![\"Morgan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tdy-morgan-wallen-ld-main-250614-1216f3.jpg\")
Morgan Wallen performs onstage during a benefit concert in June in Nashville, Tennessee.Jason Kempin \/ Getty Images<\/p>\nMorgan Wallen has decided his Billboard 200 No. 1 album won’t be in the running for a 2026 Grammy Award, joining a list of artist who have boycotted the potential accolade. <\/p>\n
Representatives for Wallen confirmed to TODAY.com that the country music artist will not submit his latest album, \u201cI\u2019m the Problem,\u201d for consideration at the 68th Grammys. <\/p>\n
Wallen’s album, which contains a whopping 37 songs, has sat at the top of Billboard 200 chart for 11 nonconsecutive weeks, marking the third time his album has hit No. 1 on the charts. <\/p>\n
While Wallen hasn’t spoken publicly about the decision, the singer has a controversial history with award shows. <\/p>\n
Morgan Wallen performs onstage during a benefit concert in June in Nashville, Tennessee.Jason Kempin \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
The first round of voting for the Grammys runs Oct. 3-15, with nominations set to be announced Nov. 7. The Grammys will be held Feb. 1, 2026. <\/p>\n
Why Is Morgan Wallen Removing His Album, \u2018I\u2019m the Problem\u2019 From Grammy Consideration?<\/p>\n
Wallen has not publicly spoken about removing his name from Grammys consideration as of Aug. 24. <\/p>\n
While the artist remains popular among country music fans and has had numerous No. 1 hits, Wallen has never won a Grammy and has only received two nominations. <\/p>\n
At the 67th Grammy Awards, Wallen was nominated for his duet with Post Malone, \u201cI Had Some Help,\u201d for best country duo\/group performance and best country song. Wallen has never been nominated for any work on his solo albums. <\/p>\n
Wallen’s controversial history and legal complications<\/a>, however, have also led to some fraught relationships with award shows and his record label. <\/p>\n In 2020, Wallen was seen in videos partying without a mask amid the Covid-19 pandemic, violating restrictions at the time. He had been schedule to perform as the musical guest on \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d but was pulled from the spot after the videos surfaced. He was later rescheduled. <\/p>\n Months later in 2021, TMZ shared a video of a person who appeared to be Wallen using a racial slur. After the video surfaced, Wallen was suspended from his recording label, Big Loud Records. <\/p>\n Thereafter, Wallen issued an apology obtained by NBC News. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back,\u201d Wallen said. \u201cThere are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.\u201d <\/p>\n That year, Wallen was banned from attending the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, as well as the American Music Awards. The Grammys, however, never disqualified Wallen from being nominated. <\/p>\n He has since been welcomed back to the ACM and CMA shows. <\/p>\n What Artists Have Removed Their Names from Grammy Considerations? Drake <\/p>\n Drake has declined to submit his music<\/a> for Grammy consideration for several years while also pointedly telling his fellow musicians that the award \u201cdoesn\u2019t dictate s—- in our world.\u201d <\/p>\n But Drake has had a longstanding history with the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, receiving five Grammys and 55 nominations<\/a> over the years. He also served as both performer and presenter prior to his critiques. <\/p>\n The \u201cFamily Matters\u201d rapper\u2019s criticism of the Grammys began in 2017, when his hit \u201cHotline Bling\u201d won best rap song and best rap\/sung performance. Drake slammed the Grammys for categorizing the song as rap, as opposed to pop. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Black artist, I\u2019m apparently a rapper, even though \u2018Hotline Bling\u2019 is not a rap song,\u201d Drake said during in an interview with U.K. DJ Semtex<\/a>. \u201cThe only category that they can manage to fit me in is in a rap category, maybe because I\u2019ve rapped in the past or because I\u2019m black. I can\u2019t figure out why.\u201d <\/p>\n In 2019, the last time Drake attended the Grammys, he accepted the award for best rap song for “God’s Plan” and gave a pointed acceptance speech<\/a> about how he and the other artists there that night \u201cplay in an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport.\u201d<\/p>\n After his album \u201cCertified Lover Boy\u201d was nominated in 2022 for best rap album and his single \u201cWay 2 Sexy\u201d was nominated for best rap performance, Drake asked the Recording Academy to remove his work from the nominations<\/a>. The Academy honored Drake\u2019s request and rapper didn\u2019t attend the awards show.