The 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards nominations have just been announced. Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton are leading among the bunch of talented nominees with both having six nominations ahead of the April 18 awards show, which is set to air on CBS from Nashville, Tennessee. Only Stapleton made it to the nomination for the 'Entertainer of the Year' award as not a single women made it to the top category.
Last year, Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett tied for the top category entertainer of the year award. Other nominees for the entertainer of the year are Eric Church, Rhett, Luke Bryan and Luke Combs. ACM awards also have Miranda Lambert as the top contender with five nominations followed by Ashley McBryde and Thomas Rhett who have four nods each.
This year "The Bones," a pop hit of Morris' was nominated for the 'best single of the year' apart from earning her two other nominations as 'songwriter' and the artist for 'song of the year'. She also won the female artist of the year in 2020 and the award for the music video of the year for her song "Better Than We Found It." It doesn't just end here, the singer also had another nomination in her kitty which was for the all-star collaboration 'The Highwomen' in the group of the year.
John Legend's first-ever ACM Awards nomination in the Video of the Year category was for his "Hallelujah" duet with American singer cum songwriter Carrie Underwood, while Gwen Stefani also levelled up with her first ACM nod in the Music Event of the Year category for her song "Nobody But You," which is a duet with her fiancé Blake Shelton.
Among having three nods for the Academy of Country Music Awards are - Luke Combs, Ingrid Andress, Eric Church, Hardy, Carly Pearce, Producer Dan Huff and Keith Urban, last year's telecast host, according to Variety.
Double nominations in the ACM goes to Brothers Osborne, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, producer Dave Cobb and Busbee, who will be honoured posthumously.
The latest nominations for 'Bass player of the year' went to Jarrod Travis Cure, Mark Hill, Tony Lucido, Steve Mackey and Glenn Worf. Meanwhile, Fred Eltringham, Evan Hutchings, Derek Mixon, Jerry Roe and Aaron Sterling were also nominated for Drummer of the year at ACM Awards 2021.
