Here for the drama.
This year, Morgan Wallen is up for several trophies at the CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, and Album of the Year for his album I’m The Problem. He is also the reigning Entertainer of the Year and has 18 career CMA nominations in total, and has won just two of them, New Artist of the Year in 2019 and the aforementioned Entertainer of the Year in 2024.
Of course, he was banned from attending the CMA Awards in 2021 after a the infamous video surfaced of him using a racial slur, and he did not attend the show last year despite winning the evening’s biggest award. In many ways, Wallen and the CMA Awards have a complicated relationship, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll see him there this year as the the 2025 CMA Awards will air live from the Bridgestone Arena in two weeks, on November 19 at 7 p.m. CT, on ABC with Lainey Wilson taking over as solo host. Just this week we heard him take a shot at the CMA Awards during a surprise duet with Ella Langley.
While he seems like the obvious choice to win Entertainer of the Year due to the success of his I’m The Problem stadium tour and massive album of the same name, it’s certainly not a guarantee as we’ve seen in the past, which reminds me of the time he straight up called out the CMA Awards during a different award show.
In 2023, Morgan won big at the Billboard Music Awards, sweeping the night with 11 trophies, including Top Male Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album, Top Hot 100 Song, and more. It was easily the most wins out of any other artist, and yes, he even beat Taylor Swift with that number, as she came in right behind him with 10 wins.
Morgan took home trophies for the aforementioned three categories, in addition to Top Streaming Songs Artist, Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist, Top Country Touring Artist, Top Country Album, Top Streaming Song and Top Country Song with his mega hit “Last Night.”
Much like he has this year, Morgan had dominated the Billboard charts in 2023, and he used some of the time in his acceptance speech to take a shot at the CMA Awards.
To go along with another massive tour in 2023, where he did two nights at stadiums all over the country, he also had one of the best-selling albums of the year with One Thing At a Time, and has had three #1 singles this year (to go along with his three from 2022).
“Last Night” was Billboard’s top streamed song and a massive, multi-week #1 hit on the all-genre chart, and these awards are based on numbers and metrics and less on voting and how much labels are willing to shell out, so in a certain sense, it does feel a bit more “fair.”
And Morgan was willing to let everyone know his apparent displeasure with the CMA’s, saying in his speech that he came home “empty-handed” at the last awards show he went to, and this time, he doesn’t have “enough hands for them all”:
“You know, like the song says, you win some you lose some. And last award show I went to, we came home empty handed, and this one, I don’t have enough hands for them all. So either way, I promise I’m gonna stay the same regardless if I come home with 10 or 0. I’m gonna give y’all my all every single night, every single time I go into the studio.
Thank you, all these awards are really for my fans, so thank you guys so much. Thank you. You took a boy from east Tennessee driving a two-door Toyota Tacoma and turned me into one of Billboard’s top artists, so God bless y’all.”
It’s hard to blame him for being a little bit upset… like him or not, no one is a bigger or hotter name in the music industry right now, which made it all much more obvious how strange it really was for him to keep losing.
In fact, he hardly acknowledged the EOTY at all, only sharing a photo of it in a carousel of others long after the show took place… so yeah, it was obvious he’s still probably annoyed by it, at the least:
Morgan actually admitted during an interview with Billboard back in 2023 that losing that night did bother him for a little while, saying he couldn’t figure out why he was “mad”:
“Bothered me for like five minutes. And then I’m like, ‘Why am I mad? I’m about to go play for 80,000 people in Atlanta.’”
Yeah, when you’re selling out stadiums (and cashing the checks from the highest-grossing tour in country music) it’s hard to stay upset over something that ultimately has no impact on your career.
That has continued to be the case over the last several years, and with another massive stadium tour already on the books for 2026, and likely some new music coming too, Morgan continues to prove that the CMA Awards need him a lot more than they need him… and that really is the ultimate revenge, isn’t it?
