As Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem sits at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the 11th non-consecutive week, Billboard has learned that his team will not submit the album, any of the 37 songs on the voluminous set, or Wallen for consideration for the 68th Grammy Awards, to be held Feb. 1, 2026.
Hits Daily Double broke the news earlier Tuesday (Aug. 19) that the album would not be submitted, but Billboard understands that the action goes further and includes not putting Wallen forward in any category, such as best country solo performance, or any of the seven songs that he co-wrote in any song categories in any genre or general field.
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However, Wallen and his camp are not stopping the other songwriters from submitting their works from the album, which has already spawned four No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and three chart-toppers on the Hot Country Songs chart. It has also generated one No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Wallen’s duet with Tate McRae, “What I Want.”
Wallen, whose 2021 Big Loud/Republic album Dangerous: The Double Album is Billboard‘s No. 1 album of the first 25 years of the 21st century, is removing himself from consideration from an awards body whose voters have almost totally ignored his musical contributions.
The only nominations that the country superstar has received in his nearly 10-year career were for his work on Post Malone’s F1 Trillion album. Their chart-topping duet, “I Had Some Help,” received nods for best country duo/group performance and best country song for the awards presented this past February. Wallen has never received any nominations for any works from his solo albums.
As of this week, Wallen has logged 40 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — a total matched or exceeded by only eight artists in the chart’s nearly 70-year history. All eight of those artists have won multiple Grammys.
Additionally, Wallen is one of only 19 artists to log 30 or more weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Wallen and The Monkees are the only artists with 30 or more weeks at No. 1 who have not won a Grammy.
First-round voting for the Grammy Awards runs Oct. 3-15 with nominations due to be announced Nov. 7.
Wallen’s action is extraordinarily rare, but not unprecedented among superstars. Both The Weeknd and Drake previously decided not to submit in the Grammy process. Their actions also followed years of feeling under-recognized.
The Weeknd decided to boycott the ceremony following his controversial shut-out at the 2021 ceremony. The R&B superstar was thought to be a strong contender for album of the year for his fourth LP After Hours, which spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as well as for record and song of the year for his smash hit “Blinding Lights,” which became Billboard ‘s biggest Hot 100 song of all time. But when the 2021 Grammy Award nominations were revealed, The Weeknd’s name was nowhere to be found.
The Weeknd initially expressed his frustration toward the Recording Academy by tweeting, “The Grammys remain corrupt.” In his second Twitter missive, he wrote that he went from planning a Grammys performance to being “not invited.” The Weeknd later stated in a Billboard cover story that his snub in the top categories felt like “a sucker punch.”
Like The Weeknd, Wallen may find himself nominated despite his decision not to submit, for example, if McRae’s team submits their duet. The Weeknd was up for three awards at the 2022 ceremony thanks to his contributions to recordings by Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Doja Cat.
Drake blasted the Grammys following The Weeknd’s surprising shut-out at the 2021 Grammys. “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 wrote on Instagram. “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.”
Leading up to the 2022 Grammy Awards, Drake was initially announced as a nominee for best rap performance (for “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug) and best rap album (for Certified Lover Boy), but asked to have his name withdrawn from contention for both awards on Dec. 6, 2021. The Recording Academy honored his request and officially removed his nominations for both awards.
Since then, Drake has received eight nominations – all for collaborations with other artists.
Wallen’s representative declined to comment. Representatives from Big Loud, Republic and the Recording Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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