Hit Songwriter For Morgan Wallen Speaks Out On ‘I’m The Problem’ Not Being Submitted For GRAMMY Consideration

Not a problem.

Morgan Wallen is on a dominant run in country music right now.

After securing the title of most-played artist on country radio so far this year, most-played artist on TouchTunes throughout 2025 and becoming the first artist ever to spend at least 10 weeks at #1 with three consecutive albums (I’m The Problem, One Thing At A Time, and Dangerous: The Double Album), today he became the artist who has spent the second-most weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart this century, second only to Taylor Swift.

Additionally, Wallen has now firmly planted himself eighth all-time in total weeks spent at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the chart’s history. Joining the likes of The Beatles, Garth Brooks, Michael Jackson and more, he has now passed the likes of Drake, Elton John, Eminem, Prince and The Rolling Stones for most weeks spent atop the chart.

Which is why it was such a bombshell when it was revealed last week that Morgan won’t be submitting his hit album I’m The Problem for GRAMMY consideration.

According to a report from Hits Daily Double:

“Sources in the 615 tell us that Morgan Wallen has elected not to submit his chart-topping album ‘I’m the Problem’ (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic)—far and away the biggest release of the year—for Grammy consideration.  

The Academy’s gatekeepers, you’ll recall, have never been particularly receptive to Wallen, though those who ought to know tell us there was no rancor in the decision, which they described as a measured ‘No, thank you.'”

The move really isn’t all that surprising given Morgan’s history with awards shows. After being banned from all major awards shows back in 2021 in the wake of his racial slur controversy, Morgan hasn’t really showed any interest in lending his presence to the shows to boost their ratings. In fact, when he finally won Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards last year, Morgan wasn’t even in attendance to accept the award and hasn’t acknowledged it in the months since (other than posting a photo of the trophy on his Instagram).

And as for the GRAMMY Awards…well, they’ve never really shown much interest in recognizing Wallen for his success.

In 2023, Variety reported that Wallen was excluded from that year’s awards because the Academy did not align with his “hyper-commercial country” sound. While that statement was not directed directly at Wallen, it certainly felt that way when Tracy Gershon, a trustee of the Recording Academy’s Nashville chapter, cautioned artists never to assume that commercial success guarantees a nomination.

“I would say, unlike other awards, the Grammy voters don’t necessarily vote on commercial popularity. In fact, they tend to vote on artistic merit.”

Basically, they say they don’t like his music, although if I had to guess I would say that they’re also not a big fan of Morgan as a person either and that doesn’t help when it comes to voting.

Either way, not submitting your music for consideration is a pretty big deal. It’s a blow to the credibility of the awards when you don’t even have the most popular album of the year in the running, and it’s a message to the industry that one of the biggest artists in the world doesn’t view the top awards ceremony as important.

And it’s not just Morgan who won’t be up for awards: Neither will anyone else who was involved in making the album.

The GRAMMY Awards, like other ceremonies, recognize not just the artist but others depending on the category. Record of the Year, for example, is presented to an album’s performer and producers. Album of the Year goes to the performer, songwriters and production team. Song of the Year would go to the songwriters. But since the album isn’t being submitted, none of those people would be up for awards.

And according to at least one songwriter on the album, he’s fine with that.

Ashley Gorley is undeniably one of the top songwriters in Nashville, having written many of the hits you hear on country radio for artists like Thomas Rhett, HARDY, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Jason Aldean, and of course, Morgan Wallen.

Gorley is listed as a songwriter for four songs on Morgan’s latest album, including fan favorites like “TN” and “Kiss Her In Front Of You” along with #1 hit “Love Somebody” and album cut “Don’t We.” And because the album won’t be submitted for GRAMMY consideration, that means none of those songs will be up for awards either – something that doesn’t seem to bother Gorley too much:

“I mean, that’s fine with me. We’re in the Never Won a Grammy Club, you know, together.

I was at his show on Saturday night, and that’s what matters most to us, the fans, the reactions, the way those songs are coming off. So amazing. What a great set. I took the family up to Cleveland to see that show. So, yeah, that’s kind of what we’re thinking about. We’re not thinking about Grammys. We’re writing the song. So, I mean, all good. I’ll take one if someone wants to give me one, but at the same time, we’re all good with that.

We’re all kind of writing from a different place and really doing – he’s saying what he wants to say at this point, as he should. You know, he’s had an amazing career, crushing it, and so totally respect his opinion on that for sure.”

@billboard

Songwriter Ashley Gorley shares his thoughts on Morgan Wallen not submitting his album for Grammy consideration with Billboard at the ACMHonors. #morganwallen #country #grammys

♬ original sound – billboard

Realistically, pretty much everybody knows that Morgan wasn’t going to be winning any GRAMMY awards anyway. The people who vote on those awards clearly don’t like Morgan, and while they may claim it’s because of his music I would guess that it’s more because of who he is than the music he’s putting out.

Why crash a party you’re not wanted at anyway?The post Hit Songwriter For Morgan Wallen Speaks Out On ‘I’m The Problem’ Not Being Submitted For GRAMMY Consideration first appeared on Whiskey Riff.