2021 American Music Awards Nominees Announced

The nominees in the 2021 American Music Awards have been announced, and the names include some of the biggest artists in country music.

The nominations commenced on Thursday morning (Oct. 28), when initial artists were revealed during ABC’s Good Morning America and Spotify’s morning show, The Get Up. The balance of the nominees were subsequently announced via the AMAs’ Twitter feed.

Chris Stapleton and Gabby Barrett lead the country nominees in the 2021 American Music Awards with three each. Stapleton is up for Favorite Male Country Artist, Favorite Country Album for Starting Over and Favorite Country Song for “Starting Over.” Barrett is nominated in the categories of Favorite Female Country Artist, Favorite Country Album for Goldmine and Favorite Country Song for “The Good Ones.”

Luke Bryan, Luke Combs and Carrie Underwood also scored multiple nominations. Morgan Wallen is nominated in the categories of Favorite Country Album for Dangerous: The Double Album and Favorite Male Country Artist, but a statement clarifies that the country singer will not be allowed to participate in the ceremony due to the ongoing fallout from his being caught on camera using a racist slur in February of 2021.

“Morgan Wallen is a nominee this year based on charting,” AMA producers MRC Live & Alternative say in a statement. “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.”

Taylor Swift is one country-connected artist who once again earns multiple nominations in various all-genre categories in 2021, including Artist of the Year, Favorite Female Pop Artist and Favorite Pop Album for Evermore.

The winners in the 2021 American Music Awards will be revealed during a live broadcast from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 7PM CT on ABC. Voting for the 2021 American Music Awards is currently open in all categories. Fans can vote via TikTok for the first time by searching for the AMAs in the app. Fans are allowed to vote once in each category per day.

See the 2021 American Music Awards Country Nominees:

Artist of the Year

Ariana Grande
BTS
Drake
Olivia Rodrigo
Taylor Swift
The Weeknd

Favorite Female Pop Artist

Ariana Grande
Doja Cat
Dua Lipa
Olivia Rodrigo
Taylor Swift

Favorite Pop Album

Ariana Grande, Positions
Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Taylor Swift, Evermore
The Kid LAROI, F–k Love

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 and 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