The nominees for this year’s iHeartRadio Music Awards were announced on Wednesday, Jan. 9, and while the show celebrates performers from all genres, several country artists scored nods ahead of the March ceremony.
Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett are all up for Country Artist of the Year, while Carly Pearce, Jordan Davis, Dylan Scott, LANCO and Russell Dickerson were nominated for Best New Country Artist.
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The Country Song of the Year nominees include Kane Brown’s “Heaven,” Bryan’s “Most People are Good,” Maren Morris‘ “Rich,” Dan + Shay‘s “Tequila” and Florida Georgia Line and Bebe Rexha’s smash collaboration, “Meant to Be.”
Morris is the only country star up for Song of the Year, as the Texas native is nominated for “The Middle,” her collaboration with Zedd and Grey. The song is also up for Dance Song of the Year and Best Collaboration, with “Meant to Be” also nominated in the latter category.
In other categories, Cardi B and Drake lead the nominations with 13 and 8 nods, respectively. Cardi B is nominated for Female Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and several other categories, including five nods in the Best Music Video category.
“Millions of music’s biggest fans have once again made their voices heard and, of course, we listened,” Tom Poleman, Chief Programming Officer for iHeartMedia, said in a press release, via Complex. “What makes our iHeartRadio Music Awards categories so special is that they truly reflect the artists, songs and moments that have defined this past year in entertainment. We can’t wait to see who wins.”
The iHeartRadio Awards celebrate the most-played artists and songs on iHeartRadio stations and the iHeartRadio app throughout 2018, so a fan with a general knowledge of popular music over the last year could probably guess a majority of the nominees without too much effort.
In addition to musical nominations, there’s also a Cutest Musician’s Pet category that features Brett Eldredge‘s pup, Edgar. Edgar is up against stiff competition like Lady Gaga‘s Frenchie, Asia, and Ariana Grande‘s pig, Piggy Smalls, and fans can vote for the winner in this category as well as select others by using category and nominee hashtags on Twitter or at iHeartRadio.com/awards. Voting ends on March 7.
The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards will take place March 14 live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, airing on Fox at 8 p.m. ET.
Photo Credit: Getty / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
