Famous American singer Beyoncé did not receive a single nomination at the Country Music Awards 2024 for her country album Cowboy Carter. After the album topped the charts, it’s surprising that she wasn’t nominated following Monday’s announcement. The apparent snub has shocked many music fans, including Beyoncé’s core supporters.
Singer Morgan Wallen leads this year’s nominations with seven, competing for the top prize, Entertainer of the Year, against Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, and Lainey Wilson. Four of Wallen’s nominations are for the track I Had Some Help, his collaboration with Post Malone.
Many are questioning this surprising outcome. Given the album’s success, it’s difficult to understand why it wasn’t nominated. The shock is heightened by the fact that Cowboy Carter became the first album by a Black woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The single Texas Hold ’Em also made history as the first by a Black woman to top Billboard’s country songs chart, as well as the all-genre Hot 100.
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Beyond the snub, Cowboy Carter did not receive the radio promotion it deserved on country stations, which play a crucial role in shaping the industry’s preferences. In February, a U.S. country radio station made headlines after initially refusing to play a listener’s request for Beyoncé’s music but added her tracks after significant online backlash.
Although Beyoncé herself denied that Cowboy Carter is strictly a country album, “This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” she wrote on social media. The album was widely seen by fans and experts as a tribute to the overlooked legacy of Black Americans within country music.
Beyoncé’s relationship with the CMAs has been frosty since 2016, when she performed Daddy Lessons with The Chicks (then known as the Dixie Chicks). She has said that Cowboy Carter was born out of a time when she “did not feel welcomed” at the CMAs, which prompted her to delve deeper into the history of country music and explore its rich Black musical roots.
Meanwhile, one of Beyoncé’s collaborators on Cowboy Carter, singer Shaboozey, is nominated for Best New Artist and Single of the Year with A Bar Song (Tipsy). The track has been No. 1 on the country chart for the past 12 weeks and also topped the Hot 100 chart for eight weeks. Shaboozey is the first Black male artist to simultaneously top both charts.
As we await the winner announcements at the CMAs, which will air live on ABC on November 20, many hope for a clearer explanation as to why Beyoncé was overlooked.
By ignoring one of the year’s most successful and talked-about albums, the CMAs risk reinforcing the perception that country music remains an exclusive circle. In an era when music is increasingly global, cross-genre, and inclusive, this exclusionary stance feels outdated.