You can watch the Billboard speech here:
You can view the full list of 2025 nominees below.
2025 CMA Awards Nominees
Entertainer of the Year
- Morgan Wallen
- Luke Combs
- Lainey Wilson
- Cody Johnson
- Chris Stapleton
Album of the Year
- Am I Okay? – Megan Moroney
- Producer: Kristian Bush
- Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank
- Cold Beer & Country Music – Zach Top
- Producer: Carson Chamberlain
- Mix Engineer: Matt Rovey
- F-1 Trillon – Post Malone
- Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
- Mix Engineer: Ryan Gore
- I’m The Problem – Morgan Wallen
- Producers: Jacob Durrett, Charlie Handsome, Joey Moi
- Mix Engineers: Charlie Handsome, Joey Moi
- Whirlwind – Lainey Wilson
- Producer: Jay Joyce
- Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
Male Vocalist of the Year
- Chris Stapleton
- Morgan Wallen
- Luke Combs
- Cody Johnson
- Zach Top
Female Vocalist of the Year
- Lainey Wilson
- Ella Langley
- Megan Moroney
- Kelsea Ballerini
- Miranda Lambert
Vocal Group of the Year
- Old Dominion
- The Red Clay Strays
- Little Big Town
- Lady A
- Rascal Flatts
Vocal Duo of the Year
- Brooks & Dunn
- Dan + Shay
- Brothers Osborne
- The War and Treaty
- Maddie & Tae
Single of the Year
- “4X4XU” – Lainey Wilson
- Producer: Jay Joyce
- Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
- “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma” – Luke Combs
- Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
- Mix Engineer: Chip Matthews
- “Am I Okay?” – Megan Moroney
- Producer: Kristian Bush
- Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank
- “I Never Lie” – Zach Top
- Producer: Carson Chamberlain
- Mix Engineer: Mat Rovey
- “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley ft. Riley Green
- Producer: Will Bundy
- Mix Engineer: Jim Cooley
Song of the Year
- “4X4XU” – Lainey Wilson
- Songwriters: Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey Wilson
- “Am I Okay? – Megan Moroney
- Songwriters: Jessie Jo Dillon, Luke Laird, Megan Moroney
- “I Never Lie” – Zach Top
- Songwriters: Carson Chamberlain, Tim Nichols, Zach Top
- “Texas” – Blake Shelton
- Songwriters: Johnny Clawson, Josh Dorr, Lalo Guzman, Kyle Sturrock
- “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley ft. Riley Green
- Songwriters: Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron Raitiere
New Artist of the Year
- Zach Top
- Ella Langley
- Stephen Wilson Jr.
- Tucker Wetmore
- Shaboozey
Musician of the Year
- Jenee Fleenor (Fiddle)
- Paul Franklin (Steel Guitar)
- Brett Mason (Guitar)
- Rob McNelley (Guitar)
- Derek Wells (Guitar)
Music Video of the Year
- “Am I Okay?” – Megan Moroney
- Directors: Alexander Gavillet, Megan Moroney
- “I’m Gonna Love You” – Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood
- Director: Dustin Haney
- “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson
- Director: TK McKamy
- “Think I’m In Love With You” – Chris Stapleton
- Director: Running Bear
- “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley & Riley Green
- Directors: Ella Langley, John Park, Wales Toney
Musical Event of the Year
- “Don’t Mind If I Do” – Riley Green ft. Ella Langley
- Producers: Scott Borchetta, Jimmy Harnen, Dann Huff
- “Hard Fought Hallelujah” – Brandon Lake w/ Jelly Roll
- Producer: Micha Nichols
- “I’m Gonna Love You” – Cody Johnson w/ Carrie Underwood
- Producer: Trent Willmon
- “Pour Me A Drink” – Post Malone ft. Blake Shelton
- Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome
- “You Had to Be There” – Megan Moroney ft. Kenny Chesney
- Producer: Kristian Bush
