Is a full return to country music on the horizon?
Love or hate her, there’s simply no denying that Taylor Swift has a special and unique place in country music history. Before she became the pop megastar that she is today, she had a LOT of success in the genre. Simply put, she took the genre by storm as a teenager with the release of her self-titled debut album in 2006.
Throughout her limited time in the genre, which mainly spanned four albums and six years in total, she snagged an impressive 12 CMA Awards, six ACM Awards and seven Grammys. Notably, she won Entertainer of the Year not once but twice at both the CMAs and ACMs as well. This doesn’t even mention all the Billboard records she broke along the way — most of which have now been broken recently by none other than Ella Langley.
Of course, these wins were propped up by smash hits that still remain key pieces in her discography today, such as “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” “Our Song” and “All Too Well,” which would receive even more love after the 10-minute-long “Taylor’s Version” was released back in 2021.
Her sudden departure from country music in 2014 with the release of her Grammy-winning 1989 album obviously left a bad taste in many mouths. Though you won’t see me calling myself a Swiftie, a lot of the criticism was ultimately unwarranted. All things considered, she handled the transition gracefully, never bad-mouthing the genre and ultimately returning on multiple occasions.
This was highlighted back in 2020 when she performed the severely underrated track, “betty,” from her alt. folk album, folklore, at the 55th ACM Awards. Additionally, she’s collaborated with the likes of Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban upon the “Taylor’s Version” re-release of both Fearless and Red in 2021, teaming up on “vault tracks,” “I Bet You Think About Me” and “That’s When.”
2026 has been a big year for Swift in country music, in particular. Back in June, she released “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Pixar’s Toy Story 5, which was specifically marketed by Disney as the star’s “return” to the genre. Upon its release, the track would become the first song by a female artist in Mediabase history to be added by every country radio station in its first weekend.
The push ended up paying dividends. Not only did it become the second song in history to debut inside the Top 10 on country radio, but it would also score Swift her first #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart since 2012’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (excluding “Taylor’s Version” re-releases). More importantly, it would go #1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks at the end of June, being one of the few songs to dethrone Langley’s record-breaking “Choosin’ Texas” from #1 throughout the year.
It’s been so successful for Swift that it ended up landing her first CMA nomination since 2022, scoring a Single of the Year nod. In case that wasn’t enough, the “Back to December” singer is making her first appearance at the ceremony in a decade, where she presented the Entertainer of the Year award to Garth Brooks.
This year, she is officially performing at the CMA Awards for the first time since 2013, when she performed “Red” along with an all-star cast consisting of Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Edgar Meyer and Eric Darken.
Swift’s upcoming performance at the CMAs comes on a particularly female-dominated year, which sees Ella Langley (9), Miranda Lambert (7) and Kacey Musgraves (5) lead the pack in terms of nominations. Here, Swift will be battling the likes of Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” and “Be Her,” Lainey Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo” and Cody Johnson’s “The Fall” for Single of the Year.
The 60th annual CMA Awards airs live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville this Wednesday, November 18th, on ABC, Disney+, and the next day on Hulu.
You can see the full list of nominees below.
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
Male Vocalist of the Year
- Luke Combs
- Cody Johnson
- Chris Stapleton
- Zach Top
- Stephen Wilson Jr.
Female Vocalist of the Year
- Miranda Lambert
- Ella Langley
- Megan Moroney
- Kacey Musgraves
- Lainey Wilson
New Artist of the Year
- Avery Anna
- Carter Faith
- Emily Ann Roberts
- Tucker Wetmore
- Stephen Wilson Jr.
Vocal Duo of the Year
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Muscadine Bloodline
- Thelma & James
Vocal Group of the Year
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion
- The Red Clay Strays
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
Musician of the Year
- Tom Bukovac – Guitar
- Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle
- Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
- Rob McNelley – Guitar
- Charlie Worsham – Guitar
