Billboard Women in Music 2025
When rising country singer Ella Langley sang “You Look Like You Love Me,” the Academy of Country Music was apparently powerless to do anything but respond: mm-hm. In a surprising turn, Langley is the leading nominee for the 2025 ACM Awards, ahead of the pack with nine nominations in a field that was revealed Thursday morning.
Just behind Langley with eight nominations were Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson and Morgan Wallen, tied with seven each. Chris Stapleton was close behind that pack with six noms, followed by Post Malone and Riley Green, with five each, and Kelsea Ballerini with four.
The ACMs allow seven nominees for the organization’s top prize, entertainer of the year, and the reigning champion from 2024, Wilson, is back in contention to defend her title this year. She’s up for that honor against Johnson, Wallen, Stapleton, Ballerini, Luke Combs and Jelly Roll. Seven of the eight nominees for entertainer of the year are repeats from last year; the exception is Kane Brown losing his spot to Ballerini.
The 60th annual ACMs take place May 8 in Frisco, Texas. Hosted by Reba McEntire, the event will be seen live coast-to-coast as a streaming event on Prime Video.
The high nomination totals for some of the artists are a reflection of the unusual way the Academy of Country Music tallies its noms. Unlike other music awards shows like the Grammys or CMAs, the ACMs give singerts multiple nominations within a single entry if they also wrote, produced or directed a project in which they are also the recording artist. So Langley is nominated in six categories but also racked up noms for co-writing her hit and co-directing the music video. In fact, all of the top nominees benefited from that math, except for Johnson, who got all eight of his nominations as the artist without writing or producing any of his entries.
Nearly all of Langley’s nominations are for her breakout No. 1 single, “You Look Like You Love Me,” a duet with Riley Green that made her an instant star in a genre that rarely sees female artists break through. Langley is up for female artist of the year, new female artist of the year, single of the year, song of the year (getting double nominations as artist and co-writer), music event of the year (a category for collaborations) and visual media of the year (doubling up as artist and director). She came through in nearly every category in which she would have been eligible, except for entertainer and album.
The female artist of the year contest is definitely skewing toward younger talent, with Langley facing off there against Wilson, Ballerini, Megan Moroney and Kacey Musgraves.
The male artist of the year competition is basically a repeat of the entertainer of the year nominees — minus the two women, obviously. Johnson, Wallen, Stapleton, Combs and Jelly Roll will vie for that prize.
Album of the year is a race between Moroney’s “Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine)” (the parenthetical in the title indicating that it’s the deluxe edition that got the nod), Jelly Roll’s “Beautifully Broken,” Zach Top’s “Cold Beer & Country Music,” Post Malone’s “F-1 Trillion” and Wilson’s “Whirlwind.”
Single of the year has as its nominees the crossover smash “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey (one of two nominations that hot artist picked up), Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap,” the Malone/Wallen duet “I Had Some Help,” Stapleton’s Grammy-winning “White Horse” and the Langley/Green collab “You Look Like You Love Me.”
The most notable “snub” — and perhaps an expected one, given the radio-friendly nature of the voting — is Beyoncé. Her country-leaning “Cowboy Carter” won both album of the year and best country album at the Grammy Awards, but neither that nor her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” (which did pick up a modest amount of country airplay) got any love from ACMs voters. She was also shut out of getting any nominations from the CMA Awards last fall.
Other artists who failed to land a nomination include such veterans of the entertainer of the year category as Miranda Lambert and Kane Brown. Other oft-nominated artists who got shut out this year include Lady A and Ashley McBryde. Zach Bryan, who got three noms last year, came up with none for 2025. Some other artists did get nominations but had a lower profile than in the past, like Combs, who led the nominations with eight last year but had to settle for three this time around, missing out on nods for album or single of the year, despite still being in contention for the top prize, entertainer.
The ACMs take place this year in a slightly less crowded field for country competitions than last year, since CBS has put “The CMT Music Awards” on ice this year after airing it just before the ACMs in 2024. The other big show on the country calendar, the CMAs, doesn’t arrive till November.
