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The 2026 CMA Awards nominations have been unveiled, and while many are celebrating their favourite artists being recognised, with Ella Langley leading the way on nine nods, Morgan Wallen fans are rolling their eyes at another disappointing haul.
Wallen is not up for Entertainer of the Year or Male Vocalist of the Year, with the Sneedville native's sole nods coming in Musical Event of the Year, courtesy of ‘I Can't Love You Anymore’ with Langley and ‘McArthur’ with HARDY, Tim McGraw and Eric Church.
Given Wallen is, based on virtually all the available metrics, the biggest country artist on the planet. So what does it mean for country music on the whole, if the genre's most visible artist is almost entirely absent from the genre's flagship awards show?
It's easy, given Wallen's tumultuous relationship with the CMA as a whole, to simply dismiss this as the latest example of lingering tension and something we should expect. Wallen was notoriously banned from attending the CMA Awards in 2021, after his racial slur incident, and after that, was briefly and tentatively welcomed back.
In 2023, he made an extremely high-profile appearance with Post Malone and HARDY to perform their HIXTAPE Vol. 3 Joe Diffie covers, ‘John Deere Green’ and ‘Pick-Up Man’.
Much of the promotion around the show was based on Wallen and Post's performance, so when Wallen didn't receive any awards on the night, many viewed this as a slight.
Then, in 2024, Wallen didn't attend at all, despite the CMA's decision to give him his first CMA Entertainer of the Year award. It seems that, after the embarrassment of their star winner not even showing up to take the award - and barely reference it on social media - the CMA have decided to go back to freezing Wallen out.
But this has far larger implications for country music than a petty feud between the CMA and Wallen. The CMA Awards have always felt like the king and queen-makers of country. We saw this with Lainey Wilson back in 2023, where she was crowned Entertainer of the Year, and in doing so, opened up the conversation around whether the ‘Heart Like a Truck’ hitmaker is the modern-day Queen of Country.
Now, though, Wallen's stratospheric success in spite of the CMA seemingly blacklisting him again is evidence that the country landscape is being increasingly defined by listeners, rather than traditional establishments. Fans are voting for their Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and so on with their streams, their ticket-purchases and their merch-orders.
It's also worth stressing that his 2026 snubs were not the result of Wallen withdrawing himself from consideration. As we saw with Garth Brooks in 2020, when he attempted to withdraw himself from Entertainer of the Year nominations, artists are not allowed to do this, making Wallen's lack of nods an unquestionable snub.
It's surely no accident that CMA Awards viewing figures have been on a steady decline in recent years. The 2025 numbers were at an historic low of 6.04 million, and the 2024 figures weren't much better, at 6.08 million. In 2022 and 2023 - two years when Wallen was at the ceremony - the figures were 7.57 and 7.48 million respectively.
Now, this isn't to say Wallen's absence is the sole reason for that loss of just over a million viewers between 2023 and 2024. But you can't help but feel it has had an impact.
Even Langley, who is set to be the star of the show at the ceremony come November - and deservedly so, given her dominance of the Billboard Hot 100 this year with ‘Choosin’ Texas’ - would likely agree that, even if she didn't win Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year, ultimately, she's already won, regardless.
Which begs a much more pressing question. Does this all signal the end of country music awards ceremonies altogether? It feels a little extreme to go this far, particularly when so many artists in the upper echelon of the genre still show up and perform.
But there's no doubt that the CMA Awards hold far less sway and influence than they used to, and this obstinance when it comes to Wallen is only harming their cause. And this isn't to say that Wallen deserves to win 2026 CMA Entertainer of the Year - there's a very convincing argument for Langley taking the crown. But to not even have Wallen among the nominees feels churlish and out-of-touch.
It would be better to at least recognise his status in the genre by giving him, say, Male Vocalist of the Year, even if it means suffering through a couple of awkward no-shows, rather than giving it to an artist that has half his streams and touring figures.
So while it is tempting to simply shrug at Wallen's absence from this year's CMA Awards nominations and joke about how the ‘Last Night’ chart-topper doesn't care about awards shows anyway - as ERNEST famously did last year - leaving him out in the cold damages the credibility of the CMA far more than it harms Wallen.
What's more, it's an entirely unnecessary distraction from what the CMA Awards is supposed to be about in the first place - celebrating another fantastic year of country music. Rather than sparking a multitude of headlines toasting Langley's role as the lead nominee and the welcome influx of female nods in the biggest categories, social media is awash with fans complaining about Wallen's snubs.
While it may well be too late for the CMA Awards to restore their relationship with Wallen, we can only hope that the ACM Awards take a more pragmatic approach come May.
