Chris Stapleton and Gabby Barrett lead the field of country nominees for the 2021 American Music Awards, the all-genre ceremony and TV special billed as the “world’s largest fan-voted awards show.” The nominees were revealed on Thursday (October 28), and the show will air on November 21.
Stapleton and Barrett each scored three nods in the show’s country categories. Stapleton came away with nominations for Favorite Male Country Artist, Favorite Country Album (Starting Over) and Favorite country song (“Starting Over”), while Barrett is up for Favorite Female Country Artist, Favorite Country Album (Goldmine) and Favorite Country Song (“The Good Ones”).
Elsewhere, Carrie Underwood is nominated for two awards — Favorite Female Country Artist and Favorite Inspirational Artist for her first gospel album, My Savior — with Luke Bryan and Luke Combs also scored two nominations. Similar to other shows like the upcoming CMA Awards, controversial chart topper Morgan Wallen also received two nods (Favorite Country Album for Dangerous: The Double Album and Favorite Male Country Artist), but won’t be invited to the show itself.
A statement on behalf of show producers MRC Live & Alternative reported by Billboard reads: “Morgan Wallen is a nominee this year based on charting. As his conduct does not align with our core values, we will not be including him on the show in any capacity (performing, presenting, accepting). We plan to evaluate his progress in doing meaningful work as an ally to the Black community and will consider his participation in future shows.”
The American Music Awards nominees are determined by “key fan engagement metrics,” including Billboard charts that measure streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partner MRC Data, and cover the time period September 25, 2020, through September 23, 2021. Pop star Olivia Rodrigo leads all nominees overall with seven nods, while R&B singer The Weeknd scored six.
The 2021 American Music Awards will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 21, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, and stream next day on Hulu. The full list of nominees can be viewed here, and the country related categories are listed below. Voting for all awards is now open.
Favorite Male Country Artist:
Chris Stapleton
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Luke Combs
Morgan Wallen
Favorite Female Country Artist:
Carrie Underwood
Gabby Barrett
Kacey Musgraves
Maren Morris
Miranda Lambert
Favorite Country Duo or Group:
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Lady A
Old Dominion
Zac Brown Band
Favorite Country Album:
Chris Stapleton, Starting Over
Gabby Barrett, Goldmine
Lee Brice, Hey World
Luke Bryan, Born Here Live Here Die Here
Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album
Favorite Country Song:
Chris Stapleton, “Starting Over”
Chris Young & Kane Brown, “Famous Friends”
Gabby Barrett, “The Good Ones”
Luke Combs, “Forever After All”
Walker Hayes, “Fancy Like”
Favorite inspirational artist:
CAIN
Carrie Underwood
Elevation Worship
Lauren Daigle
Zach Williams