Winners have been announced for the 53rd Academy Of Country Music Awards, which aired LIVE last night on the CBS Television Network from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Hosted by multimedia superstar, Reba McEntire, the ACM Awards named Jason Aldean as Entertainer of the Year, the evening’s biggest honor. This is the third consecutive win for Aldean in this category and his 13th overall ACM Award win.
Miranda Lambert won ACM Female Vocalist of the Year for the ninth consecutive year and is the current record holder for most consecutive wins in this category. Lambert also won ACM Song of the Year for “Tin Man” along with co-writers Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, receiving two awards, both as artist and songwriter. With these wins, she now has 32 ACM Awards, and is the most-awarded artist in ACM Awards history, a record previously held by Brooks & Dunn.
Chris Stapleton won ACM Male Vocalist of the Year, his second win in this category. Stapleton also won an additional two awards as both artist and producer in the ACM Album of the Year category for “From A Room: Volume 1”.
Brothers Osborne won ACM Vocal Duo of the Year for the second consecutive year. The duo also won ACM Video of the Year for “It Ain’t My Fault,” along with directors Wes Edwards and Ryan Silver and producer Tiffany Davies. ACM CEO Pete Fisher surprised the duo with these awards, presenting them during CMT’s Facebook Live coverage of the ACM Awards red carpet.
Lauren Alaina, Midland and Brett Young were also previously announced winners for ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year, ACM New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year and ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year, respectively. The winners received a surprise phone call from host Reba McEntire last month notifying them of the news and were also surprised with the actual ACM Award in the days leading up to the show.
Jon Pardi presented Alaina with her ACM Award during rehearsals, Midland received their ACM Award at the ACM Stories, Songs & Stars: A Songwriter’s Event Benefitting ACM Lifting Lives and Luke Bryan presented Young with his trophy at the Cumulus/Westwood One Radio Remotes.
Old Dominion won ACM Vocal Group of the Year Award, their first award in this category. They previously won ACM New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year at the 51st ACM Awards in 2016.
Rhett Akins was announced as the winner of this year’s ACM Songwriter of the Year Award (off-camera category) on Friday at the ACM Stories, Songs & Stars: A Songwriter’s Event Benefitting ACM Lifting Lives, which was presented to him by reigning ACM Songwriter of the Year award winner Lori McKenna.
Country Music’s Party of the Year featured a superstar lineup of featured collaborations and powerful performances. The awards telecast honored three of country music’s hit songs from 1993 with the “ACM Flashbacks” segments, with Toby Keith and Blake Shelton performing Keith’s celebrated No.1 debut single “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” Alan Jackson and Jon Pardi performing Jackson’s ACM Award-winning hit “Chattahoochee” and Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson performing Reba’s Grammy Award-winning hit “Does He Love You.” Additional collaborations included Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina performing the multi-platinum, No. 1 hit “What Ifs,” Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line performing the chart-topping hit “Meant to Be” and ACM Vocal Event of the Year winner Keith Urban and Julia Michaels performing Urban’s new single “Coming Home.”
The ACM Awards also featured performances by ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year Lauren Alaina, ACM Entertainer of the Year Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dan + Shay, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Chris Janson, Lady Antebellum, ACM Female Vocalist of the Year Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, ACM New Duo or Group of the Year Midland, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, ACM Vocal Event of the Year winner Carrie Underwood, ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year Brett Young and Chris Young.
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!
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