Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves are among the most-nominated artists at the 2026 CMA Awards. The Country Music Association (CMA) unveiled its full list of nominees on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 10), first announcing some of the nominees on ABC’s Good Morning America before revealing the complete list via livestream on the CMA’s official YouTube channel.
“For six decades, the CMA Awards have celebrated excellence in Country Music,” CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Trahern shared in a statement via a press release. “We’re grateful to CMA’s Professional members, whose collective voice determines every nomination, bringing real expertise to the balloting process each year. Congratulations to all of this year’s deserving nominees. We cannot wait to celebrate our milestone anniversary together in November.”
Ella Langley leads the 2026 CMA Awards nominations with nine nods, followed by Miranda Lambert with seven. Kacey Musgraves and Ben West each earned five nominations. Langley earned nine nominations across seven categories, including Entertainer of The Year, Single of The Year, Album of The Year, Song of The Year, Female Vocalist of The Year, Musical Event of The Year, and Music Video of The Year. She earned two nominations in both the Single of The Year and Song of The Year categories for her hit singles “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas.” Both songs were produced by Langley, Miranda Lambert, and Ben West and mixed by Dave Clauss.
Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen’s “I Can’t Love You Anymore” is nominated for Musical Event of the Year. The track was produced by Langley, Austin Goodloe, and West. She also earned a Music Video of the Year nomination for “Choosin’ Texas,” which was directed by Langley, Caylee Robillard, and Wales Toney. With these nine nods, Langley’s career total of CMA Awards nominations now stands at 16.
Lambert earned seven nominations, including two for Single of the Year as a producer on “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas,” a Song of the Year nod for co-writing “Choosin’ Texas,” and two Musical Event of the Year nominations for “A Song To Sing” with Chris Stapleton and “Horses and Divorces” with Kacey Musgraves. She also received her 19th Female Vocalist of the Year nomination, bringing her career total to 70 CMA Awards nominations, the most of any female artist.
Musgraves scored five nominations for Album of the Year (Middle of Nowhere), Song of the Year (“Dry Spell”), Female Vocalist of the Year, Musical Event of the Year (“Horses and Divorces”), Music Video of the Year (“Dry Spell”). West also received five nominations such as Single of the Year (“Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas”), Album of the Year (Dandelion), Musical Event of the Year (“I Can’t Love You Anymore” and “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay”).
Meanwhile, Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Stephen Wilson Jr. each earned four nominations. Johnson received nods for Entertainer of the Year, Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “The Fall,” as well as Male Vocalist of the Year. Stapleton was nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Musical Event of the Year for “A Song To Sing,” and Music Video of the Year for “White Horse.” Wilson Jr. earned nominations for Song and Music Video of the Year for “Gary,” along with Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year.
Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson will compete for the night’s most prestigious honor of Entertainer Of The Year.
First-time CMA Awards nominees include Smith Ahnquist, Avery Anna, Jack Antonoff, Tim Cofield, Carter Faith, Austin Goodloe, Muscadine Bloodline, Emily Ann Roberts, Caylee Robillard, Laura Sisk, Joybeth Taylor, Thelma & James and Ben West.
See the full list of 2026 CMA Awards nominees below:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Luke Combs
Cody Johnson
Ella Langley
Chris Stapleton
Lainey Wilson
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist, Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
“Be Her” – Ella Langley
Producers: Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, Ben West
Mix Engineer: Dave Clauss
“Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
Producers: Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, Ben West
Mix Engineer: Dave Clauss
“I Knew It, I Knew You” – Taylor Swift
Producers: Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift
Mix Engineer: Laura Sisk
“Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
“The Fall” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Mix Engineer: Jack Clarke
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist, Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top
Producer: Carson Chamberlain
Mix Engineer: Matt Rovey
Dandelion – Ella Langley
Producers: Devin Dawson, Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert, Ben West
Mix Engineer: Dave Clauss
Middle of Nowhere – Kacey Musgraves
Producers: Ian Fitchuk, Luke Laird, Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian
Mix Engineers: Serban Ghenea, Konrad Snyder
Parker McCollum – Parker McCollum
Producers: Frank Liddell, Eric Masse
Mix Engineer: Eric Masse
The Way I Am – Luke Combs
Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
Mix Engineer: Chip Matthews
SONG OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Songwriter(s)
“Be Her”
Songwriters: Smith Ahnquist, Michael Hardy, Ella Langley, Jordan Schmidt
“Beautiful Things”
Songwriters: Jessi Alexander, Jessie Jo Dillon, Connie Harrington, Megan Moroney
“Choosin’ Texas”
Songwriters: Luke Dick, Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert, Joybeth Taylor
“Dry Spell”
Songwriters: Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves, Josh Osborne
“Gary”
Songwriter: Stephen Wilson Jr.
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Miranda Lambert
Ella Langley
Megan Moroney
Kacey Musgraves
Lainey Wilson
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Luke Combs
Cody Johnson
Chris Stapleton
Zach Top
Stephen Wilson Jr.
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Lady A
Little Big Town
Midland
Old Dominion
The Red Clay Strays
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
Brooks & Dunn
Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay
Muscadine Bloodline
Thelma & James
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artists and Producer(s)
“A Song To Sing” – Miranda Lambert (with Chris Stapleton)
Producer: Dave Cobb
“Horses and Divorces” – Kacey Musgraves (feat. Miranda Lambert)
Producers: Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian
“I Can’t Love You Anymore” – Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen
Producers: Austin Goodloe, Ella Langley, Ben West
“If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” – Carly Pearce & Riley Green
Producers: Carly Pearce, Ben West
“McArthur” – HARDY, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen & Tim McGraw
Producer: Jay Joyce
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Tom Bukovac – Guitar
Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle
Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
Rob McNelley – Guitar
Charlie Worsham – Guitar
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s) and Director(s)
“Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
Directors: Ella Langley, Caylee Robillard, Wales Toney
“Dry Spell” – Kacey Musgraves
Directors: Hannah Lux Davis, Kacey Musgraves
“Gary” – Stephen Wilson Jr.
Directors: Tim Cofield, Stephen Wilson Jr.
“The Fall” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
“White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Director: Running Bear
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Avery Anna
Carter Faith
Emily Ann Roberts
Tucker Wetmore
Stephen Wilson Jr.
The 60th Annual CMA Awards are voted on by the 7,083 voting-eligible CMA Professional members, which represent every corner of the Country Music landscape, including industry professionals, recording artists, songwriters, producers, musicians and more. Winners of the 2026 CMA Awards will be determined in a Final Round of voting by voting-eligible CMA Professional members. The third and Final Ballot will be emailed on Thursday, Oct. 1. Voting for the CMA Awards Final Ballot ends Tuesday, Oct. 27 (6:00 PM/CT). All balloting is tabulated by the professional services organization, Deloitte.
Hosted by Lainey Wilson, the 60th Annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 18 (8:00 – 11:00 PM/EST) on ABC and Disney+. The three-hour broadcast, produced by Robert Deaton, directed by Alan Carter with Jon Macks as the Head Writer, will also be available to watch on-demand the next day on Hulu.
Tickets to attend the 2026 CMA Awards are on sale now at CMAAwards.com/Tickets.
