Chris Willman Music WriterThe nominations for the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards hold plenty of surprises, including having Chris Young, a performer who has not previously dominated the field, as the frontrunner in this year’s crop.
Young, who has never won an ACM Award before, despite picking up nominations going back to 2007 (and who has also never won a CMA trophy), led with seven in nominations that were announced Thursday morning.The nominations are also notable in giving four nods for the still-controversial Morgan Wallen, who was banned from being eligible for last year’s ACMs in the wake of the scandal over his being seen on video using the N-word.
This year’s Academy of Country Music Awards mark the first time since that early 2021 incident that Wallen has been allowed to be nominated for a major country awards show without any restrictions being placed on the board, and Wallen came through in most of the categories in which he would have been eligible, although he missed out on a nom for the top honor, entertainer of the year.
The entertainer of the year nods went to Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Carrie Underwood.The presence of two women in that top category marks a change from the 2021 nominations, in which there were none.
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