2026 CMA Nominations: The Biggest Surprises, Omissions and Fan Reactions

The 2026 CMA Awards nominations arrived Thursday, Sept. 10, and country music wasted no time reacting. Celebration videos hit social media almost immediately, followed by shocked reactions and the inevitable “Where is ___?” comments.

This year’s nominations created a pretty clear contrast between who showed up everywhere and who barely showed up at all. Ella Langley emerged as the biggest story of the morning, leading all artists with nine nominations and earning her first Entertainer of the Year nod. On the other end, Morgan Wallen and Riley Green were largely absent from the major solo categories. Limited award-show recognition is nothing new for Wallen, but Green’s showing was more surprising after his recent run of nominations and wins.

The nominations set the stage for the 60th annual CMA Awards on Nov. 18 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, where reigning Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson will return as host after her first solo turn in 2025.

Before Thursday’s announcement, Fort Nash predicted four of the night’s biggest categories. Some picks were right on target. Others went in a completely different direction. Here is what stood out.

1. Entertainer of the Year: Morgan Wallen Is MIA... Again

Nominees: Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson.

Fort Nash predicted Wallen, Langley, Wilson, Combs and Megan Moroney, putting three of the five predictions on the final ballot.

Langley’s jump into Entertainer of the Year feels like one of the defining nominations of the year. Wilson and Combs were expected, while Johnson enters after winning both Entertainer of the Year and Male Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards earlier this year. Stapleton has also become a fixture in the CMA’s biggest categories, making his inclusion hardly a surprise.

The conversation online, however, quickly turned to who was missing. “Where’s Morgan?” showed up repeatedly in reactions to Fort Nash’s post, while Moroney’s absence also stood out after another huge year. Wallen was not completely shut out, but both of his nominations came through collaborations in Musical Event of the Year rather than any of the major solo categories. Being left out of major award-show categories has become a familiar trend for Wallen, but after another massive year of touring, missing Entertainer of the Year still feels surprising.

2. Album of the Year: “Cloud 9” Comes Back to Earth

Nominees: Zach Top’s “Ain’t In It For My Health,” Langley’s “Dandelion,” Kacey Musgraves’ “Middle of Nowhere,” Parker McCollum’s self-titled album and Combs’ “The Way I Am.”

Fort Nash correctly predicted “Dandelion,” “Middle of Nowhere” and “The Way I Am,” while Moroney’s “Cloud 9” and Johnson’s “Banks of the Trinity” missed the cut.

“Cloud 9” is probably the more noticeable omission. The album arrived in February and has helped fuel one of the most visible stretches of Moroney’s career, so fans were quick to include it in the snub conversation. “Banks of the Trinity,” meanwhile, barely made the eligibility window. Johnson released the album June 26, just four days before eligibility closed June 30, leaving little time to build momentum before voting began in July.

Instead, voters made room for two albums that already had industry validation. McCollum’s self-titled project won Album of the Year at the 2026 ACM Awards, while Top’s “Ain’t In It For My Health” was nominated in the same category.

3. Song of the Year: Ella Langley vs. Ella Langley

Nominees: “Be Her,” Ella Langley; “Beautiful Things,” Megan Moroney; “Choosin’ Texas,” Ella Langley; “Dry Spell,” Kacey Musgraves; and “Gary,” Stephen Wilson Jr.

Fort Nash was right on target with “Choosin’ Texas,” “Beautiful Things” and “Dry Spell,” while “The Fall” and Luke Combs’ “Be By You” missed the category. “The Fall” still found its way onto the ballot with a Single of the Year nomination.

There is an important distinction for this category. Song of the Year honors the songwriters, while Single of the Year recognizes the artist, producer and mix engineer behind a specific recording. Fort Nash only predicted Song of the Year, so that is the category being compared.

Again, Langley is at the center of the conversation. She claimed two of the five spots with “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas,” giving her two chances at the same trophy. Stephen Wilson Jr.’s “Gary” was the biggest curveball in a field otherwise filled with some of the year’s most visible songs. After the run “Choosin’ Texas” has had, though, it will be hard not to view it as the song to beat heading into November.

4. New Artist of the Year: The Toughest Race?

Nominees: Avery Anna, Carter Faith, Emily Ann Roberts, Tucker Wetmore and Stephen Wilson Jr.

Fort Nash predicted Faith, Wetmore and Wilson, while Stella Lefty and Hudson Westbrook were replaced on the final ballot by Anna and Roberts.

This could be one of the hardest categories to call. Anna enters as the reigning ACM New Female Artist of the Year, while Wetmore won ACM New Male Artist earlier this year. Roberts’ first CMA nomination produced some of the happiest reaction videos of the morning, with fans filling the comments with versions of “LET’S GO EMILY ANN!” Carter Faith received plenty of love too, while Gavin Adcock was one of the most common names fans argued should have made the cut.

Wetmore and Wilson also bring a little more CMA history than the rest of the field. Both were nominated for New Artist of the Year in 2025 and are back for another shot in 2026.

Other Nomination Takeaways

Outside the four categories Fort Nash predicted, a few other nominations stood out. Taylor Swift returned to the CMA ballot with a Single of the Year nomination for “I Knew It, I Knew You,” her first CMA nomination since 2022 and first in the category since 2013. The nod immediately divided fans, with some celebrating her return and others questioning whether the song belonged at the CMAs.

Beyond Swift’s return, the ballot also showed just how crowded the top of country music is right now. Langley led all artists with nine nominations, followed by Miranda Lambert with seven and Kacey Musgraves with five. Female Vocalist of the Year may be the best example, bringing together Lambert, Langley, Megan Moroney, Musgraves and Lainey Wilson in one of the night’s most competitive categories.

For now, the nominations have given everyone more than two months to argue about what voters got right, what they got wrong and whether Langley’s nomination-morning sweep is about to turn into an actual CMA sweep.

We will find out Nov. 18.