Taylor Swift is returning to the CMA (Country Music Association) Awards stage on November 18 for the first time in 13 years. The TV chat show Good Morning America — which airs on USA’s ABC Television Network that will also broadcast the CMA Awards — made the announcement on Friday, November 13, a fitting date for a singer who considers 13 her lucky number.
The appearance comes less than a month after Swift reflected on her Nashville beginnings during her October 26 induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The 36-year-old recalled the Music Row writing sessions that shaped her career and celebrated the 20th anniversary of her self-titled debut album.
“You know, I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve gotten to genre hop and travel the world and write with so many different people and in so many different ways,” Swift said during her acceptance speech. “And the only reason that I’ve been able to have that kind of dexterity in my creative process is because of the fundamentals and the foundation that I learned here in Nashville.”
The Patient Zero singer has earned a Single of the Year nomination for I Knew It, I Knew You, her original song from Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5. The track, written and produced with Jack Antonoff, reached No. 1 on the US country radio in September, nearly 12 years after Swift made her definitive move from country to pop with her album 1989.
The nomination was her first at the CMAs in four years. She is competing against Ella Langley’s Be Her and Choosin’ Texas, Lainey Wilson’s Somewhere Over Laredo and Cody Johnson’s The Fall.
Swift is the latest performer announced for the 60th CMA Awards this year, which also includes fellow artistes Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Cody Johnson, Tucker Wetmore, Tim McGraw, Zach Top and The Red Clay Strays. She has delivered eight musical performances across seven CMA Awards ceremonies. She has also earned 12 CMA honours — nine competitive awards, two International Artist Achievement Awards and the prestigious Pinnacle Award.
Her history with the show began in 2006, when she walked the red carpet just months after releasing her debut single, Tim McGraw. A year later, the 17-year-old performed Our Song and won the Horizon Award, now called New Artist of the Year.
Swift brought Love Story to the CMA stage in 2008, then swept all four categories in which she was nominated in 2009 — Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Fearless and Music Video of the Year for Love Story. At 19, she became the youngest recipient of the night’s top prize. She also flanked her breakthrough night with two contrasting performances, opening the broadcast with the fiery Forever & Always and returning later for an acoustic rendition of Fifteen.
In 2013, Swift became only the second recipient of the Pinnacle Award, following Garth Brooks. The special honour recognised her success in bringing country music to audiences worldwide. The superstar singer-songwriter, who married Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in July, last sang at the CMAs that year, when she performed an acoustic version of Red alongside Alison Krauss and Vince Gill. She also won Musical Event and Music Video of the Year for Highway Don’t Care, her collaboration with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban.
Her most recent nomination before 2026 came in 2022, when the Blake Lively-directed video for I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault), featuring Chris Stapleton, earned a Music Video of the Year nod.
The 60th annual CMA Awards will be available to stream live worldwide on Disney+ and will be available the next day on Hulu.
