Taylor Swift’s return to country music continues to be celebrated with open arms. The pop superstar has earned a Country Music Association Awards nomination for Single of the Year for her 2026 release “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
It marks Swift’s first CMA
nomination since 2022, when she earned a nod in the Video of the Year Category for her collaboration with Chris Stapleton, “I Bet You Think About Me.” Swift hasn’t won a CMA Award since 2017 when she took home Song of the Year as a songwriter for Little Big Town’s “Better Man.” (She later released her own version of the song on Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2022.) She also hasn’t been recognized in the Single of the Year category since 2013 when she was nominated for her collaboration with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban, “Highway Don’t Care” — 13 years ago.
The superstar will go up against big country music singles in the Single of the Year category like Ella Langley’s unstoppable hit “Choosin’ Texas” and the rising star’s latest release “Be Her.” The category is rounded out by Lainey Wilson for “Somewhere Over Laredo” and Cody Johnson for “The Fall.”
Swift released “I Knew It, I Knew You” in June as part of the Toy Story 5 soundtrack. Since then, it’s become a historic hit on country radio, and beyond. It topped the Hot Country Songs chart, reached Number Eight on the Country Airplay chart, and hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also became the first one by a woman to have every country radio station reporting to Mediabase agreeing to play the song in the first week.
“I Knew It, I Knew You” has marked Swift’s apparent return to country music. “I love my country roots more and more the further along this path I get and I want to honor them more and more,” she said during a rare interview for the Recording Academy’s Icon Sessions. She added: “I feel more tied to them, more loyal to them … The people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer, that all happened in Nashville.”
The 60th annual CMA Awards will air on ABC, and stream live on Disney+, on Nov. 18.
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