Ella Langley Leads 2026 CMA Awards Nominations With Nine, as Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves Also Score Big Tallies

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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In perhaps the least surprising development in recent CMA Awards history, Ella Langley emerged at the front of the pack when nominations for the 2026 telecast were announced Thursday morning, scoring nine in all, just one shy of the all-time single-year record set by Alan Jackson in 2002.

Miranda Lambert has this year second-most nominations, with seven. Some are for her own releases, but it’s notable that four of Lambert’s nods come for her work as a songwriter or producer on recordings by… Ella Langley.

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