Ella Langley, riding the wave of her crossover megahit “Choosin’ Texas,” leads the nominations for the 2026 Country Music Association Awards with nine nods, followed by her mentor Miranda Lambert with six.
Also among top nominees announced Thursday: Kacey Musgraves and Ben West with five nominations each, Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Stephen Wilson Jr. with four nominations each, and Dave Clauss, Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson with three nominations each.
Joining Langley in competing for the night’s highest honor — CMA entertainer of the year — will be Johnson, Stapleton, Combs and Wilson, who is gunning for a repeat.
Langley’s “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas” both nabbed nominations for single of the year, along with Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” from the movie “Toy Story 5,” Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo” and Johnson’s “The Fall.” Producer-writer Jack Antonoff got his first nomination in the single of the year category as producer of Swift’s song.
In February, Langley became the only woman to simultaneously hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, all thanks to “Choosin’ Texas,” co-written with Lambert. Langley also won all seven of her nominations at the 2026 ACM Awards.
