With the 2026 CMA Awards right around the corner, and Ella Langley up for seven different awards (with nine total nominations), I thought I’d take a look and predict how many trophies she’ll be taking home.
In case you missed it, the “Be Her” singer led all artists and received a staggering nine nominations at the 60th annual CMA Awards. The nominations include her first-ever Entertainer of the Year nod, Album of the Year for Dandelion, Single and Song of the Year for both “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas,” Female Vocalist of the Year, Music Event of the Year (“I Can’t Love You Anymore” with Morgan Wallen) and Music Video of the Year (“Choosin’ Texas”).
Pretty wild that she put forth two different songs that are both up for “Single of the Year” and “Song of the Year.” But that just encapsulates the kind of run the country star has been on. With nine total nods at the CMAs, Langley tied the record for the most nominations in one year by a female artist, joining the likes of Miranda Lambert (2010, 2014) and Lainey Wilson (2023). She was also only one nomination away from tying Alan Jackson’s all-time CMA record of 10 nominations back in 2002.
With all of the accolades and attention that Langley has gotten in the past couple of years, she’s got an immense amount of momentum heading into this year’s CMAs. But she is going toe-to-toe with some of the biggest names in country music in some of the categories she’s nominated in (like Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson).
So with that in mind, here’s my prediction on which awards Ella Langley will take home:
……
ALL OF THEM
No offense to the rest of the nominees, but they don’t need to bother getting any sort of acceptance speech together. If Langley is featured in an awards category, there’s a pretty good chance she’s taking it home this year. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come to that conclusion (I’m certainly not one), but it still needs to be said.
If you still wanted to see who she’s up against in each category, I went ahead and included those below. But you don’t really need to know any names outside of Ella Langley for this year’s CMA Awards.
They are going to be calling her name early and often, and there’s a great chance she walks away with seven separate trophies when its all said and done.
Entertainer of the Year
- Luke Combs
- Cody Johnson
- Ella Langley
- Chris Stapleton
- Lainey Wilson
Album of the Year
- Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top
- Dandelion – Ella Langley
- Middle of Nowhere – Kacey Musgraves
- Parker McCollum – Parker McCollum
- The Way I Am – Luke Combs
Song of the Year
- “Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
- “Be Her” – Ella Langley
- “Beautiful Things” – Megan Moroney
- “Dry Spell” – Kacey Musgraves
- “Gary” – Stephen Wilson Jr.
Single of the Year
- “Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
- “Be Her” – Ella Langley
- “I Knew It, I Knew You” – Taylor Swift
- “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson
- “The Fall” – Cody Johnson
Female Vocalist of the Year
- Miranda Lambert
- Ella Langley
- Megan Moroney
- Kacey Musgraves
- Lainey Wilson
Musical Event of the Year
- “A Song to Sing” – Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton
- “Horses and Divorces” – Kacey Musgraves & Miranda Lambert
- “I Can’t Love You Anymore” – Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen
- “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” – Carly Pearce & Riley Green
- “McArthur” – Hardy, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen & Tim McGraw
Music Video of the Year
- “Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
- “Dry Spell” – Kacey Musgraves
- “Gary” – Stephen Wilson Jr.
- “The Fall” – Cody Johnson
- “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
You know what? Just go ahead and give her a CMA for every nomination. Bring it up to nine trophies total (yes, I’m predicting that for “Song of the Year” and “Single of the Year,” they’ll just give her two trophies for each category) and let her secure the record for most CMA Awards won in one night… just like she did with the ACMs earlier this year.
Ok, I may be slightly hyperbolic here, but the truth is… Ella is gonna clean up. Entertainer and Album might be the toughest categories for her to win, and you have the sense that voters may like to spread the wealth a little. Without Morgan even being nominated for Entertainer, I could realistically see Luke or CoJo winning that one. And for album, it’s anybody’s ballgame… none of the nominees seem like a lock, which may bode well for Ella.
But the rest? There’s a VERY good chance… getcha brooms out.
CMA Awards this year, so get ready. The 2026 CMA Awards will air live from the Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 18th on ABC, and Lainey Wilson is set to host.
