By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s time to cowboy up, y’all. The 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards are right around the corner, and they look different this time around.
Buckle up for a few seismic changes. Shania Twain will host for the first time ever, taking over for Reba McEntire. The awards ceremony will also take place May 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, leaving the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, after three years. And women lead the nominations.
But where will the 2026 ACM Awards stream? Who is nominated? What else is noteworthy this year and who will perform?
Read on for those answers and more.
How to watch the ACMs
The 2026 ACM Awards will stream on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch as well as the Amazon Music app on May 17 at 8 p.m. EDT.
Who is nominated?
It’s the emo cowgirl herself. Megan Moroney leads the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards with nine nominations.
She’s followed by Miranda Lambert, the most-decorated artist in ACM Awards history, with eight, as well as Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson with seven.
Then it is Chris Stapleton with six, Zach Top with five and Cody Johnson with four.
In addition to Moroney, those competing for entertainer of the year are Wilson, Stapleton, Johnson, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen.
In 2025, Wilson took home the top prize — for a second year in a row.
In the album of the year category, Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” faces off against Top’s “Ain’t In It For My Health,” Riley Green’s “Don’t Mind If I Do,” Parker McCollum’s “Parker McCollum” and first-time nominee Carter Faith’s “Cherry Valley.”
Other first-time nominees include 49 Winchester, Avery Anna, Mackenzie Carpenter, Hudson Westbrook, Stephen Wilson Jr. and more.
What’s noteworthy?
A lot! Beyond the move to Las Vegas and Twain’s first-time taking a turn at hosting, it’s clear that women are ruling the nominations, with Moroney, Lambert, Langley and Lainey Wilson leading the pack.
But is it a sign that the country music business is making room for more female talent?
“I think it is so cool,” country singer Ashley McBryde told The Associated Press about women leading the nods.
But the music industry pitting women against one another? She says she’s not sure that will ever stop. “But I think we’ve managed — me, Miranda (Lambert), Carly (Pearce), Kelsey (Ballerini), we’ve been trying to build a table, and we’ve been trying for years to make the table bigger, and now it is. And I’m looking forward to operating in the environment that we built.”
Additionally, unlike last year, there isn’t just one song dominating. Who could forget the year of Langley and Riley Green’s “You Look Like You Love Me,” which accounted for six of her eight nods last year?
This time around, in the single of the year category, Lambert and Stapleton’s “A Song to Sing” will go head-to-head with Moroney’s “Am I Okay?,” Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” Top’s “I Never Lie” and Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo.” And that’s just scratching the surface.
Who is performing?
Performers will include Lambert, Langley, Top, Faith, Wilson, Johnson, Green, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town, Blake Shelton, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, Kane Brown, The Red Clay Strays, Thomas Rhett, Avery Anna and Tucker Wetmore.
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For more coverage of this year’s ACM Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-of-country-music-awards