2026 ACM Awards Nominations: Megan Moroney Leads as Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson Join Top Contenders

The 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards nominations were reported on April 9, with Megan Moroney leading the field with nine nominations, including a first-time entertainer of the year nod. The early coverage also places Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson among the most nominated artists in this year’s race, while Variety lists Chris Stapleton among the leading nominees. The 61st ACM Awards are set to stream live exclusively on Prime Video, and Deadline describes that stream as reaching a global audience across more than 240 countries and territories.

Key points

The 2026 ACM Awards nominations were reported on April 9, with Megan Moroney leading the field with nine nominations.
Moroney’s total includes her first entertainer of the year nomination, the clearest category-level milestone confirmed in the early coverage.
Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson are among the most nominated artists, Variety also lists Chris Stapleton among the leading nominees, and the awards will stream live exclusively on Prime Video.

April 9 brought the nominations into view

The key update is the timing and the standings. Reporting published on April 9 put the 2026 ACM Awards nominations on the record and established the shape of the race in one move: Moroney leads, several other major artists are clustered near the top, and the awards already have a confirmed streaming home in Prime Video.

That first day of coverage is notably consistent on the central names. AP says Moroney leads with nine nominations and notes that one of them is her first entertainer of the year nomination. Deadline identifies Lambert, Langley, and Wilson among the most nominated artists. Variety similarly presents Moroney, Lambert, Langley, Lainey Wilson, and Chris Stapleton as the leading nominees. Taken together, those reports give a clear early picture without requiring any unsupported detail about exact totals beyond Moroney’s nine.

The result is a straightforward nominations story built around what is confirmed now. April 9 is when the standings were reported, Moroney is the named leader, and the top group extends beyond a single artist.

Moroney has the strongest headline

Moroney’s position at the top is the most concrete individual detail in the coverage because it comes with a number: nine nominations. That is the sharpest verified count in the sourced reporting, and it is why her name anchors the announcement. In a field where several other artists are described as among the most nominated or as leading nominees, Moroney is the artist tied to the clearest top-line total.

The entertainer of the year detail gives that lead more definition. AP reports that Moroney’s nine nominations include a first-time nomination for entertainer of the year, which adds a specific category milestone to the overall count. That matters because it moves the story beyond a raw tally and shows that her nomination haul reaches the top prize race.

Those two facts are enough to explain why Moroney sits at the center of the April 9 news cycle. She leads the nominations with nine, and that total includes her first entertainer of the year nod. There is no need to stretch beyond that with unsourced category breakdowns or broader claims; the confirmed reporting already provides the strongest individual update in the field.

The top tier reaches beyond the frontrunner

The nominations picture is broader than Moroney alone. Deadline names Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley, and Lainey Wilson among the most nominated artists in this year’s ACM Awards race, and AP’s headline grouping also places Lambert and Langley alongside Moroney. That reporting keeps the upper end of the field clearly populated even without exact nomination totals for those artists.

That distinction is important for accuracy. The sourced material supports saying that Lambert, Langley, and Wilson are among the most nominated artists, but it does not support ranking them against one another or assigning exact counts to each. The cleanest version of the story is therefore also the most precise one: Moroney leads, while Lambert, Langley, and Wilson remain part of the top cluster identified in the first round of reports.

Variety widens that cluster further by listing Chris Stapleton among the leading nominees for the 2026 ACM Awards. That addition does not change Moroney’s place at the front, but it does reinforce that the April 9 announcement introduced a broader leading group rather than a one-name field. Moroney’s nine nominations provide the headline number, while Lambert, Langley, Wilson, and Stapleton round out the top end of the nominations conversation as described in the reporting.

The effect is a fuller, cleaner read of the race. Moroney is the confirmed leader, but the leading tier also includes other artists consistently highlighted across AP, Deadline, and Variety.

Prime Video is the confirmed viewing platform

The audience-facing detail in the reporting is clear: the 61st ACM Awards will stream live exclusively on Prime Video. That gives the nominations announcement a second concrete layer beyond the standings themselves. It tells readers not only who leads the field, but also where the show is set to be carried.

Deadline adds the scale attached to that streaming plan, describing the Prime Video presentation as reaching a global audience across more than 240 countries and territories. That is the most specific distribution detail available in the reports, and it gives the announcement a practical endpoint. Once the nominations are out, the next confirmed public detail is how the awards are expected to reach viewers.

Together, those platform details keep the story focused on the verified essentials. On April 9, the nominations were reported with Moroney leading on nine and landing a first-time entertainer of the year nomination. Lambert, Langley, and Wilson were identified among the most nominated artists, Variety also placed Stapleton among the leading nominees, and the 61st ACM Awards were confirmed for a live exclusive Prime Video stream that Deadline says will reach more than 240 countries and territories.

Key dates and access notes

For readers, the practical value is the schedule and access picture: check the official artist, venue, promoter, or ticketing channels before making travel, ticket, refund, or viewing plans.