Eric Church and Chris Stapleton lead the way with five nominations each following Monday morning's unveiling of some nominees for this year's Academy of Country Music Awards. Both Church and Stapleton earned nods for male vocalist and album of the year, while Church also earned his first nomination for entertainer of the year. Also nominated for entertainer of the year were Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert. Church also earned nominations for video of the year for "Mr. Misunderstood" and vocal event of the year for "Raise 'Em Up" with Keith Urban. Meanwhile, Stapleton also earned two nominations for album of the year category for his "Traveller," both as artist and co-producer, and was nominated for new male vocalist of the year and vocal event of the year for "Hangover Tonight" with Gary Allan. Other nominees for album of the year included Chris Young's "I'm Coming Over," Thomas Rhett's "Tangled Up" and Sam Hunt's "Montevallo." Dierks Bentley, Aldean and Brett Eldredge are the other nominees for male vocalist along with Church and Stapleton, while Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini and Jana Kramer are nominated for female vocalist of the year. First-time ACM nominee Cam received four nominations, including new female vocalist and video of the year for "Burning House," and Young also received four nominations. Only some of the ACM nominations were announced Monday, with nominees for song of the year, songwriter of the year and other categories coming at a later date. The ACM ceremony will air live from Las Vegas on CBS on April 3.
A full list of nominees so far is available at www.acmcountry.com.