Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year
The following list shows the recipients for the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year.[1] This Award goes to the songwriter(s) and is for artistic achievement in songwriting. Any Country Music song with original words and music is eligible based upon the song's Country singles chart activity during the eligibility period.[2] It is the sister category to the Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year, which recognizes the artist, producer and engineer.
Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year
It was first handed out at the inaugural 1967 CMA Awards to Dallas Frazier for his song "There Goes My Everything" which had been popularised at that time by Jack Greene. K. T. Oslin became the first woman to win the award in 1988 for her hit "80's Ladies". Vince Gill is the most awarded songwriter in the category, with four wins, while two—time winner Alan Jackson and 2014 recipient Shane McAnally hold the record for most nominations, with ten each. Bob McDill and Brad Paisley are the most nominated writers not to win, with six nominations. The current holder of the award is Tracy Chapman, who wrote Luke Combs' hit "Fast Car", which won at the 57th Annual Country Music Association Awards in 2023.
To date, thirteen men: Dallas Frazier (1967), Bobby Russell (1968), Bob Ferguson (1969), Kris Kristofferson (1970), Freddie Hart (1971—2), Kenny O'Dell (1973), Don Wayne (1974), John Denver (1975), Larry Weiss (1976), Richard Leigh (1978), Don Schlitz (1979), Lee Greenwood (1985) and Vince Gill (1996) and seven women: K.T. Oslin (1988), Gretchen Peters (1995), Jennifer Nettles (2008), Kimberly Perry (2011), Lori McKenna (2016), Taylor Swift (2017) and Tracy Chapman (2023) have won the Song of the Year award with a solo composition.
To date, only three songs, "Easy Loving", "Always on My Mind" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today", have received the award in consecutive years and only Freddie Hart, Don Schlitz, Vince Gill and Lori McKenna have won in consecutive years.