The 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards will move to Las Vegas on May 17, and the field going in is led by women. Megan Moroney tops the nominations with nine, Miranda Lambert follows with eight, and Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson each have seven, setting up a race that puts female artists at the center of country music’s biggest televised night.
The show will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and stream at 8 p.m. EDT on Prime Video, the Amazon Music channel on Twitch and the Amazon Music app. Shania Twain will host for the first time, taking over from Reba McEntire.
Moroney’s nine nominations make her the clear leader, while Chris Stapleton has six, Zach Top has five and Cody Johnson has four. The entertainer of the year list includes Moroney, Wilson, Stapleton, Johnson, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen. Wilson won the award in 2025 for a second straight year, and now returns to a field that also includes Wallen’s I’m the Problem in album of the year against Zach Top’s Ain’t In It For My Health, Riley Green’s Don’t Mind If I Do, Parker McCollum’s self-titled album and Carter Faith’s Cherry Valley.
The nominations also point to a wider reset. The ceremony is leaving the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, where it had been held for three years, and heading back to Las Vegas. At the same time, first-time nominee Carter Faith joins a class that also includes 49 Winchester, Avery Anna, Mackenzie Carpenter, Hudson Westbrook and Stephen Wilson Jr., a sign that the ACMs are widening the table even as the familiar stars remain in the mix.
Ashley McBryde put it plainly: “I think it is so cool.” She added that she and artists including Lambert, Carly Pearce and Kelsea Ballerini have spent years trying to make that table bigger, saying they have been “trying for years to make the table bigger, and now it is.” This year’s nominee list suggests the effort has finally shown up on paper. The question is no longer whether women are part of the center of country music’s awards season; it is how long this balance lasts once the votes are counted in Las Vegas.
