How often do the Grammys agree with the ACM and CMA Awards for Best Country Album?
The ACM Awards just passed. The full-on celebration of country music featured some of its biggest stars like Carly Pearce, Luke Combs, Bailey Zimmerman, and Lainey Wilson. Wilson in particular had a pretty big night, taking home four awards, including Album of the Year for her sophomore release, “Bell Bottom Country.” The award is often a precursor for perhaps the biggest award for a country musician: the Grammy for Best Country Album. Alongside the CMA for Album of the Year, this ACM prize seems to be a good way of seeing what the country industry is eager to reward that season. But is the Grammy sealed up when you win one of these precursors?
When it comes to recognizing country albums, the ACMs and CMAs often agree. Since 2000 the two awards have matched 11 times: “Fly” by The Chicks; the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack; “Drive” by Alan Jackson; “Time Well Wasted” by Brad Paisley; “Fearless” by Taylor Swift; both “Revolution” and “Platinum” by Miranda Lambert; “Traveller,” “From A Room: Vol. 1,” and “Starting Over” by Chris Stapleton; “Golden Hour” by Kacey Musgraves; and “What You See Is What You Get” by Luke Combs. That’s 11 out of 23 times, and when considering that number you have to take into account that the eligibility periods are different, so some ACM winners have lost at the CMAs to other ACM winners, and vice versa. So all in all, that’s a good percentage.
The Grammys seem to have a somewhat similar taste. Their award for Best Country Album has matched with the ACMs nine times since 2000: “Fly” by The Chicks; “Fearless” by Swift; “Need You Now” by Lady A; “Platinum” by Lambert; “Traveller,” “From A Room: Vol. 1,” and “Starting Over” by Stapleton; and both “Same Trailer, Different Park” and “Golden Hour” by Musgraves. The Grammys also loved ACM winner “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” but the recording academy classified it in the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media category. Most of the Grammy winners that didn’t win at the ACMs were either simply not nominated at the ACMs (like Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” and Zac Brown Band‘s “Uncaged”), were by an older legacy act (like Vince Gill’s “These Days” and George Strait’s “Troubadour”) or both (like recent winners Tanya Tucker’s “While I’m Livin’” and Willie Nelson’s “A Beautiful Time”).
The CMA and Grammy connection is slightly weaker, with the awards matching eight times since 2000: “Fly” by The Chicks; “Troubadour” by Strait; “Fearless” by Swift; “Platinum” by Lambert; “Traveller,” “From A Room: Vol. 1,” and “Starting Over” by Stapleton; and “Golden Hour” by Musgraves. And the same “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” caveat applies here too. As such, “Fly” by The Chicks; “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”; “Golden Hour” by Musgraves; “Fearless” by Swift; “Platinum” by Lambert; and “Traveller,” “From A Room: Vol. 1,” and “Starting Over” by Stapleton are the only albums to win at all three awards.
Lainey Wilson still has a few boxes to check. Her album needs to keep its hype up until the fall to win at the CMAs, and even that doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win at the Grammys — ask Luke Combs, whose “What You See” was denied by the recording academy. However, perhaps “Bell Bottom Country” is truly the album of the season within the country industry and Wilson is coming for big prizes at next year’s Grammys. Regardless, with two top-40 hits this year already, Wilson is certainly making enough noise to be a credible winner. She better pray Willie Nelson doesn’t drop another album, though.
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