NASHVILLE, TN — (May 13, 2021) — CMT today unveiled the highly-anticipated nominations for the “2021 CMT Music Awards,” country music’s only entirely fan-voted award show. Hosted by Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown, the show airs Wednesday, June 9th at 8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT on CMT, with a five channel simulcast across MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network and TV Land. Each winner is selected by the fans, with voting now open at vote.cmt.com.
Female powerhouses Maren Morris and Miranda Lambert lead the pack for the most accolades of the evening, with four nominations each, including “Female Video of the Year,” “Collaborative Video of the Year,” and two nominations each for “Video of the Year.” Artists with three nominations include show co-hosts Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown, alongside Little Big Town and first-time nominee Mickey Guyton.
The “2021 CMT Music Awards” continues to spotlight the next wave of music’s biggest stars with 13 first-time nominees including Guyton, Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters, HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Niko Moon, Noah Cyrus, Parmalee, Ryan Hurd, Tyler Hubbard and Willie Jones.
The first round of nominees for the highly-coveted “Video of the Year” award includes 14 acts, most notably Carrie Underwood, who continues her reign as the most-awarded artist in CMT Music Awards history with 22 wins, who is nominated this year for her collaboration with John Legend.
Well-known for its tradition of embracing one-of-a-kind collaborations, the “2021 CMT Music Awards” again celebrates a wide range of talent from outside musical genres, with Elle King, Halsey, John Legend, Nathaniel Rateliff, Noah Cyrus, and P!nk receiving nominations.
The two-and-a-half hour show will also feature “Breakthrough Video of the Year” nominees Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters (feat. Little Big Town), HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Niko Moon and Mickey Guyton.
The nominees for the “2021 CMT Music Awards” are:
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video of the year; awarded to the artist (male, female, group/duo or collaboration). Top five nominees, from the first round of voting, will be announced on June 1. Top 3 nominees, from the second round of voting, will be announced on June 8. Final voting will be determined via social media and announced as the final category during the live show.
- Carrie Underwood with John Legend – “Hallelujah”
- Dierks Bentley – “Gone”
- Elle King and Miranda Lambert – “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”
- Ingrid Andress – “Lady Like”
- Kane Brown – “Worldwide Beautiful”
- Keith Urban with P!nk – “One Too Many”
- Kelsea Ballerini – “hole in the bottle”
- Kenny Chesney – “Knowing You”
- Maren Morris – “Better Than We Found It”
- Mickey Guyton – “Heaven Down Here”
- Miranda Lambert – “Settling Down”
- Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris – “Chasing After You”
- Sam Hunt – “Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90’s”
- Willie Jones – “American Dream”
FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a female artist; awarded to the artist
- Carly Pearce – “Next Girl”
- Gabby Barrett – “The Good Ones”
- Kelsea Ballerini – “hole in the bottle”
- Maren Morris – “To Hell & Back”
- Mickey Guyton – “Heaven Down Here”
- Miranda Lambert – “Settling Down”
MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a male artist; awarded to the artist
- Chris Stapleton – “Starting Over”
- Darius Rucker – “Beers and Sunshine”
- Kane Brown – “Worship You”
- Luke Bryan – “Down To One”
- Luke Combs – “Lovin’ On You”
- Thomas Rhett – “What’s Your Country Song”
DUO/GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a duo or group; awarded to the artists
- Brothers Osborne – “All Night”
- Lady A – “Like A Lady”
- Little Big Town – “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
- Old Dominion – “Never Be Sorry”
- Parmalee and Blanco Brown – “Just The Way”
- Runaway June – “We Were Rich”
BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video from an artist’s major breakthrough album; awarded to the artist (male, female or group/duo)
- Dylan Scott – “Nobody”
- Hailey Whitters feat. Little Big Town – “Fillin’ My Cup”
- HARDY – “Give Heaven Some Hell”
- Lainey Wilson – “Things a Man Oughta Know”
- Mickey Guyton – “Black Like Me”
- Niko Moon – “GOOD TIME (Ride Along Video)”
COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video from a collaboration; awarded to the artists
- Carrie Underwood with John Legend – “Hallelujah”
- Chris Young and Kane Brown – “Famous Friends”
- Elle King and Miranda Lambert – “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”
- Keith Urban with P!nk – “One Too Many”
- Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris – “Chasing After You”
- Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard – “Undivided”
CMT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on CMT; awarded to the artist (individual, group or duo)
- From the 2020 CMT Music Awards – Brooks & Dunn and Luke Combs “1, 2 Many”
- From the 2020 CMT Music Awards – Dan + Shay “I Should Probably Go To Bed”
- From the 2020 CMT Music Awards – Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus “This Is Us”
- From the 2020 CMT Music Awards – Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey “The Other Girl”
- From the 2020 CMT Music Awards – Little Big Town “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
- From CMT Crossroads – Nathaniel Rateliff and Margo Price “Twinkle Twinkle”
Performers and presenters to be announced at a later date.
“2021 CMT Music Awards” is executive produced by CMT’s Margaret Comeaux, Switched On Entertainment’s John Hamlin and Amy Lin Johnson; the Executives in Charge of Production are Jackie Barba and Heather D. Graffagnino.
For more information, visit CMT.com, follow @CMT on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, use hashtag #CMTawards and ‘like’ the CMT Music Awards on Facebook.
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About CMT:
CMT is the leading authority on country music and lifestyle, offering a mix of original series, music events and specials. CMT is everywhere its fans are, including two cable channels (CMT and the 24-hour music channel, CMT Music), radio (CMT Radio), digital (CMT.com) and social (@CMT on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube). CMT is a unit of ViacomCBS Inc. (Nasdaq: VIACA, VIAC) (“ViacomCBS”). For more information, please visit cmtpress.com.
NASHVILLE — (September 23) — CMT 
