2026 MusicRow Awards Nominees For Song Of The Year

Following the announcement of this year’s nominees for the 38th annual MusicRow Awards, presented by City National Bank, we take a closer look at the Song of the Year category.

The nominees honor Nashville writers and publishers on the craft of country songwriting, not necessarily chart performance, during the eligibility period of June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026.

This year’s winners will be announced online on all MusicRow platforms on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Click here to see the full list of MusicRow Awards nominees.

Winners are determined solely by MusicRow Magazine subscribers. Voting is now open and closes on Aug. 14 at 5:00 p.m. To receive a ballot to vote in the MusicRow Awards, become a MusicRow subscriber here.

“Backseat Driver”
Featured on Kane Brown’s album The High Road, “Backseat Driver,” produced by Dann Huff, reflects on parenthood through the everyday moments that shape a father’s perspective. Written by Jacob Davis and Jordan Walker, the song follows a morning drive as the narrator’s young daughter fills the ride with questions about the world around her, shifting his attention from the distractions of adulthood to the curiosity of childhood. “Daddy, look, there’s a plane in the sky. Are we there yet? Did you just see that dog run by?” she asks, prompting him to see life through her eyes. Later, he reflects, “One day, I’ll look back and I’ll miss when my whole world wasn’t over that dash, it was back there buckled in,” before closing with, “I wish I could be more like her. My little dangling feet, pretty in pink, backseat driver.” “Backseat Driver” became Brown’s 13th career No. 1 on country radio and his eighth consecutive chart-topper.

“Choosin’ Texas”
Co-written by Ella Langley, Joybeth Taylor, Luke Dick and Miranda Lambert, “Choosin’ Texas” follows a narrator who realizes she cannot keep her man from choosing what his heart wants. “Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee, I shoulda known better than to take him back to Abilene,” she reflects before admitting, “I put him right back into her arms. I wasn’t a match for that kinda spark.” Langley continues, “It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see a cowboy always finds a way to leave,” before concluding, “Drinkin’ Jack all by myself. He’s choosin’ Texas, I can tell.” Featured on Langley’s sophomore album Dandelion, the history-making track spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the longest running No. 1 by a woman with a country hit in the chart’s history. It also recorded six separate runs at No. 1 on the Hot 100, setting a new record for a single release cycle, and logged its 29th week atop the Hot Country Songs chart.

“I Sit In Parks”
Written solely by Kelsea Ballerini for her 2025 Mount Pleasant EP, “I Sit in Parks” reflects on the pressure women face as they pursue the lives they have worked for while confronting the reality that a biological clock does not stop along the way. Watching young families around her, she questions whether she has “missed the mark,” asking, “Did I miss it? By now, is it a lucid dream? Is it my fault for chasing things a body clock doesn’t wait for? I did the damn tour.” She later acknowledges the complexity of those feelings, singing, “They lay on a blanket and goddamit he loves her. I wonder if she wants my freedom like I wanna be a mother,” before adding, “But Rolling Stone says I’m on the right road, so I refill my Lexapro” Rather than framing career and motherhood as mutually exclusive, the song captures the emotional space where gratitude for one path exists alongside a longing for another for women who want it all.

“McArthur”
Written by Chase McGill, Jameson Rodgers, Josh Thompson and Michael Hardy, “McArthur,” performed by HARDY, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen and Tim McGraw, traces four generations of the McArthur family as each man reflects on the land that has defined his life. Beginning with the family’s patriarch, the song follows each generation in turn, from a farmer who built a life on the property to a son lost in Vietnam, a grandson determined to preserve the family legacy and, finally, an heir tempted to sell it to developers. “My bloodline, it bled on this ground. Soon we all find that’s where we’re bound,” each generation sings, before asking, “And father time don’t leave anyone out. And when you pass on, what you gonna pass down?” In the opening verse, the family’s patriarch reflects, “I kept my family fed with a mule and a plow. I’m a whisper in the wind through the pine trees now.” By the song’s close, that promise returns as Hunter McArthur prepares to sell the land but hears “a whisper in the pines that’s tellin’ me, ‘Don’t.’”

“Say So”
Co-written by Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, David Hodges and Jimmy Robbins, “Say So” was written in honor of Warner Chappell Music Nashville executive Ben Vaughn. The song serves as a reminder that no one has to carry life’s struggles alone and encourages those who are hurting to ask for help rather than suffer in silence. “Sometimes the words you don’t know how to say are the loudest. No one can shoulder the weight if they don’t know about it,” Dan + Shay sing before offering, “I’ll be there every time you call. Pick you up every time you fall. If you’re going through hell, you’re not alone. If you need somebody, say so.” The song closes with the hopeful reassurance, “Hold on tight. The sun is gonna rise. So open up your eyes. Tomorrow is a brand new day.” Dan + Shay performed “Say So” in Vaughn’s honor during the 60th ACM Awards, with the performance helping spotlight the importance of suicide prevention and encouraging conversations around mental health and seeking support.

“Sleepless In A Hotel Room”
Co-written by Luke Combs, Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton, Combs’ “Sleepless in a Hotel Room,” featured on his recent The Way I Am LP, captures the loneliness that can come with a job that requires you to be away from home. Written through the lens of a musician on the road, Combs describes lying awake in a hotel room, unable to sleep while thinking about the person waiting at home. Throughout the song, Combs imagines the parallel night unfolding back home, wondering whether the person he misses is just as restless as he is. “I can hear the lonely howlin’ out my window. I can feel the whiskey not do anything. 2 in the morning, TV’s on and I’ve never felt so far from home,” Combs sings. He later says, “I wonder if you’re starin’ at our bedroom ceiling. Lyin’ right beside a glass of wine. I wonder if you’re tossin’, turnin’, wishin’ you were kissin’ me,” before admitting, “The morning light can’t come too soon. Lyin’ here not next to you. Wide awake I dream of you. Sleepless in a hotel room.”