggest song of 2024… not to mention a stadium tour.

As for Post Malone, he split the eligibility period, releasing “I Had Some Help” before the cutoff but releasing his debut country album, “F-1 Trillion,” too late to qualify for this year’s prizes. But that album has received such an ecstatic reception in the country industry since its release less than a month ago that it will almost certainly rack up as many or more nominations in 2025.

Cody Johnson is also certainly considered a success story for 2024, in terms of higher nominations. He has never before been nominated for more than two CMAs in one year, and only one last year: for best male singer. This year he’s nominated for that trophy plus single of the year, album of the year and video of the year – twice in the latter category (for both ‘Dirt Cheap’ and ‘The Painter’). While no one knows who came in sixth place in the Entertainer of the Year voting, there’s a good chance it was Johnson, based on his strength in just about anything he could have committed himself to.

While the Best Male Vocalist lineup remained exactly the same as last year, there was some improvement in the Female Vocalist category, as two 2023 nominees, Miranda Lambert and Carly Pearce, did not repeat this year, joining Underwood on the list of prominent artists who were excluded from nominations for the first time in years.

The CMAs released a long list of artists, producers, writers and engineers nominated for the first time this year, including Andrew Baylis, Louis Bell, Brock Berryhill, Tom Bukovac, Will Bundy, Sean Cook, Benjy Davis, Shawn Everett, Riley Green, Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft, Kat Higgins, Hoskins, Jeff Johnson, Noah Kahan, Ella Langley, Ryan Larkins, Raul Lopez, Josh Phillips, Post Malone, Nevin Sastry, Shaboozey, Ernest Keith Smith, Nate Smith, Konrad Snyder, Mitchell Tenpenny, The Red Clay Strays, Zach Top, Chris Villa, Chandler Paul Walters and Bailey Zimmerman.

The vote among the professional members of the CMA will take place from October 1 to 29.

The CMA Awards telecast was recently announced as scheduled for November 20 – about two weeks later than it would normally air, likely due to the fact that the traditional broadcast week would intersect with the presidential election and its immediate aftermath, with America perhaps having more serious things on his mind.

The show will air on that date at 8 PM ET/PT on ABC, with streaming availability on Hulu the following day. A host or hosts have not yet been announced. Robert Deaton returns as executive producer, with Alan Carter again as director and Jon Macks as head writer.

Tickets for the live event at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. CT through Ticketmaster.

The full list of 2024 nominees:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
• Luke Combs
• Jelly roll
• Chris Stapleton
•Morgan Wallen
• Lainey Wilson

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
• “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry
Mixing engineer: Raul Lopez
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Mixing engineer: Jack Clarke
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (feat. Morgan Wallen)
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
Mixing engineer: Ryan Gore
• “Watermelon Moonshine” – Lainey Wilson
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mixing engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
• “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton
Mixing engineer: Vance Powell

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Prize goes to Artist, Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
• “Deeper Pit” – Kacey Musgraves
Producers: Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian
Mixing engineers: Shawn Everett, Konrad Snyder
• “Fathers and Sons” – Luke Combs
Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
Mixing engineer: Chip Matthews
• “Higher” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton
Mixing engineer: Vance Powell
• “Learn” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Mixing engineer: Jack Clarke
• “Whitt Chapel” – Jelly Roll
Producers: Andrew Baylis, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Jesse Frasure, David Garcia, Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft, Austin Nivarel, David Ray Stevens
Mixing engineers: Jeff Braun, Jim Cooley

SONG OF THE YEAR
Prize goes to Songwriter(s)
• “Burn down”
Songwriters: Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose
• “Dirt cheap”
Songwriter: Josh Phillips
• ‘I had some help’
Songwriters: Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters
• “The Painter”
Songwriters: Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins
• “White Horse”
Songwriters: Chris Stapleton, Dan Wilson

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
•Megan Moroney
• Shaboozey
• Nate Smith
• Mitchell Tenpenny
• Zach Top
• Bailey Zimmerman

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
• Kelsea Ballerini
• Ashley McBryde
•Megan Moroney
• Kacey Musgraves
• Lainey Wilson

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
• Luke Combs
• Jelly roll
•Cody Johnson
• Chris Stapleton
•Morgan Wallen

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
• Lady A
• Small big city
• Old rule
• The red clay strays
• Zac Brown Band

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
• Brooks & Dunn
• Brothers Osborne
• Dan + Shay
• Maddie & Tae
• The war and the treaty

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
Prize goes to artists and producer(s)
• “Cowboys Cry Too” – Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan)
Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (feat. Morgan Wallen)
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
• “I Remember Everything” – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves)
Producer: Zach Bryan
• “Man Made a Bar” – Morgan Wallen (feat. Eric Church)
Producer: Joey Moi
• “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green)
Producer: Will Bundy

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
• Tom Bukovac – Guitar
• Jenee Fleenor – Violin
• Paul Franklin – steel guitar
• Rob McNelley – Guitar
• Charlie Worsham – Guitar

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Prize goes to artist(s) and director(s)
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (feat. Morgan Wallen)
Director: Chris Villa
• “I’m not beautiful” – Megan Moroney
Directors: Jeff Johnson, Megan Moroney
• “The Painter” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
• “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” – Lainey Wilson
Director: Patrick Tracy