A full list of the ACMs’ 2025 nominations:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
• Kelsea Ballerini
• Luke Combs
• Cody Johnson
• Jelly Roll
• Chris Stapleton
• Morgan Wallen
• Lainey Wilson
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Kelsea Ballerini
• Ella Langley
• Megan Moroney
• Kacey Musgraves
• Lainey Wilson
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Luke Combs
• Cody Johnson
• Jelly Roll
• Chris Stapleton
• Morgan Wallen
DUO OF THE YEAR
• Brooks & Dunn
• Brothers Osborne
• Dan + Shay
• Muscadine Bloodline
• The War And Treaty
GROUP OF THE YEAR
• Flatland Cavalry
• Little Big Town
• Old Dominion
• Rascal Flatts
• The Red Clay Strays
NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Kassi Ashton
• Ashley Cooke
• Dasha
• Ella Langley
• Jessie Murph
NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Gavin Adcock
• Shaboozey
• Zach Top
• Tucker Wetmore
• Bailey Zimmerman
NEW DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
• Restless Road
• The Red Clay Strays
• Treaty Oak Revival
ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]
• “Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine)” – Megan Moroney
Producer: Kristian Bush
Record Company-Label: Columbia Records / Sony Music Nashville
• “Beautifully Broken” – Jelly Roll
Producers: BazeXX, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Devin Dawson, Charlie Handsome, Ben Johnson, mgk, The Monsters & Strangerz, Austin Nivarel, SlimXX, Ryan Tedder, Isaiah Tejada, Alysa Vanderheym
Record Company-Label: BBR Music Group / BMG Nashville / Republic Records
• “Cold Beer & Country Music” – Zach Top
Producer: Carson Chamberlain
Record Company-Label: Leo33
• “F-1 Trillion” – Post Malone
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
Record Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records
• “Whirlwind” – Lainey Wilson
Producer: Jay Joyce
Record Company-Label: BBR Music Group / BMG Nashville
SINGLE OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]
• “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry
Record Company-Label: American Dogwood / EMPIRE
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Record Company-Label: CoJo Music LLC / Warner Music Nashville
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone, Morgan Wallen
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
Record Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records
• “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton
Record Company-Label: Mercury Nashville
• “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley, Riley Green
Producer: Will Bundy
Record Company-Label: SAWGOD / Columbia Records
SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Songwriter(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
• “4x4xU” – Lainey Wilson
Songwriters: Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey Wilson
Publishers: Louisiana Lady; One Tooth Productions; Reservoir 416; Songs of One Riot Music; Sony/ATV Accent
• “The Architect” – Kacey Musgraves
Songwriters: Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves, Josh Osborne
Publishers: Songs for Indy and Owl; Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Songwriter: Josh Phillips
Publishers: Warner-Tamerlane Publishing; Write or Die Music; Write the Lightning Publishing
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone, Morgan Wallen
Songwriters: Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters, Ryan Vojtesak
Publishers: Bell Ear Publishing; Master of my Domain Music; Poppy’s Picks; Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing; Universal Music Corporation
• “You look like you love me” – Ella Langley, Riley Green
Songwriters: Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron Raitiere
Publishers: Back 40 Publishing International; Langley Publishing; One Tooth Productions; Sony/ATV Tree; Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp
MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]
• Cowboys Cry Too – Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan
Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan, Alysa Vanderheym
Record Company-Label: Black River Entertainment
• I Had Some Help – Post Malone, Morgan Wallen
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
Record Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records
• I’m Gonna Love You – Cody Johnson, Carrie Underwood
Producer: Trent Willmon
Record Company-Label: CoJo Music LLC / Warner Music Nashville
• we don’t fight anymore – Carly Pearce, Chris Stapleton
Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Carly Pearce
Record Company-Label: Big Machine Records
• you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley Green
Producer: Will Bundy
Record Company-Label: SAWGOD / Columbia Records
VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)]
• 4x4xU – Lainey Wilson
Producer: Jennifer Ansell
Director: Dano Cerny
• Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson
Producer: Dustin Haney
Director: Dustin Haney
• I’m Gonna Love You – Cody Johnson, Carrie Underwood
Producers: Christen Pinkston, Wesley Stebbins-Perry
Director: Dustin Haney
• Think I’m In Love With You – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Wes Edwards, Angie Lorenz, Jamie Stratakis
Director: Running Bear (Stephen Kinigopoulos, Alexa Stone)
• you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley Green
Producer: Whale Tale Music
Directors: Ella Langley, John Park, Wales Toney
ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
• Luke Combs
• ERNEST
• HARDY
• Morgan Wallen
• Lainey Wilson
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
• Jessi Alexander
• Jessie Jo Dillon
• Ashley Gorley
• Chase McGill
• Josh Osborne
