Miranda Lambert Leads CMA Noms, Luke Combs’ Streak Continues

Producer Jay Joyce also earned five nominations for his work on albums by Lambert and Ashley McBryde, who earned three nominations including album of the year and female vocalist of the year.

After years of criticism for the lack of women on country radio, women actually outnumber men in the new artist category, which include Carly Pearce, Gabby Barrett and Ingrid Andress. Pearce earned three more nominations for her duet with Lee Brice, I Hope Youre Happy Now,” which was co-written by Combs. Barrett, who competed on American Idol,” earned a nomination for single of the year with I Hope,” a No. 1 country hit and Top 10 success on the pop charts. And Andress was nominated for song of the year with More Hearts Than Mine.” Morgan Wallen and Jimmie Allen round out the new artist nominees.

Notable snubs missing from the nomination list include country icon Tanya Tucker, who earned her first two Grammy Awards this year for her comeback album While I’m Livin.’” The Chicks, who returned with their first new album in 14 years, also weren’t nominated, likely due to a longstanding rift between some country fans and the outspoken female group. Sam Hunt, who put out a long-awaited album this year, was also missing from the nominations.

The coronavirus pandemic likely affected some of the nominations this year because touring was postponed and some albums were pushed back. Luke Bryan, who delayed his album until after the cutoff deadline for this year’s awards show, was not nominated.