When Cody Johnson won Entertainer of the Year at the 2026 ACM Awards, the folks at home — and probably, the showrunners too — breathed a collective sigh of relief, even if they were rooting for somebody else.
At least the winner was in the house to accept his trophy.
Which Entertainer of the Year Nominees Skipped the 2026 ACM Awards?
It was a real fear that the ACM Entertainer of the Year winner would be awarded in absentia. Four out of the category’s seven nominees — Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen, Megan Moroney and Luke Combs — didn’t attend the show!
The ACMs even seemed to be preparing the audience for the possibility that the winner wouldn’t be there.
Before she handed out the Entertainer trophy, host Shania Twain talked about the time that she herself won the award on a year that she didn’t attend the show.
READ MORE: 7 Country Stars Who Skipped the ACM Awards
Any award being presented to an artist who’s not there is a letdown: There’s an awkward pause, the presenter accepts it on their behalf, and we don’t get to watch an acceptance speech.
But Entertainer is the biggest category of the night, and the last to be awarded. The whole show builds to it, and people are expecting a memorable acceptance speech.
When it goes to someone who can’t walk up and collect it, it can feel like a pretty abrupt and unceremonious end to the night.
There’s an even bigger problem, though.
Does An Artist’s Track Record of Attending Awards Shows Affect Their Chances of Winning?
If artists repeatedly skip shows, it makes sense that voters might not prioritize them as much on the ballots. Even if every artist is given equal consideration regardless of attendance, some fans will never be convinced that a spotty track record isn’t the reason their favorite star is losing trophies.
Enter an artist like Morgan Wallen, a 2026 EOTY contender who hasn’t attended a major country music awards show in nearly three years.
Wallen went 0-3 on trophies at the ACMs in 2026. In fact, he hasn’t won an ACM trophy since 2022, and he’s only won three in total over his whole career.
That’s a pretty remarkable mismatch to his overall stature as one of country music’s very biggest superstars, who’s selling out stadiums and achieving household name status even beyond his home genre.
READ MORE: Why Doesn’t Morgan Wallen Attend Awards Shows Anymore?
So when Wallen lost the Entertainer category in 2026, you guessed it: His fans thought he was robbed. Specifically, a lot of them thought he would have won if it weren’t for industry politics.
Whether it’s real or perceived, awards show bias against certain nominees cheapens the significance of the trophy. That’s not fair to anyone — especially not to the winner.
Cody Johnson Deserved to Win ACM Entertainer of the Year — And Not Just Because He Showed Up
After the 2026 show, Taste of Country’s Billy Dukes made a strong case that Cody Johnson won Entertainer of the Year because of his consistency.
READ MORE: Here’s Why Cody Johnson Won ACM Entertainer of the Year
The fact that CoJo is a pretty reliable awards show attendee is an example of that consistency. But it’s not the full picture.
Some country artists, including Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and Ella Langley, saw a meteoric and very fast rise to superstardom at some point in their careers. That’s not the case with Johnson, whose climb has been slow and steady.
Christopher Polk/Dick Clark Productions via Getty Images
Before he ever dropped a mainstream single, Johnson was a legit Texas headliner. It’s rare to see him cancel a show. He typically shows up to awards shows and media events on time. His live show displays the kind of tight, practiced professionalism that can’t be faked, only learned through years of hard work.
Did he deserve to win Entertainer over Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson or all the other talented nominees? That’s subjective.
But one thing’s for sure: Johnson deserves for the conversation over his win to be about him — not about the category nominees who didn’t show up.
Whose Job Is It to Fix the ACM Awards’ Entertainer of the Year Problem?
We’d avoid the problem if all nominees always showed up to awards shows, but is it really reasonable to expect that?
If EOTY nominee Megan Moroney had attended, it would have meant missing her best friend’s wedding. Luke Combs had just played back-to-back stadium shows in Wisconsin the two days before the ACMs — you can’t blame him for choosing to spend the night at home with his family.
READ MORE: Do Country Stars Owe It to Us to Attend Awards Shows?
Sometimes artists skip awards shows for reasons that aren’t quite as clear-cut, but that doesn’t make them any less valid.
Some stay home for mental health reasons, and it’s worth celebrating the fact that public figures have become more comfortable advocating for their mental wellbeing.
Others, including Jason Aldean and Kane Brown, have alluded to sitting out shows where they were habitually snubbed. That’s more complex that just a simple grudge.
Remember that most country stars grew up idolizing these shows, and when they’re habitually left off nominees lists despite releasing deserving music, it can feel like a big rejection spiral.
That leaves the awards shows themselves: Could the ACMs have changed their format to draw more nominees to the show? Or — perhaps more crucially — could they regain the trust of fans who dismiss the voting process as pure industry politics?
The ACMs Should Be Rethinking the Whole Awards Show Game
As ratings for awards shows across the board continue to fall, the Academy of Country Music should be making a big, bold move.
They should also be listening to the fans, many of whom have been frustrated for years that top-tier country artists who always miss the nominees list at mainstream country awards shows.
That includes entertainers like Tyler Childers, Charley Crockett, Margo Price and Zach Bryan, all of whom either released landmark albums in 2025 or are drawing in enough concertgoers to warrant Entertainer of the Year consideration.
We understand the ACM’s hesitation to open up top categories to artists who’ve built their careers without much mainstream industry help. It would be a major break with tradition.
The bulk of the alt-country greats have never had a No.1 country radio hit, and in all of ACMs history, there’s only ever been one EOTY recipient who never topped the country charts.
But on a smaller scale, the ACMs are already testing out the theory of nominating left-of-center artists, and it’s working.
Stephen Wilson, Jr. won Visual Media of the Year in 2026, and the Red Clay Strays won Group of the Year. Carter Faith — whose Cherry Valley was an Album of the Year nominee — gave one of the best performances of the night.
READ MORE: The ACMs Are Alt-Country Curious, So Why Won’t They Nominate Its Biggest Stars?
No one’s suggesting that the ACMs get rid of its mainstream nominees. After all, Ella Langley won all seven of the awards she was up for — and frankly, if she’d been a nominee for Entertainer of the Year, Cody Johnson might have been in trouble.
But the awards show should be paying less attention to chart stats and more attention to the country artists the fans love best.
Country music has always started and ended with the artists’ connections to their fans. If the fans are excited about and prioritize the ACM Awards, the nominated artists will, too.
2026 ACM Awards Show Pics: The Best Performances and Speeches!
Lainey Wilson opened the 2026 ACM Awards and Blake Shelton will close it. Here are the best show pics from the Amazon Prime broadcast from Las Vegas on Sunday night (May 17).
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
