Beyoncé didn't make the CMA Awards final ballot. Voters explain why.

NASHVILLE — When the CMA Awards nominations were announced in September, with Morgan Wallen leading the field with seven and Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson close behind with five, there was nearly as much attention on who didn’t get nominated.

Specifically, many news outlets noted that Beyoncé didn’t receive any nominations, even though the superstar’s country-themed album “Cowboy Carter” was one of the year’s biggest music industry stories. The 27-track release debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in April, earning 407,000 equivalent album units; Beyoncé also became the first Black woman to lead the Top Country Albums chart in its history. She achieved the same distinction on the Hot Country Songs chart when one of the album’s lead singles, “Texas Hold ’Em,” hit No. 1 after it was released in February.

But her lack of nods for the Nashville industry’s most prestigious awards show, which airs Wednesday night on ABC, resumed the discourse that started as soon as Beyoncé announced a country music project during the Super Bowl: The genre’s much-discussed lack of diversity and the difficulty that artists of color (before Beyoncé, only seven Black female country acts ever appeared on the Hot Country Songs chart) have finding commercial success; the never-ending debate about what defines country music; and the reasons that the CMA voting body left her off the final ballot.

So we decided to ask some of those voters. The CMA Awards were determined this year by 6,609 eligible voting members, and we talked to a small sample of 10 CMA voters across the industry — working in radio, management, publicity, media and more — about whether they voted for Beyoncé and why they thought she didn’t make the list.

We also asked their thoughts on Post Malone, the rapper who released his debut country album in August and received four nominations for “I Had Some Help,” his hugely successful duet with Wallen. And we quizzed them on who they voted for the show’s biggest prize — entertainer of the year — where Wallen is competing against Stapleton, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs and reigning champion Lainey Wilson. The voters spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about their ballots, which are cast in secret.

Following Beyoncé’s snub, some observers and fans wondered whether her team submitted her music for consideration in the first place — but, as Billboard reported, they didn’t need to, because the first-round ballot of the CMAs is determined for nearly every category by write-in submissions. The second-round ballot consists of the highest vote-getters from the first round, and then the final ballot narrows to the top five in each category. (Sources told The Washington Post that Beyoncé made it through to the second-round ballot in album of the year for “Cowboy Carter,” as well as for female vocalist of the year.)

After all, there’s some history between the two: Beyoncé appeared to call out the CMAs in one of her few statements about “Cowboy Carter” when she wrote on Instagram in March 2024 that the album “was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed … and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.” There’s wide speculation that her comments were about her appearance at the 2016 CMA Awards, where she performed her song “Daddy Lessons” with the Chicks and was met with an icy reception and online backlash about how she didn’t “belong” at the show. She ended her recent Instagram post with, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”

For some listeners, that statement was enough to disqualify her from consideration. “It’s a sticky subject,” said one voter who works in media and considers “Cowboy Carter” more of a tribute album; this voter feels Beyoncé has “incredible” vocals, but they didn’t vote for the record. “If you state it’s not a country album, okay, it shouldn’t be nominated for any country awards.”

Others echoed those thoughts, except for one publicist who thought the statement was being misinterpreted: “Some people in Nashville took that to say, ‘Oh, well, why would I vote for this? She herself said it wasn’t a country record.’ But I took it to mean … this is a side of who Beyoncé is.”

That publicist voted for “Cowboy Carter” and was pleased to see that Beyoncé landed so many Grammy nominations — 11 including album of the year and country album. “I feel like when Beyoncé goes and performs country music, she’s carrying the country music flag and she’s making country music cool.” Similar to several other voters, the publicist liked that Beyoncé paid tribute to the African American roots of the format and included a collaboration with genre pioneer Linda Martell, along with young Black country artists. But the publicist also suspects that one major reason Beyoncé received zero CMA nominations was that she didn’t attempt to ingratiate herself in the Nashville community.

“Beyoncé hasn’t performed on the [Grand Ole] Opry, she hasn’t been a public presence in Nashville,” the publicist said. “I do think that there is a belief that country artists have spent years of their lives working on their country craft, so [voters] don’t want to take away their chance at a nomination for somebody who’s just doing one album that’s country and then moving on to another genre.”

