The 2025 Country Music Association Awards are set to showcase a strong female presence, with Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, and Lainey Wilson each leading the nominations with six nods.
Lainey Wilson, who will also host the ceremony, faces fierce competition for the night’s top honour, CMA Entertainer of the Year. She is up against Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton, and last year’s winner, Morgan Wallen.
New Artist of the Year nominees include Langley, Shaboozey, Zach Top, Tucker Wetmore, and Stephen Wilson Jr. Country music icon Vince Gill will receive the prestigious Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Performances are set from Shaboozey, Combs, Stapleton, Langley, Moroney, Top, Wetmore, Wilson, Wilson Jr., Kelsea Ballerini, Brandi Carlile, Kenny Chesney, Riley Green, Miranda Lambert, Patty Loveless, Old Dominion, The Red Clay Strays, and rapper BigXThaPlug.
The 59th annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8 p.m. Eastern and 7 p.m. Central on ABC, streaming on Hulu the next day.
Winners are decided by Country Music Association members, including executives, artists, and industry professionals.
At the 2024 awards, Morgan Wallenbrushed off controversy to take home the night’s biggest prize, Entertainer of the Year.
Wallen was not in attendance and was largely shut out of the awards as Chris Stapleton won four categories, including Song of the Year and Single of the Year for “White Horse.”
Stapleton took the stage at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, three times to perform during the ABC telecast, including a show-opening duet with Post Malone.
“I’m really honoured for this, thank you very much,” the always subdued country traditionalist Stapleton said as he accepted the male vocalist of the year award for a record-extending eighth time.
For much of the night, it seemed the leading nominee, Wallen, up for seven, would be snubbed, until presenter Jeff Bridges gave a botched rendering of his name as “Morgan Waylon” when he announced Entertainer of the Year.
Four of Wallen’s nominations came for his hit collaboration with Malone, “I Had Some Help,” though the song, and the first-time nominee Malone, went winless.
Wallen was arrested in April and charged with three felony counts after allegedly throwing a chair off the roof of another six-story Broadway bar.
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