2024 CMA Awards Nominations: Snubs & Surprises

Everyone was waiting to see how the CMA Award voters would treat Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album and single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” both of which spent time on at No. 1 on Billboard Top Country Albums and Hot Country Songs, making Bey the first Black woman to top the albums chart since it began in 1964. That wasn’t enough to sway the voters to find room for her in the final contenders, perhaps because she herself posted on Instagram, “This ain’t a country album…this is a Beyoncé album.” And they listened.

He went 0 for 3 last year, but this year Morgan Wallen is the leading nominee with seven nods. He had some help from Post Malone and Eric Church. Other than his third consecutive noms for both entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year, Wallen’s five other nominations come from duets. “I Had Some Help,” his chart-topping duet with Post Malone garnered four nominations, while his duet with Church, “Man Made a Bar,” which also reached No. 1, earned one. Wallen’s only previous CMA win has come for new artist of the year in 2020. 

It’s certainly not a surprise that Jelly Roll got a slew of nominations, it’s that he’s already earned his first entertainer of the year nom after only headlining for a year (though reigning EOTY Lainey Wilson was still new to headlining when she won last year). If he wins, like Wilson, he will have gone from winning new artist of the year one year to entertainer of the year the next. It’s also a little bit of a surprise that the well-deserving Whitsitt Chapel received an album of the year nomination only because it was released on June 2, 2023 (the eligibility period is July 1, 2023-June 30, 2023). However, two years ago the CMAs modified the rules so that albums that came out before the eligibility period were still up for consideration if the majority of consumption came during the eligibility period, which is certainly the case with Whitsitt Chapel. It’s a little bit of a snub that “Halfway to Hell” didn’t get a song of the year nomination, given it was his fourth consecutive Country Airplay No. 1. 

Scotty McCreery earned his first Billboard Country Airplay top 15 back in 2011, and over the course of the past 13 years, he’s earned five No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, his latest being in 2022 with his three-week No. 1 “Damn Strait.” This year, his song “Cab in a Solo” was just shy of granting him a sixth chart-topper, landing at No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart. In May, McCreery issued one of the most cohesive collections of sturdy country songcraft of his career, with Rise & Fall. In April, he was also officially welcomed as a member of the Grand Ole Opry and inducted by Josh Turner and Randy Travis. And yet McCreery, who has clearly hit a stride, notching a No. 1 Country Airplay hit nearly every year since 2018, has yet to receive a single CMA Award nomination.

Welcome to the CMA Awards, Posty! After making his performance debut last year during a Joe Diffie salute with Morgan Wallen and HARDY, Post Malone earns four nominations for “I Had Some Help,” his chart-topping duet with Wallen. Post Malone’s album, F-1 Trillion, came out past the June 30^th eligibility cutoff, but the CMA voters loaded up “I Had Some Help” with every possible category it could be entered in: single, song, musical event and musical video. While it doesn’t really quality as a snub, voters could have also chosen Post Malone’s duet with Blake Shelton, “Pour Me a Drink,” which had its splashy debut at CMA Fest and came out days before the deadline, but they put all their Post eggs in the Wallen basket. All this bodes very well for  F-1 Trillion and subsequent singles for next year’s CMA Awards. 

Carrie Underwood has received an entertainer of year nomination for the past five years in a row and received six overall. She is the woman artist with the most nominations other than Reba McEntire, who has 10. Unlike McEntire, who won in 1986, Underwood has never won. The rest of the nominees are the same as last year, with Jelly Roll replacing Underwood, who last put out an album in 2022, but has been plenty busy on the road between her Las Vegas residency, touring with Guns N’ Roses and assorted other dates. 

Midland broke a six-consecutive year string of nominations in the vocal group of the year category. This year, the rest of the nominees are the same as last year, with The Red Clay Strays replacing Midland, whose most recent project, The Last Resort: Greetings From, released in 2022. However, Midland is set to release their new album, Barely Blue, on Sept. 20, so look for them to potentially return to the category next year.

In late 2023, The Red Clay Strays saw their 2022-released song “Wondering Why” go viral. This year, the Alabama-formed band–comprised of Brandon Coleman, Andrew Bishop, Drew Nix, John Hall and Zach Rishel–have earned their first CMA Award nomination, in the vocal group of the year category, vying against Lady A, Little Big Town, Old Dominion and Zac Brown Band. The group recently released their Dave Cobb-produced album Made By These Moments and just performed three headlining nights at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Zach Bryan has become one of the top artists not just in country, but in music in general, over the last few years, but the CMA Awards only honored Bryan for his duet with Kacey Musgraves’, “I Remember Everything ,” in the musical event of the year category. Last year, he was nominated for best new artist.  Bryan straddles the line between country, Americana and rock and has not courted Nashville, which could play a part in his not fielding more nominations. 

Lambert broke a 17-consecutive year strings of nods in the female vocalist of the year category (she has previously won in this category seven times). However, 2024 has also marked a year of transition for the singer-songwriter. Earlier this year, she signed with Republic Records, with Big Loud providing country radio promotion as well as other support for her projects. Lambert’s most recent album, Palomino, released in 2022. She is set to release her new album (and first for Republic), Postcards From Texas, on Sept. 13, so look for her to likely return to the CMA nominations next year.