As Final-Round Voting Opens Today for the 2026 CMA Awards, Here Are the Races We’re Watching

Wilson has won entertainer of the year in two of the last three years. Two other women have won twice. Barbara Mandrell took the prize in 1980 and 1981. Taylor Swift won in 2009 and 2011.

Wilson won entertainer last year, when she also hosted the show. If she wins again this year, she’ll become the first person to host and win entertainer of the year on the same night twice, following Barbara Mandrell (1980-81) and Vince Gill (1993-84).

Wilson could also become the third five-time winner of female vocalist of the year. Miranda Lambert has won a record seven times in the category (and is nominated again this year). Carrie Underwood also won five times.

Langley won single of the year last year in tandem with Riley Green for their sexy duet, “You Look Like You Love Me.” She’s nominated this year for “Choosin’ Texas.” If she wins, she’ll become just the second artist in CMA history to win in this category two years running. Lady A, then known as Lady Antebellum, won in 2009 with “I Run to You” and in 2010 with “Need You Now.” “Need You Now” went on to win Grammys for record and song of the year — and no one would be surprised if “Choosin’ Texas” did the same at the 69th annual Grammy Awards next Feb. 7.

Langley won song of the year last year as a co-writer of “You Look Like You Love Me.” She’s nominated this year for “Choosin’ Texas.” Lori McKenna won in 2015 for co-writing “Girl Crush” and in 2016 for writing “Humble and Kind.”

Just two other songwriters (or teams of songwriters) have won song of the year in back-to-back years with different songs. Vince Gill won three years in a row, 1991-93, for co-writing “When I Call Your Name,” “Look at Us” and “I Still Believe in You.” Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz won in 1986 and 1987 for co-writing “On the Other Hand” and “Forever and Ever, Amen.”

Note: We’re not including songwriters who won two years in a row for writing the same song. Yep, that odd outcome happened three times.

“Beautiful Things,” co-written by Jessi Alexander, Jessie Jo Dillon, Connie Harrington and Megan Moroney, is also nominated for song of the year. It would be the first song written by four women to win. Over the years, two songs that were co-written by three women have won. “Girl Crush,” co-written by Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose, won in 2015. “This Kiss,” co-written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, won in 1999.

Moroney’s “Beautiful Things” reached No. 8 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” and Faith Hill’s “This Kiss” both topped that chart.

Jack Antonoff could win single of the year as a co-producer of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You.” Antonoff won in the equivalent category at the Grammys – record of the year – on Feb. 1 for co-producing Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s duet “Luther.”

To date, three producers have won both of these awards, though none did it in the same year. T Bone Burnett won the CMA Award for single of the year in 2001 for The Soggy Bottom Boys’ “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” and the Grammy for record of the year in 2009 for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ “Please Read the Letter.”

Rick Rubin won the CMA Award for single of the year in 2003 for Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” and the Grammy for record of the year in 2007 for The Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice.”

Greg Kurstin won the CMA Award for single of the year in 2020 for Maren Morris’ “The Bones” and the Grammy for record of the year in 2017 for Adele’s “Hello.”

The duo has won a record 20 awards and is nominated for vocal duo of the year this year, which could bring their total to 21 wins. They’ve won vocal duo of the year a record 16 times, including the last two years in a row.

Win or lose in that category, they will take home the 2026 Willie Nelson lifetime achievement award. (For the record, the CMA counts only awards won in competition in their official tally of artists with the most wins.)

Stapleton has won 19 awards and is nominated for four awards this year.

Stapleton is nominated for entertainer of the year for the 10th time. He has yet to win in this category. If he finally wins, the title of artist with the most nominations without winning will pass to Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, who have each gone 0-6 in the category.

Stapleton could also extend his lead as the artist with the most wins as male vocalist of the year. He has won eight times and is nominated again this year.

Lambert has 14 wins and has seven more nominations this year. Four of her nominations this year are for her production and songwriting work with Ella Langley, but she is also nominated for female vocalist of the year and twice for musical event of the year – for collabs with Chris Stapleton (“A Song To Sing”) and Kacey Musgraves (“Horses and Divorces”).

Musgraves is nominated for album of the year for Middle of Nowhere. She won in the category in 2018 with Golden Hour (which went on to also win the Grammy for album of the year). Musgraves would become just the third woman to win twice in this marquee category at the CMAs. Miranda Lambert was the first with Revolution (2010) and Platinum (2014), followed by Lainey Wilson with Bell Bottom Country (2023) and Whirlwind (2024).

McGraw is nominated this year with “McArthur,” a collaboration with HARDY, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen. McGraw has won in the category four times, with “It’s Your Love” (with Faith Hill); “Find Out Who Your Friends Are (with Tracy Lawrence and Kenny Chesney); “Feel Like a Rock Star” (with Chesney); and “Highway Don’t Care” (with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban).

McGraw is currently tied with Brad Paisley, Urban, Chesney and Vince Gill, with four wins each.

The duo is composed of MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge. The last married couple to win in this category was Thompson Square, composed of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, who won in 2012. Only one other married couple has won in this category: Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White took the award in 1987.