Eric Church, Chris Stapleton and Gabby Barrett Lead Nominations List at 2021 CMA Awards

Church — last year's entertainer of the year — is nominated for the highly coveted award alongside Stapleton, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood

Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Gabby Barrett
Photo: Jason Davis/Getty; Shannon Finney/Getty; John Shearer/ACMA2020/Getty

Country's biggest night is almost here!

The Country Music Association Awards are just two months away — and the nominations have been announced! Led by Eric Church and Chris Stapleton, this year's awards show is scheduled for Nov. 10.

Church — the reigning entertainer of the year — and Stapleton, 43, are both up for the same five awards: entertainer male vocalist, album, single and song of the year.

Following closely behind with the most nods is Gabby Barrett who is up for new artist, female vocalist, single and song of the year. (Both single and song awards are for her hit "The Good Ones.") Also up for four awards are mix engineer Jason Hall and producer Jay Joyce.

With three nods are Brothers Osborne, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Maren Morris and Chris Young.

CMA Nominees
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"This year, we have the opportunity to honor the superstars, new artists and emerging creators who are paving the way for Country Music," said CMA CEO Sarah Trahern in a press release. "These nominees exemplify the creativity, passion and heart that make our Country Music community unlike any other genre. The breadth of voices is evident in this year's nominations, and we could not be more thrilled to celebrate our deserving nominees in November!"

In the coveted entertainer of the year category are Carrie Underwood, Combs, Lambert, Stapleton and Church. (If either Lambert or Underwood take home the prize, they'd become the first woman in 10 years to take home the prize after Taylor Swift did in 2011.)

Notably returning to the CMA nominations list this year is Morgan Wallen for album of the year for his Dangerous: The Double Album after being barred from the ACM Awards earlier this year for using a racial slur.

Here's the full list of nominations:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

  • "Famous Friends" – Chris Young with Kane Brown
    Producers: Corey Crowder, Chris Young
    Mix Engineer: Sean Moffitt
  • "The Good Ones" – Gabby Barrett
    Producers: Ross Copperman, Zach Kale
    Mix Engineers: Chris Galland, Manny Marroquin
  • "Hell Of A View" – Eric Church
    Producer: Jay Joyce
    Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
  • "One Night Standards" – Ashley McBryde
    Producer: Jay Joyce
    Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
  • "Starting Over" – Chris Stapleton
    Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
    Mix Engineer: Vance Powell

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

  • 29 – Carly Pearce
    Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Jimmy Robbins
    Mix Engineer: Ryan Gore
  • Dangerous: The Double Album – Morgan Wallen
    Producers: Dave Cohen, Matt Dragstrem, Jacob Durrett, Charlie Handsome and Joey Moi
    Mix Engineer: Joey Moi
  • Heart – Eric Church
    Producer: Jay Joyce
    Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
  • Skeletons – Brothers Osborne
    Producer: Jay Joyce
    Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
  • Starting Over – Chris Stapleton
    Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
    Mix Engineer: Vance Powell

SONG OF THE YEAR Award goes to Songwriter(s)

  • "Forever After All"
    Songwriters: Luke Combs, Drew Parker, Robert Williford
  • "The Good Ones"
    Songwriters: Gabby Barrett, Zach Kale, Emily Landis, Jim McCormick
  • "Hell Of A View"
    Songwriters: Casey Beathard, Eric Church, Monty Criswell
  • "One Night Standards"
    Songwriters: Nicolette Hayford, Shane McAnally, Ashley McBryde
  • "Starting Over"
    Songwriters: Mike Henderson, Chris Stapleton

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

  • Lady A
  • Little Big Town
  • Midland
  • Old Dominion
  • Zac Brown Band

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR

  • "Buy Dirt" – Jordan Davis and Luke Bryan
    Producer: Paul DiGiovanni
  • "Chasing After You" – Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris
    Producers: Aaron Eshuis, Teddy Reimer
  • "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)" – Elle King & Miranda Lambert
    Producer: Martin Johnson
  • "Famous Friends" – Chris Young with Kane Brown
    Producers: Corey Crowder, Chris Young
  • "half of my hometown" – Kelsea Ballerini (featuring Kenny Chesney)
    Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Ross Copperman, Jimmy Robbins

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

  • Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle
  • Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar
  • Aaron Sterling, Drums
  • Ilya Toshinskiy, Banjo
  • Derek Wells, Guitar

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR Award goes to Artist(s) and Director(s)

  • "Chasing After You" – Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris
    Director: TK McKamy
  • "Famous Friends" – Chris Young with Kane Brown
    Director: Peter Zavadil
  • "Gone" – Dierks Bentley
    Directors: Wes Edwards, Travis Nicholson, Ed Pryor, Running Bear, Sam Siske
  • "half of my hometown" – Kelsea Ballerini (featuring Kenny Chesney)
    Director: Patrick Tracy
  • "Younger Me" – Brothers Osborne
    Director: Reid Long

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

  • Jimmie Allen
  • Ingrid Andress
  • Gabby Barrett
  • Mickey Guyton
  • HARDY

The CMA Awards are set to air on Nov. 10 from Nashville on ABC.

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