Gabby Barrett is up for nine awards at the upcoming 2021 Billboard Music Awards ceremony, making her the most-mentioned country artist and female artist overall.
Gabby's up in categories such as Top Country Album, Top Country Artist and the all-genre Top New Artist, according to the list of finalists announced Thursday. The BBMAs will take place on Sunday, May 23, airing from Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Another much-mentioned artist at this year's show is Morgan Wallen, but he won't be invited to the ceremony due to a late January incident in which he was filmed using the N-word as he said goodbye to friends after a night of partying.
“Morgan Wallen is a finalist this year based on charting,” dick clark productions said in a statement. “As his recent conduct does not align with our core values, we will not be including him on the show in any capacity (performing, presenting, accepting.)”
Morgan is nominated six times across five categories. His second studio album, Dangerous: The Double Album, achieved resounding success after its January release, spending a record-breaking 10 weeks atop the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.
Earlier this year, the singer's conduct also resulted in his exclusion from the 2021 ACM Awards, though both the ACMs and BBMAs have expressed that they're not counting him out for future awards shows.
“It is heartening and encouraging to hear that Morgan is taking steps in his anti-racist journey and starting to do some meaningful work. We plan to evaluate his progress and will consider his participation in future awards shows,” dick clark productions added in their statement.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.