Nearly every person interviewed for this story made a variation on this point. Luke Bryan, who is co-hosting the CMAs for the fourth time, said something similar last month on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show. He noted the intensity of the Beyhive fan base and said that even though “everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album” and that she is a superstar who can do whatever she wants, “if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit … come to an awards show and high-five us, and have fun and get in the family, too.” (Bryan saw enough criticism afterward that he clarified that his tone and intentions were “not negative,” and after blaming the press for clickbait headlines, emphasized his respect for Beyoncé and her fans.)

Voters said they knew that the snub is easily seen as another example of the overwhelmingly White country-music world being an unwelcome place for artists of color, but many of these same voters also believe the situation is more nuanced. The genre has a long history of being suspicious when celebrities decide to “go country” as a one-off project, even if it’s one of the most famous music stars on the planet.

“It’s not even about kissing butt in the Nashville community, it’s just about engaging with the country music audience if you’re going to put out a country record,” one voter said. A radio staffer who said “you gotta show up and be part of the community” pointed to country and hip-hop blending artist Shaboozey, the first Black man to top the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs chart with his behemoth hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and is nominated for CMA single of the year and new artist. Along the way, Shaboozey sat down with country music media and performed at CMA Fest.

Others said they felt that all the melding of genres on “Cowboy Carter,” from R&B to opera, steered them to voting for other albums: “There was so much that was cool about that record,” said a manager who did not vote for it. “And so much that is not country about that record.”

And one executive said that unique perspective was exactly the reason they voted for the record: “I just think that was an incredibly thoughtful album … people can argue all day long if they think it’s country or not, which you can do for any artist in the genre if you want to. But I think it drew from country in a massive way and was incredibly respectful to the roots of it. And I think country should be a place for everybody to tell their story.”

Meanwhile, almost every voter noted that when Post Malone decided to make country music, he went all in on Nashville, spending months with some of the town’s best artists and songwriters and making the rounds at the Bluebird Cafe and bars on Broadway. The result was an album made up almost entirely of duets with country stars, in addition to an extended double album (“F-1 Trillion: Long Bed”) with solo music.

The consensus among multiple voters was that they were pleasantly surprised by the album and that teaming up with so many of the genre’s established hitmakers paid off. “I Had Some Help” with Wallen and “Pour Me a Drink” with Blake Shelton have already gone No. 1 on the country radio airplay chart, and “Guy for That” with Luke Combs is climbing.

“F-1 Trillion” missed this year’s eligibility window that ended in June, but several voters said they voted for Post Malone to win at the CMAs, where “I Had Some Help” is nominated in the single, song, music video and musical event categories. Voters were compelled to pick him for musical event, simply because the song was so inescapable this year, breaking a Spotify country record for single-day streams and hitting the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

Some added that Post Malone’s omnipresence in Nashville factored into their vote; he showed up at events from radio host Bobby Bones’s annual fundraiser at the Ryman to the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony to honor the late Toby Keith.

“He really wanted to be there, really wanted to be a part of it,” a manager said. A publicist added, “He has been overly respectful to everyone, he is kind and sweet and approachable … he calls everyone ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ and he just seems so excited to be anywhere.”

As usual, all eyes will be on the biggest trophy of the night: Of the people The Post polled, two said they were voting for Wallen, who has been selling out stadiums; a publicist called his streaming and sales numbers “ridiculously undeniable.” One voting member of the media acknowledged that Wallen had “a lot of controversy around him” (he was banned from attending the 2021 CMAs after TMZ posted the video of him saying the n-word) but that of all the tours they saw last year, “Morgan’s show was the most entertaining.”

One manager said they were voting for superstar and two-time EOTY winner Luke Combs because of his efforts to raise money for relief in his home state of North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. The rest were split between Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson, and felt it could go either way. Jelly Roll, a former rapper, broke into the Nashville scene with songs about mental health that connect with fans in a way that no one has seen before, and consistently sells arenas. “He is exactly what country music needs right now. He is the healer and the spiritual adviser and friend that we all need,” said a publicist.

Momentum could also lean toward Wilson, who last year became the eighth female act to win the prize in the show’s nearly six-decade history. Voters all brought up her impressive work ethic and how she seems to be everywhere, all the time, whether she’s touring, on the radio, on TV or at Nashville events.

“The amount of work she put in last year was just astronomical,” one voter said. “I feel like she’s just on fire right now, and no one is representing the genre better.”

The 58th Annual CMA Awards will air at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ABC. (Available for streaming Thursday on Hulu.)