<\/p>\n In 2023, although Drake refused to submit<\/a> his 2022 album, \u201cHonestly, Nevermind,\u201d or any of its songs for consideration by the Grammys, he received four nominations. Once again, however, Drake boycotted the awards show. <\/p>\n In 2024, Drake received four Grammy nominations for his joint 2022 album with 21 Savage, \u201cHer Loss.\u201d Per the Grammys<\/a>, Drake \u201csubmitted material for nomination for the 2024 GRAMMYs,\u201d but the rapper, who did not attend that year, ultimately did not take home an award. <\/p>\n The Weeknd <\/p>\n The Weeknd has also had a winding history with the Grammys, receiving 14 nominations and four wins over the years. <\/p>\n After his his \u201cBlinding Lights\u201d and \u201cAfter Hours\u201d were snubbed from nominations at the 2021 ceremony<\/a>, The Weeknd announced he would not submit his work to Recording Academy. <\/p>\n He told The New York Times at the time that <\/a>he will \u201cno longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys\u201d due to \u201csecret committees\u201d involved in the nomination process. <\/p>\n From 2022 to 2024, the singer boycotted the award show, until an unexpected return this past year<\/a>, when the Weeknd sang \u201cCry For Me\u201d and \u201cTimeless\u201d with Playboi Carti from his new album, \u201cHurry Up Tomorrow.\u201d <\/p>\n Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor <\/p>\n Irish singer-songwriter and activist Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor first performed at the Grammys in 1989, just two years before writing an open letter to the Recording Academy, criticizing \u201cfalse and destructive materialistic values.\u201d <\/p>\n Just a year prior to O’Connor’s pointed “SNL” performance, during which she destroyed a photo of Pope John Paul II on live television<\/a>, she dropped her planned Grammys performance and published her 1991 letter. <\/p>\n Directing her message to both the Academy and the industry at large, O’Connor wrote, per the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, \u201cThey acknowledge mostly the commercial side of art. They respect mostly material gain, since that is the main reason for their existence. And they have created a great respect among artists for material gain–by honoring us and exalting us when we achieve it, ignoring for the most part those of us who have not.\u201d <\/p>\n O’Connor won the best alternative music performance Grammy in 1991 for her album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,\u201d but refused to accept the award, marking the first time in the award show’s history that an artist rejected a win. <\/p>\n O\u2019Connor’s letter led to waves of artists refusing to attend the show. <\/p>\n When best rap performance by a duo or group was not televised at the 1991 Grammys \u2014 following the award show’s history of not televising wins in the rap category \u2014 nominee Public Enemy decided to boycott the show and released their own statement, via their label head Russell Simmons, that year. <\/p>\n When Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid accepted the 1991 win for Best Hard Rock Performance<\/a>, he donned a T-shirt displaying a giant photo of O’Connor. <\/p>\n Bruno Mars <\/p>\n In 2022, Bruno Mars told Rolling Stone<\/a> that he and Anderson .Paak, who together make up R&B duo Silk Sonic, withdrew their album, “An Evening with Silk Sonic” from Grammys consideration. <\/p>\n \u201cWe truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year,\u201d Mars told the outlet. \u201cWe hope we can celebrate with everyone on a great year of music and partake in the party. Thank you for letting Silk Sonic thrive.\u201d <\/p>\n The two artists did not attend the 2023 ceremony. <\/p>\n Mars has received 33 Grammys nominations and 16 wins<\/a>. His last win was at this past year’s ceremony in best pop duo\/group performance for “Die With a Smile,” his duet with Lady Gaga. <\/p>\n Why Are Artists Removing Themselves From Grammy Consideration?<\/p>\n While some artist have removed their work from future considerations after past snubs, others have took a stronger stance against the Recording Academy. <\/p>\n While Drake has been vocal<\/a> about his message that a Grammy win \u201cdoesn\u2019t dictate s—- in our world\u201d as an artist, he has also made reference to his frustration with the Grammys in his music. In his 2023 collaboration with J. Cole, \u201cFirst Person Shooter,\u201d Drake boasts, \u201cI told Jimmy Jam I use a Grammy as a door stop.\u201d <\/p>\n When The Weeknd refused to submit his work for Grammys consideration in 2021, he referred to \u201csecret committees\u201d involved in the nomination process when talking to The New York Times<\/a>. <\/p>\n