Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

The People's Choice Country Awards, which first aired in 2023, return for a second edition in September on NBC. A list of nominees will be announced on Thursday, featuring some of the biggest names in country and pop music, including Beyoncé, Shaboozey, Zach Bryan, Kacey Musgraves, Morgan Wallen and Jelly Roll.

Bryan led the nominations with 19, followed by Beyoncé with 17 and Musgraves with 15. Notably, none of those three artists had a banner year at country radio, despite their outsized presence as mass-media superstars. Which is perhaps one way the awards show seeks to differentiate itself from two of its most obvious competitors, the country music industry-voted CMA Awards and ACM Awards.

The fan-voted awards show airs September 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, with Shania Twain as host.