In case you missed it...
The 58th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards is fast approaching - and the full list of nominees was released yesterday. Leading the pack are HARDY and Lainey Wilson, who have seven and six nominations respectively (three of them jointly); Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert and Cole Swindell are right behind them with five nominations each. Some fun facts:
- Miranda Lambert won the "Triple Crown" last year (where an artist has won entertainer of the year, new artist and artist of the year over the course of their career.) If either Luke Combs or Chris Stapleton win entertainer of the year this year, they will have also won the "Triple Crown"
- Speaking of Miranda, she's up for female artist of the year for a record-breaking 17th time; this year's nomination pushes her past Reba McEntire's 16 career nominations in the category.
- Jason Aldean is nominated for entertainer of the year for the first time since 2017; of last year's nominees in that category, only Eric Church is not nominated this year. And for the first time ever, there are seven nominees for this award, where it was traditionally a five-nominee category.
- This will only be the second time in the history of the ACM's that the awards show will broadcast live from Texas - the previous time was back in 2015 for the award's 50th anniversary.
- For those interested in how women are represented (something that periodically comes up), the Academy notes that this year women are accounted for as nominees in all the major categories. The organization also pointed out that women actually dominate the album of the year category, with albums by Wilson, Lambert and Ashley McBryde being up against releases by Combs and Jon Pardi.
The show will air live on Prime Video May 11, and is hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks. See our associated story about nomination snubs and surprises here. Here is your complete list of nominees for this years ACMs:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
- Jason Aldean
- Kane Brown
- Luke Combs
- Miranda Lambert
- Chris Stapleton
- Carrie Underwood
- Morgan Wallen
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Kelsea Ballerini
- Miranda Lambert
- Ashley McBryde
- Carly Pearce
- Lainey Wilson
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Kane Brown
- Luke Combs
- Jordan Davis
- Chris Stapleton
- Morgan Wallen
DUO OF THE YEAR
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Maddie & Tae
- The War and Treaty
GROUP OF THE YEAR
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion
- Zac Brown Band
NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Priscilla Block
- Megan Moroney
- Caitlyn Smith
- Morgan Wade
- Hailey Whitters
NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Zach Bryan
- Jackson Dean
- ERNEST
- Dylan Scott
- Nate Smith
- Bailey Zimmerman
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
- Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville - Ashley McBryde
- Bell Bottom Country - Lainey Wilson
- Growin' Up - Luke Combs
- Mr. Saturday Night - Jon Pardi
- Palomino - Miranda Lambert
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
- Heart Like A Truck - Lainey Wilson
- Never Wanted To Be That Girl - Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde
- She Had Me At Heads Carolina - Cole Swindell
- Thank God - Kane Brown with Katelyn Brown
- 'Til You Can't - Cody Johnson
SONG OF THE YEAR
- Sand In My Boots - Morgan Wallen
- She Had Me At Heads Carolina - Cole Swindell
- 'Til You Can't - Cody Johnson
- wait in the truck - HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson
- You Should Probably Leave - Chris Stapleton
VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR
- HEARTFIRST - Kelsea Ballerini
- She Had Me At Heads Carolina - Cole Swindell
- Thank God - Kane Brown with Katelyn Brown
- 'Til You Can't - Cody Johnson
- wait in the truck - HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson
- What He Didn't Do - Carly Pearce
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
- Nicolle Galyon
- Ashley Gorley
- Chase McGill
- Josh Osborne
- Hunter Phelps
ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
- Luke Combs
- ERNEST
- HARDY
- Miranda Lambert
- Morgan Wallen
MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR
- At the End of a Bar - Chris Young with Mitchell Tenpenny
- She Had Me At Heads Carolina [Remix] - Cole Swindell & Jo Dee Messina
- Thank God - Kane Brown with Katelyn Brown
- Thinking 'Bout You - Dustin Lynch feat. MacKenzie Porter
- wait in the truck - HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson
Kimberly Perry, after being kind of off-radar for awhile, has been making headline after headline these past few weeks. First, her trio The Band Perry announced they were going on hiatus to separately pursue their creative visions; second, she came back about a week later to announce she was embarking on a solo country career, with a new label and new music on the way. And yesterday, perhaps the biggest news of all: she and husband Johnny Costello are expecting! Kimberly took to Instagram to let fans in on the big news. "The best news of all the good news lately: I’m OVERFLOWING WITH JOY to share that Johnny and I are expecting our first baby in late August!! We’re absolutely beside ourselves with happiness and in awe of the Creator’s plan." She continued, "Building my own family is something I’ve dreamed about for as long as I can remember. As a woman and as an artist, I’ve always felt like I had to make a choice between growing my career and growing life. But YALL – I’m doin’ em both at the SAME TIME!! Here we go! 🤍🤍🫶🫶” The couple have been married since 2021, and this will be the first child for both of them. Congratulations!