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.
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 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 MoroneyProducer: Kristian BushRecord Company-Label: Columbia Records / Sony Music Nashville
• “Beautifully Broken” – Jelly RollProducers: BazeXX, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Devin Dawson, Charlie Handsome, Ben Johnson, mgk, The Monsters & Strangerz, Austin Nivarel, SlimXX, Ryan Tedder, Isaiah Tejada, Alysa VanderheymRecord Company-Label: BBR Music Group / BMG Nashville / Republic Records
• “Cold Beer & Country Music” – Zach TopProducer: Carson ChamberlainRecord Company-Label: Leo33
• “F-1 Trillion” – Post MaloneProducers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, HoskinsRecord Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records
• “Whirlwind” – Lainey WilsonProducer: Jay JoyceRecord 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)” – ShaboozeyProducers: Sean Cook, Nevin SastryRecord Company-Label: American Dogwood / EMPIRE
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody JohnsonProducer: Trent WillmonRecord Company-Label: CoJo Music LLC / Warner Music Nashville
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone, Morgan WallenProducers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, HoskinsRecord Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records
• “White Horse” – Chris StapletonProducers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane StapletonRecord Company-Label: Mercury Nashville
• “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley, Riley GreenProducer: Will BundyRecord Company-Label: SAWGOD / Columbia Records
SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Songwriter(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
• “4x4xU” – Lainey WilsonSongwriters: Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey WilsonPublishers: Louisiana Lady; One Tooth Productions; Reservoir 416; Songs of One Riot Music; Sony/ATV Accent
• “The Architect” – Kacey MusgravesSongwriters: Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves, Josh OsbornePublishers: Songs for Indy and Owl; Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody JohnsonSongwriter: Josh PhillipsPublishers: Warner-Tamerlane Publishing; Write or Die Music; Write the Lightning Publishing
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone, Morgan WallenSongwriters: Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters, Ryan VojtesakPublishers: 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 GreenSongwriters: Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron RaitierePublishers: 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 KahanProducers: Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan, Alysa VanderheymRecord Company-Label: Black River Entertainment
• I Had Some Help – Post Malone, Morgan WallenProducers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, HoskinsRecord Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records
• I’m Gonna Love You – Cody Johnson, Carrie UnderwoodProducer: Trent WillmonRecord Company-Label: CoJo Music LLC / Warner Music Nashville
• we don’t fight anymore – Carly Pearce, Chris StapletonProducers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Carly PearceRecord Company-Label: Big Machine Records
• you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley GreenProducer: Will BundyRecord Company-Label: SAWGOD / Columbia Records
VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)]
• 4x4xU – Lainey WilsonProducer: Jennifer AnsellDirector: Dano Cerny
• Dirt Cheap – Cody JohnsonProducer: Dustin HaneyDirector: Dustin Haney
• I’m Gonna Love You – Cody Johnson, Carrie UnderwoodProducers: Christen Pinkston, Wesley Stebbins-PerryDirector: Dustin Haney
• Think I’m In Love With You – Chris StapletonProducers: Wes Edwards, Angie Lorenz, Jamie StratakisDirector: Running Bear (Stephen Kinigopoulos, Alexa Stone)
• you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley GreenProducer: Whale Tale MusicDirectors: 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
