2017 CMA Awards Nominees Announced: Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert Leads Pack

The nominees for the 51^st CMA Awards have been released last Monday, with many familiar names appearing on the list. Miranda Lambert shares the top spot with Keith Urban, with five nominations each.

Lambert, who holds the longest streak as "Female Vocalist of the Year", faces off with Urban on three categories. As Rolling Stone reported, the artists are nominees under "Single of the Year," "Song of the Year" and "Music Video of the Year." Both Lambert and Urban are also nominated in their respective categories as "Female Vocalist of the Year" and "Male Vocalist of the Year."

Little Big Town, last year's Vocal Group of the year, got four nods for this year's CMA Awards, one of which shared with Taylor Swift. According to Billboard, her return to the CMA Awards is thanks to the Swift-penned single "Better Man" being nominated as "Song of the Year."

Surprisingly, five-time "Male Vocalist of the Year" Blake Shelton is absent on the CMA Awards nominations list, despite showing dominance on the Country Airplay chart. On the other hand, Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton, while failing to reach the top 10 of the chart, are nominated for the "Album of the Year" category.

First established in 1967, the Country Music Association Awards or the CMA Awards was made to recognize achievements in the country music industry. Sonny James and Booby Gentry hosted the inaugural event, while Vince Gill holds the position of the program's longest consecutive host, being the face of the event since 1992 to 2003. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood have taken the reigns as masters of the ceremonies since 2008.

The CMA Awards nominees were delivered by Brothers Osborne, Dustin Lynch, and Lauren Alaina during the Labor Day episode of Good Morning America. The 51^st CMA Awards will air on November 8, 2017, on ABC.

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CMA Awards, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, ABC