When the 2023 CMA Awards nominations were announced on Thursday (Sept. 7), Lainey Wilson became just the seventh artist in CMA history to land two single of the year nominations in the same year. She’s the first artist to achieve the feat since Miranda Lambert 13 years ago.
Wilson is nominated for her own hit “Heart Like a Truck” and as a featured artist on HARDY’s “Wait in the Truck.” If the latter hit wins, it will become only the third collaboration by two artists who usually record separately to win in this marquee category. The first two were Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson’s “Good Hearted Woman” in 1977 and Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert’s “I Hope You Dance” in 2000.
The other nominees this year are Luke Combs’ “Fast Car,” Jordan Davis’ “Next Thing You Know” and Jelly Roll’s ‘Need a Favor.” Tracy Chapman’s original version of “Fast Car” was nominated for the equivalent award – record of the year – at the 1988 Grammy Awards.
In three of the six previous cases where an artist had two single of the year nominations in the same year, that artist won with one of their nominated hits. In the three others, they lost to someone else. So, there’s no clear evidence that an artist with two nominations will split their votes, though many believe such a phenomenon exists.
Here are the seven times in CMA Awards history that one artist had two singles vying for single of the year.
