Each December, the Country Central team polls our staff to nominate their selections for 11 categories, highlighting the best (and worst) that country music had to offer as the year comes to a close. From those ballots, our master statistician (shoutout, Dan) assembles a composite vote, from which we make our final selection in each category.
This year, the process was no different, but the results stood out from any other year in one remarkable way: one artist asserted total dominance over just about every category he was nominated in, capping off a true banner year in his career. That artist wasn’t Morgan Wallen, who continued to rack up massive commercial accolades, or Zach Top, who had an enormous breakout year and enjoyed huge acclaim just about everywhere he went.
It was Parker McCollum, who quietly released one of the most outstanding country music records of the year, and reclaimed his notoriety as one of the format’s most interesting, thoughtful artists at every level, from the writer’s room to the stage. Winning song, album, male artist, and songwriter of the year, Parker owned the CC Awards’ voting as no artist has before in its history.
Other categories spotlighted the surge of new blood that the format has enjoyed this year. Back in January, few thought of Treaty Oak Revival, Ella Langley, or certainly not Joshua Slone, as the defining new faces of the genre, but after this year, it’s hard not to recognize the unabashed star power of each.
And of course, TikToking provocateur Graham Barham made his own mark on the 2025 country music scene with not one, but two nominations for Worst Song of the Year, and a well-earned dub in that category for the infamous “Oil Money.”
Check out all of the nominations and winners below!
Best Album
- Winner: Parker McCollum
- Ain’t in it for my health
- Snipe Hunter
- Foxes In The Snow
- Evangeline vs. The Machine
Best Collab
- Winner: Number 3 and number 7
- Madeline
- Bowery
- Place They Call Home
- Never Met Anyone Like You
Best Cover Art
- Winner: Snipe Hunter
- West Texas Degenerate
- ELDORA
- Longleaf Lo-Fi
- Cadillac Sessions
Best Duo/Group
- Winner: Treaty Oak Revival
- Muscadine Bloodline
- Flatland Cavalry
- Turnpike Troubadours
- The Castellows
Best New Artist
- Winner: Joshua Slone
- Vincent Mason
- Ty Myers
- Solon Holt
- Hudson Westbrook
Best Song
- Winner: My Blue
- When You See Me
- Chickasaw Church of Christ
- Circa 1943
- Evangeline
Best Songwriter
- Winner: Parker McCollum
- Tyler Childers
- Joshua Slone
- Gary Stanton
- Ernest Keith Smith
Female Artist
- Winner: Ella Langley
- Megan Moroney
- Avery Anna
- Morgan Wade
- Kelsea Ballerini
Male Artist
- Winner: Parker McCollum
- Morgan Wallen
- Zach Top
- Vincent Mason
- Tyler Childers
Worst Song of the Year
- Winner: Oil Money
- Miami (Remix)
- Isn’t She Country
- WHISKEY RAIN
- Hell At Night
