Nominations for the 60th annual CMA Awards will be announced on Thursday 10 September, with Billboard predicting country star Ella Langley will lead the field after a breakout year driven by her hit "Choosin' Texas" and collaborations with Morgan Wallen and Koe Wetzel. The announcement matters for what it could reveal about progress for women in country music: if Langley, reigning entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson and Megan Moroney are all nominated in that category, it would be the first time three solo women have received entertainer of the year nods in the awards' 60-year history.

Langley tied for the lead with six nominations last year but is expected to top the field alone this time, including her first entertainer of the year nomination, having topped the Billboard 200 and spent 21 weeks atop the Hot 100. Other contenders discussed include Wallen, Luke Combs and Wilson for entertainer of the year, while male vocalist of the year is shaping up as a tight contest between veterans Chris Stapleton and Combs and rising acts Riley Green and Bailey Zimmerman. The eligibility window runs from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, with nominations revealed on Good Morning America and via a CMA YouTube livestream; the ceremony itself airs on ABC and streams live on Disney+ for the first time on 18 November.