Country artist Morgan Wallen will not submit his chart-topping album I’m the Problem or himself for consideration at the 68th Grammy Awards, following a similar decision by fellow country artist Zach Bryan last year.
Wallen’s decision was reported by Billboard, which noted that the move extends beyond the album, which has spent 11 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Wallen’s team will also forgo submitting the artist for any individual categories, including country solo performance, and will not put forward any of the seven songs he co-wrote from the 37-track record.
The artist’s withdrawal follows Zach Bryan‘s decision to decline submitting his music for the 2025 Grammy Awards, with sources telling Variety in October that Bryan felt uncomfortable with awards shows making music competitive.
The decisions come despite both artists achieving commercial success.
Wallen has spent 40 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 throughout his career, a milestone achieved by only eight other artists in the chart’s nearly 70-year history. Billboard noted that all eight of those artists have won multiple Grammys.
Among the 19 artists with 30 or more weeks at No. 1, only Wallen and The Monkees lack Grammy wins, the report said.
Wallen’s sole Grammy nominations came through collaborations on Post Malone‘s F1 Trillion album. Their duet, I Had Some Help, earned nods for country duo/group performance and country song at February’s awards.
Bryan’s decision to abstain from February’s Grammys was notable given his success at the awards, having won his first Grammy in 2024 for I Remember Everything, a duet with Kacey Muscraves.
Wallen has never received nominations for his solo work, despite his 2021 album 2021 album, Dangerous: The Double Album, ranking as Billboard’s top album of the 21st century’s first 25 years, according to Billboard.
The country artists join other major stars distancing themselves from Grammy recognition. In 2021, The Weeknd also boycotted the Grammys after his album, After Hours, received zero nominations, despite the album spending four weeks at No. 1 and producing Blinding Lights, which became Billboard’s biggest Hot 100 song of all time.
“This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.”
Drake
Joining The Weeknd, Drake also questioned the Grammys’ relevance, writing on Instagram: “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after.”
He added: “This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.”
Drake then withdrew his own nominations for the 2022 awards and has since only received nominations through collaborations.
The first round of voting for the Grammy Awards runs from October 3 to 15, with nominations scheduled for announcement November 7.
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