To be fair, he was nominated in the two biggest categories… but it’s unlikely he’ll win. This morning, the ACM Awards announced the full list of nominations, which finds the ladies leading the pack as Megan Moroney, Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert and Lainey Wilson are the most nominated artists. Not exactly a surprise considering how much they’ve dominated the last year or so. Carter Faith also received a big nod for her Cherry Valley record in the Album of the Year category. But much of the attention from fans is on Morgan Wallen, who is undoubtedly the biggest star in country, and one of the biggest acts in all of music globally, who only received three nominations this year including Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for his I’m The Problem record, as well as Artist-Songwriter of the Year. While this is Morgan’s fourth consecutive nomination for Entertainer of the Year, he has never won it, and his third nomination for Album of the Year, which he’s only won once for his massive 2021 project Dangerous: The Double Album. He hasn’t attended the show since 2023, and it’s not hard to see why. There’s certainly no love lost between Morgan and the Academy of Country Music, and I’m not a Morgan fan girl by any means, but out of sheer fairness, it seems wrong to continually snub the biggest artist in country year after year. Last year, Luke Combs was notably absent as well and didn’t win an award either, which I think says a lot in terms of how THE biggest acts in the business view it all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly happy to see the ladies dominating, they’re all some of my favorite artists that I’ve been talking about since long before any of them were household names (except Miranda… she’s been crushing it for decades now), but Morgan sells out stadiums, is the highest-certified country artist of all time, according to the RIAA (surpassing legends like Garth Brooks and George Strait), has spent the most weeks at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, has the most simultaneous Billboard Hot 100 entries with 37 tracks charting concurrently in May 2025, and he’s also the first artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Hot Country Songs chart simultaneously. In addition, he is the only artist to have two separate albums, Dangerous: The Double Album and One Thing at a Time, stay in the Billboard 200 Top 10 for over 100 weeks each. His most recent album I’m The Problem has been incredibly successful this year too, which is why it’s nominated, but to only get three nods for the biggest artist and album of the year is laughable. This is a mainstream country award show, and they want to barely acknowledge the biggest mainstream artist? Yeah, I can see why most fans don’t care anything about them anymore… A lot of people don’t like it because they don’t like him, but that’s the reality, and these shows are going to continue to hurt the tiny shred of credibility they have left by continually snubbing Morgan when he is the undisputed biggest act in country music. At the end of the day, these awards are ultimately pretty meaningless, and Morgan’s a perfect example of how little they matter in terms of an artists real success, ironically, but I have to laugh at how the industry seems to cut its nose off to spite its face, every chance it gets… I wouldn’t be surprised if Morgan never attends one of these award shows again. Notably, his team declined to submit his work for the 2026 Grammys, so I don’t think they’re really overly interested in awards, either. But regardless, fans are already pointing out the fact that Morgan was snubbed, and I’m sure those comments will continue until the show finally airs. View this post on Instagram The comments on their post announced Entertainer of the Year, Female artist of the Year and Male Artist of the Year found many fans asking why Morgan wasn’t up for Male Artist of the Year (some of these responses are from X): “Where’s Morgan for Male Artist ?” “Why is Morgan Wallen not in the Male Artist of the year???” “Um where is Morgan for Male Artist of the Year and Single of the Year…?” “MORGANNNNNNNNNN.” “The fact that MW is not even in the male category at all is wild.” “Still nominating Morgan Wallen but they ain’t going to let him win. He should been winning the past few years.” “I’m not even a big Morgan Wallen fan but him not being nominated is ridiculous.” “HOW is Morgan Wallen not nominated to best Male Artist? That reeks. Nobody is doing what he is right now.” “Your exclusion of Morgan Wallen is one of the reasons I don’t watch anymore…. It’s ridiculous.” “Morgan Wallen never wins.” “No Morgan Wallen? Are you serious?” Mostly though, I think this serves as a lesson to other artists that you can do everything right from an industry standpoint, no one churns out radio and streaming hits like Morgan, and it’s possible you still won’t be “rewarded for it” with a trophy. So do what you want, and to hell with the establishment because you absolutely do not need them… We’ll see if he ends up winning any of them when the 61st ACM Awards stream live on Prime Video on Sunday, May 17th at 8 p.m. ET from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. You can check out the full list of nominees below. 2026 ACM Nominees ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Luke Combs Jelly Roll Cody Johnson Megan Moroney Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen Lainey Wilson FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kelsea Ballerini Miranda Lambert Ella Langley Megan Moroney Lainey Wilson MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Luke Combs Riley Green Cody Johnson Chris Stapleton Zach Top GROUP OF THE YEAR 49 Winchester Flatland Cavalry Old Dominion Rascal Flatts The Red Clay Strays DUO OF THE YEAR Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Muscadine Bloodline Thelma & James NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Avery Anna Mackenzie Carpenter Dasha Caroline Jones Emily Ann Roberts NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Gavin Adcock Vincent Mason Shaboozey Hudson Westbrook Tucker Wetmore ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top Cherry Valley – Carter Faith Don’t Mind If I Do (Deluxe) – Riley Green I’m The Problem – Morgan Wallen Parker McCollum – Parker McCollum SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Songwriter(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)] A Song To Sing – Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton Am I Okay? – Megan Moroney Choosin’ Texas – Ella Langley I Never Lie – Zach Top Somewhere Over Laredo – Lainey Wilson SINGLE OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] 6 Months Later – Megan Moroney Choosin’ Texas – Ella Langley I Never Lie – Zach Top Somewhere Over Laredo – Lainey Wilson The Fall – Cody Johnson MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] A Song To Sing – Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton Amen – Shaboozey & Jelly Roll Don’t Mind If I Do – Riley Green feat. Ella Langley Trailblazer – Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson You Had To Be There – Megan Moroney & Kenny Chesney SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Jessie Jo Dillon Ashley Gorley Charlie Handsome Chase McGill Blake Pendergrass ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Luke Combs Riley Green Ella Langley Megan Moroney Morgan WallenThe post Morgan Wallen Fans Slam Disappointing ACM Nominations After Record-Breaking Year first appeared on Whiskey Riff.