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Morgan Wallen, arguably the most popular country artist in the world, will not be submitting himself or any songs from his chart-topping latest album, "I'm the Problem," for Grammy Awards, his team confirms to Variety. The massive 37-track album has been at the top of the Billboard 200 for some 11 weeks.
The news was previously reported by Hits and Billboard citing "sources," but the confirmation is new. Billboard reported that Wallen and his team will not ask songwriters who contributed to the album from submitting their works for Grammys. The album has already launched four No. 1s on Billboard's Country Airplay chart and three chart-toppers on the Hot Country Songs chart, as well as a the Hot 100-topping duet with Tate McRae, "What I Want."
For reasons that stretch beyond the purview of this article but are likely related to his at-times controversial statements and behavior, Wallen has been snubbed by both the country and music-industry establishments, even as his gargantuan sales and streaming numbers create a vast amount of those businesses' revenue. He is occasionally nominated for but rarely wins country awards, and the only Grammy nod has has received was for his work on Post Malone's "F1 Trillion" album.
Over the past 15 years, the Grammys have been boycotted by several major artists who feel they have been treated unfairly by its voting body or management, but the Recording Academy has worked hard to rebuild those relationships and has largely succeeded, with Jay-Z, Beyonce, the Weeknd and others returning to the fold in recent years. However, Wallen's issues appear to be more based in Nashville than with the Recording Academy's nationwide base.