NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former tourmates Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris are the leading nominees for the 2021 CMT Music Awards, celebrating the best in country music videos.
Videos by Wide Open Country
CMT on May 13 announced the nominees for their June 9 fan-voted awards show, where Morris and Lambert both had two nominations in the top category of video of the year, which had 14 contenders before being narrowed down to four. The finalists are Carrie Underwood and John Legend for "Hallelujah," Kane Brown for "Worldwide Beautiful," Keith Urban and Pink for "One Too Many" and Kelsea Ballerini for "Hole in the Bottle."
Morris and Lambert are also nominated for female video of the year and collaborative video of the year. Morris shares two nominations with her husband and fellow singer Ryan Hurd, a first-time CMT nominee, on their duet "Chasing After You."
Lambert shares two of her nominations with another former tourmate, rocker Elle King, on their rowdy drinking song "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home.)" Lambert, Morris and King all toured together in 2019 as a part of Lambert's all-female lineup on the Pink Guitars and Roadside Bars tour.
Other leading nominees include this year's show hosts Brown and Kelsea Ballerini, with three nominations each, including bids for video of the year. Also nominated for three awards are Little Big Town and Mickey Guyton.
One of the genre's top stars, Morgan Wallen, didn't pick up any nominations. The chart-topping singer was caught on camera using a racial slur earlier this year and as a result, CMT removed his videos from its programming.
"After removing Morgan Wallen from our platforms earlier this year, his videos were deemed ineligible for the 2021 CMT Music Awards," CMT said in a statement.
Read More: Morgan Wallen Barred From 2021 Billboard Music Awards Due to 'Recent Conduct'
Though his videos were removed and he wasn't allowed to compete at last month's Academy of Country Music Awards, Wallen has still had major success on both the pop and country charts, even earning six nominations for the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.
In a normal year he would have been a shoo-in nominee for CMT's video of the year prize. The finalists for that category will be determined in two rounds with the top five nominees announced on June 1 and the top four nominees on June 8, the day before the show airs.
Other nominees for video of the year before the final four was announced included Kenny Chesney, Sam Hunt and Ingrid Andress.
As usual, the show's nominees are heavy with genre-blending collaborations. Urban and Pink are nominated twice for "One Too Many" and Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus are nominated for "This Is Us." In the CMT performance of the year category, Nathaniel Rateliff and Margo Price are nominated for "Twinkle, Twinkle," while Ballerini is nominated for "The Other Girl," her duet with pop singer Halsey.
This is Brown's second consecutive year hosting the CMT Music Awards, while this is Ballerini's first.
The show will also air on MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network and TV Land, and fans can vote for their favorite music videos at vote.cmt.com.
By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer; The following lists of award finalists and performers below were provided by a CMT press release.
Video of the Year Finalists
*Top 4 voting to remain open throughout the show via Twitter*
Kane Brown - "Worldwide Beautiful" (#VoteKaneCMT)
Keith Urban with P!nk - "One Too Many" (#VoteKeithCMT)
Kelsea Ballerini - "hole in the bottle" (#VoteKelseaCMT)
2021 CMT Awards Performers
Ram Trucks Stage Side Performers
Presenters
CMT's Cody Alan, Katie Cook and Ashley ShahAhmadi
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