Zac Brown leads the nominees for the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, announced Tuesday morning, with a total of nine nominations. (Five with his Zac Brown band, and four for being the producer and co-writer of their hit “As She’s Walking Away.”)
Other top nominees are Miranda Lambert, who scored 7, Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band, both of whom received five noms apiece, including album of the year. Zac Brown also received four additional individual noms.
Lambert’s nominations include female vocalist of the year and her first-ever nom for entertainer of the year. In the latter category, she will compete with Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban for entertainer of the year.
Lambert’s competition for female vocalist of the year is Reba McEntire, Swift, Carrie Underwood and Lee Ann Womack.
The male vocalist competition will see Urban vie with Aldean, Paisley, Blake Shelton andGeorge Strait.
Zac Brown Band’s noms included top vocal group of the year. In that category, the group will compete against Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Randy Rogers Band and the Band Perry.
In addition to Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey and Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give, the album of the year category includes Lady Antebellum’s Need You Know, Jamey Johnson’s The Guitar Song, Swift’s Speak Now and Dierks Bentley’s Up on the Ridge.
The awards show, which is produced for television by Dick Clark Prods., will be broadcast live April 3 on CBS at 8 p.m. ET (tape-delayed for Pacific time zones) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
To see a full list of 46th annual Academy of Country Music Award nominations, click here.