Despite making waves in the country music scene this year, Beyoncé was notably absent from the list of nominees for the 2024 CMA Awards, a major snub considering the success of her album Cowboy Carter and the hit single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” While Queen Bey had one of the year’s most talked-about country albums, the awards spotlight instead shines on Morgan Wallen and Post Malone, who both racked up multiple nominations.
Leading the pack, Morgan Wallen secured seven nominations, the most of any artist, while Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson followed closely behind with five each. Post Malone and Lainey Wilson, last year’s entertainer of the year, both earned four nominations. Wallen, Wilson, Stapleton, Luke Combs, and Jelly Roll will face off in one of the night’s biggest categories, Entertainer of the Year, at the awards show set to air live on November 20 from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Beyoncé’s absence from the nominations is surprising given the historic run of Cowboy Carter. The album topped Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart for four weeks, making her the first Black woman to achieve that feat. Her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” also dominated Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for 10 weeks, another record for a Black female artist. The success didn’t stop there — both the album and single also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 200 charts, while several other tracks from the 27-song project landed in the Top 10 on the country charts.
Cowboy Carter featured collaborations with country legends Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, as well as Linda Martell, Miley Cyrus, and Post Malone. The album sparked conversations about Black artists reclaiming their roots in country music, a genre deeply tied to African American musical history.
Despite her major accomplishments, Beyoncé was completely shut out of CMA categories like Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year. She even qualified for Entertainer of the Year but wasn’t nominated, a category typically reserved for country artists with a longstanding presence in the genre.
This snub comes years after Beyoncé’s controversial 2016 CMA performance of “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks. The collaboration received backlash from some country music purists, and her performance was even removed from the CMA website after the show. Reflecting on that moment, Beyoncé alluded to the experience when promoting Cowboy Carter, saying, “This album has been over five years in the making…it was born out of an experience where I didn’t feel welcomed. But that pushed me to study the rich history of country music.”
While Beyoncé was overlooked, Post Malone, another artist known for blending genres, received recognition for his first country album. His track “I Had Some Help,” featuring Wallen, earned four nominations, including Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Musical Event of the Year, and Music Video of the Year. Wallen’s seven nominations include those four shared with Malone, as well as Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. Wallen also earned an additional nod for Musical Event of the Year for “Man Made A Bar” featuring Eric Church.
A newcomer to the CMA Awards scene, Shaboozey, who featured on two tracks from Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, scored his first nominations. He’s in the running for Best New Artist and Single of the Year for his breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which has spent a record nine weeks atop the Hot 100 chart and 13 weeks on the country chart.
The race for Single of the Year is tight, with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Malone’s “I Had Some Help” going up against Stapleton’s “White Horse,” Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine,” and Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap.” Both Malone’s track and Stapleton’s “White Horse” are also contenders for Song of the Year, a category recognizing songwriters. They’ll compete with Parker McCollum’s “Burn It Down” and Johnson’s two tracks, “Dirt Cheap” and “The Painter.”
In the Album of the Year category, the competition is equally fierce, with nominees including Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well, Luke Combs’ Fathers & Sons, Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel, Johnson’s Leather, and Stapleton’s Higher, which was co-produced by his wife, Morgane.
As final voting takes place from October 1 to October 29, fans will have to wait and see whether Wallen or Malone can dominate the awards night, and whether the snub of Beyoncé will fuel further discussions about inclusivity in country music. All eyes will be on Nashville come November 20.
Follow https://adelaadven.net/ for more updates!