Did Zach Bryan and Beyoncé Get Snubbed in the 2025 ACM Awards Nominations?

Beneath the glitzy frivolity and light-hearted ambience, awards shows have always been contentious affairs, with triumphs and victories tempered by snubs and slights.

Today, the 2025 ACM Awards nominations have been unveiled, and while there haven't been too many complaints about this year's candidates, there are some notable omissions.

Once again, Beyoncé is missing from the nominations list, despite the global phenom's 2024 record, COWBOY CARTER, taking home the 2025 Grammy for Best Country Album. It comes after Beyoncé was also absent from the 2024 CMA Awards roster of nominees, with many commentators perceiving this to be an affront.

It's not hard to see why this was the perception for many, with Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER one of the most popular projects from 2024 - across all genres. While the ‘country-ness’ of the record has been disputed by some, when you have Morgan Wallen half-rapping over trap beats and Post Malone incorporating an array of genres, it's difficult to see why Beyoncé is deemed undeserving of a nod.

Similarly, Zach Bryan is nowhere to be found amidst ACM's star-studded nominations. Like Beyoncé, the ‘Something in the Orange’ crooner has faced criticism for not being truly ‘country’, with Bryan himself often perpetuating these suggestions.

Zach Bryan regularly distances himself from the Nashville country scene, and it's likely he didn't even submit any of his music for consideration at the 2025 ACM Awards.

Even so, it would be immensely surprising if no ACM member submitted at least one of Zach Bryan's releases as a contender for a 2025 ACM nomination, so we have to assume that he was on the shortlist, and was simply deemed unworthy of a nod.

Unlike Beyoncé, Zach Bryan did feature on the 2024 CMA Awards list of nominations, even if it was a token gesture nod for Music Event of the Year, courtesy of his chart-topping 2023 Kacey Musgraves collaboration, ‘I Remember Everything’.

With Zach Bryan releasing a widely acclaimed project last year, The Great American Bar Scene, which spawned the uber-viral ‘Pink Skies’ and ‘28’, the Oklahoma native's absence from the 2025 ACM Awards does seem a little odd. In a way, it feels less jarring than Beyoncé's omission, due to the fact that Bryan has repeatedly expressed his disdain both for the modern country scene and awards shows in general.

It seems like a call-back to when Sturgill Simpson, who, much like Zach Bryan, operates in a largely anti-establishment and alt-leaning country space, controversially busked outside the 2017 CMA Awards after quipping that he couldn't get a ticket.

Of course, with Zach Bryan, there is also the matter of the troubling allegations of emotional abuse that have plagued him since his split from Brianna LaPaglia in November. Having said this, it must be outlined that, if Bryan was present at the 2025 ACM Awards in Frisco, he wouldn't be the only country artist with a chequered past, so we're not sure how heavily his personal life will have factored into this ACM snub.

While both Beyoncé and Zach Bryan will be conspicuous by their absences on May 8th, there's also a heck of a lot to champion about this year's list of ACM nominations. Ella Langley leads the way with eight nods, while Kelsea Ballerini receives her first ever Entertainer of the Year nomination, following blockbuster years from the two artists.

There are a host of other deserving first-time nominees, such as Shaboozey, Dasha, Zach Top and Kassi Ashton, highlighting the fantastic wave of country talent breaking through.

What's more, the fact that many of the categories are already looking too close to call is a testament to how incredible this past year of country music has been. Rather than viewing the May 8th ceremony, which will be hosted by Reba McEntire, as a tool for pitting artists against one another, perhaps we should see it merely as a celebration of how this genre we all know and love continues to grow and evolve.

For more on Zach Bryan, see below:

Featured photo by Laura Ord