Ella Langley Took Nine CMA Nominations and Came One Short of a Record Set in 2002

Ella Langley leads the 2026 Country Music Association nominations with nine, announced on Thursday morning. That is one short of the all-time single-year record, which Alan Jackson set in 2002 and which has stood since.

It is also, as these things go, the least surprising result in recent CMA history. Langley has the biggest hit of the year in any genre with Choosin' Texas, a record that carried her to arena headliner status inside twelve months.

Read the rest of the list and it is still her year

Miranda Lambert has the second-highest total with seven. Some are for her own releases. Four of them are for her work as a songwriter or producer on recordings by Langley.

The pattern repeats down the list. Ben West, Langley's co-producer, has five, level with Kacey Musgraves. Dave Clauss, Langley's mix engineer, has three, level with Lainey Wilson and Luke Combs. Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Stephen Wilson Jr. have four each.

A mix engineer collecting three nominations is not a normal outcome. It happens when one record is so far ahead of the field that the people who built it get swept along with it.

Four of Miranda Lambert's seven nominations are for work on somebody else's records

The top prize, and the man who is not in it

Langley's first nomination for entertainer of the year is the headline within the headline. Arriving in that category at all usually takes several albums. Arriving as a plausible favourite on the first attempt is rarer still.

It is the first time in three years that two women have been nominated for the award simultaneously, with the defending champion Lainey Wilson also up for it. Wilson won in 2023 and again in 2025, and was confirmed last week as host of the telecast for a third consecutive year.

The other three candidates are Luke Combs, Cody Johnson and Chris Stapleton. That is last year's field exactly, with one substitution: Langley has taken the place that went to Morgan Wallen.

Wallen remains the biggest modern star the genre has, and he has two nominations, both for collaborations in the musical event category. One of them is a duet with Langley.

There are two explanations and they are not exclusive. He was off-cycle, with the album I'm the Problem falling outside the eligibility period and the single Been by Now arriving too late to be considered. He also won entertainer of the year two years ago and did not turn up to accept it, which is the sort of thing a voting membership remembers when deciding who to hand its highest honour to next.

Taylor Swift, back in a category she left in 2013

The most unexpected name on the list is Taylor Swift, nominated for single of the year for I Knew It, I Knew You.

It is her first nomination in that category since 2013, when she was recognised for a featured appearance on Tim McGraw's Highway Don't Care. It is only her second CMA nomination of the decade, after video of the year in 2022 for I Bet You Think About Me, her duet with Chris Stapleton.

The song is the country-flavoured closing theme from Toy Story 5, which puts it on a path towards Grammy and Oscar consideration as well. A single nomination in Nashville is the first stop on what is likely to be a long season for it.

The biggest jump belongs to somebody else

If the question is whose standing has changed most, the answer is Stephen Wilson Jr.

Last year he had a single nomination, for best new artist, despite repeated appearances on the 2025 telecast. This year he has four: another shot at best new artist, an entry into male vocalist of the year, and a song of the year nomination for Gary.

Male vocalist of the year is the category that marks the transition from a promising act to an established one, and getting there while still eligible for best new artist is an unusual position to occupy. It is the closest thing on this list to a second story.

The rest of it is Langley's, and will be until November.