CMA Awards: Beyoncé Snubbed; Morgan Wallen, Post Malone Earn Multiple Nominations

The 2024 CMA Awards have showered Morgan Wallen and Post Malone with multiple nominations but heavily snubbed Beyoncé, though she had one of the year’s biggest country albums with Cowboy Carter and biggest country songs with “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

Wallen leads the way at the CMAs with seven nominations. He’s followed by Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson, who each earned five nods, while Malone and Lainey Wilson picked up four apiece. Wilson, last year’s entertainer of the year winner, will defend her title against Wallen, Stapleton, Luke Combs and Jelly Roll at the Nov. 20 show, airing live on ABC from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter made history this year when it spent four weeks on top of Billboard’s Top country albums chart — making her the first Black woman to achieve the feat. She also became the first Black woman to hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which held the top position for a whopping 10 weeks. Both her single and album also led Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 and 200 albums charts, while seven other Cowboy Carter tracks hit the Top 10 of the Billboard country chart. The 27-track project, featuring Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Miley Cyrus and Malone, drove cultural conversations about Black artists reclaiming the genres they started, including country music. 

Despite being completely shut out, Beyoncé qualified for CMA categories like single of the year, song of the year, album of the year, female vocalist of the year and music event of the year. She even qualified for entertainer of the year, though that award is typically reserved for country acts who have built a strong presence in the genre for years.

The CMAs are voted on by members of the Country Music Association, which includes artists, executives, songwriters, musicians, publicists, touring personnel and other industry professionals. Qualified singles and albums must have been first released or reached peak national prominence during the eligibility period, which was July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 for this year’s show. Final round voting takes place Oct. 1 through Oct. 29.

The CMA snub comes eight years after controversy ensued at the 2016 CMAs when Beyoncé surprised the audience with a performance of her country-tinged song “Daddy Lessons” alongside The Chicks. While some applauded the performance, there was backlash from members of the country music community, some even calling for a boycott, while Queen Bey’s performance was scrubbed from the CMA website. The singer seemed to reference the CMAs when she teased Cowboy Carter in March: “This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”

Another act who released his first country album this year, like Beyoncé, was welcomed with nominations. Malone’s four bids for “I Had Some Help,” his No. 1 hit featuring Wallen, include single of the year, song of the year, musical event of the year and music video of the year. Wallen’s seven nods include those four with Malone as well as a second music event of the year nod for “Man Made A Bar” with Eric Church, male vocalist of the year and entertainer of the year.

Beyoncé collaborator Shaboozey — who got a major boost on the music scene after appearing on two Cowboy Carter tracks — scored his first-ever CMA nominations. He’s competing for best new artist and single of the year with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which is currently spending its ninth week on top of the Hot 100 chart and is the longest-running No. 1 song of the year. The track has topped the country chart for 13 weeks and counting. 

“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and “I Need Some Help” will take on Stapleton’s “White Horse,” Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine” and Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap” for single of the year. “I Need Some Help” and “White Horse” are also up for song of the year — an award for songwriters — alongside Parker McCollum’s “Burn It Down” and two tracks from Johnson: “Dirt Cheap” and “The Painter.” Johnson only received one nod in the category, since he co-wrote “Dirt Cheap” but didn’t contribute to “The Painter.”

Contenders for album of the year are Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well, Luke Combs’ Fathers & Sons, Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel, Johnson’s Leather and Stapleton’s Higher. Stapleton shares the nod with his wife Morgane, who co-produced her husband’s album.