By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer
Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s collaboration “I Had Some Help” could make both men big winners at Wednesday’s night’s Country Music Association Awards.
The huge hit from the rapper-singer and one of country’s biggest stars helped make Wallen the night’s top nominee and puts a spotlight on the crossover moment country is having — despite the absence of Beyoncé from the nominations.
“I Had Some Help” is up for four awards: single, song, musical event and music video of the year, making Malone a first-time CMA nominee.
Wallen is up for seven total, including the night’s top prize, entertainer of the year, where his competition consists of Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and last year’s winner Lainey Wilson. Like Malone, she’s up for four awards.
Collaborations will be all the rage at the show that airs at 8 p.m. eastern on ABC and streams starting Thursday on Hulu.
Wilson will host in combination with Luke Bryan and NFL Hall-of-Famer and University of Tennessee alum Peyton Manning.
The show is set to open with a dual performance from Malone and Stapleton.
And the telecast will feature performances from artist combos throughout the night including Shaboozey, Combs and Eric Church; Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan; Thomas Rhett and Teddy Swims; and Brooks & Dunn with Jelly Roll.
The evening will also have a multi-artist tribute to George Strait as he receives the association’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
The CMA Awards are nominated and voted on by members of the Country Music Association, which includes music executives, artists, publicists, songwriters and other industry professionals.
Ahead of the nominations, some fans speculated that Beyoncé, whose landmark country-and-then-some reclamation “Cowboy Carter” was released during the eligibility window, could receive a nomination at the 2024 CMAs. She did not.
Earlier this year, the album hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart, making her the first Black woman to top the chart since its 1964 inception.
Other big nominees include Stapleton and Cody Johnson, who got five apiece. But through the atypical math of the CMAs, Stapleton could go home with seven trophies if he wins his categories. Stapleton is both an artist and producer on “White Horse,” up for single of the year, and “Higher,” up for album of the year. At the CMAs, production credits are not counted as separate nominations, although they are factored into trophy counts.