Lainey Wilson kicked off the ACM Awards with a nod to the host state covering the Little Texas hit, “God Blessed Texas." She then rolled into her own song, “Hang Tight Honey," which could have been her mantra for the evening.
Lainey took three trips to the podium claiming the coveted Entertainer of the Year award, along with Female Artist and Music Event with Jelly Roll. However, Chris Stapleton matched her trip for trip winning Male Artist, Album for Higher and Artist-Songwriter.
Reba McEntire sparkled in her return to the hosting role joking that when she started, “Luke was one of the gospels, not half the guys in country music.” After singing the closing number, she announced that she would be returning as next year’s host.
WINNERS:
Entertainer of the Year: Lainey Wilson
Female Artist of the Year: Lainey Wilson
Male Artist of the Year: Chris Stapleton
Duo of the Year: Dan and Shay
Group of the Year: Old Dominion
New Male Artist of the Year: Nate Smith
New Female Artist of the Year: Megan Moroney
New Group/Duo of the Year: Tigirlily Gold
Album of the Year: Chris Stapleton - Higher
Single of the Year: Luke Combs – “Fast Car”
Song of the Year: Jordan Davis – “Next Thing You Know”
Music Event of the Year: Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson – “Save Me”
Visual Media of the Year: Parker McCollum – “Burn It Down”
Songwriter of the Year: Jessie Jo Dillon
Artist-Songwriter of the Year: Chris Stapleton
PERFORMANCES:
Lainey Wilson – “God Blessed Texas” / “Hang Tight Honey”
Jelly Roll – “Liar”
Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan – "Mountain With a View" and “Stick Season”
Tigirlily Gold – “I Tried a Ring On”
Cody Johnson – “Dirt Cheap”
Miranda Lambert - "Wranglers"
Kane Brown – “Georgia on My Mind”
Thomas Rhett – “Beautiful As You”
Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani – “Purple Irises”
Jason Aldean – “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”
Chris Stapleton with Dua Lipa – “Think I’m In Love With You”
Post Malone – “Never Love Again” and “I Had Some Help”
Parker McCollum – “Burn It Down”
Nate Smith and Avril Lavigne – “Bulletproof”
Reba McEntire – “I Can’t”