The 56th annual Country Music Association Awards are being presented tonight at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Variety is updating the list of winners as they are announced. The telecast is going out live on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET/7 CT, with a tape-delayed broadcast for the west coast beginning at 8.
Scroll down to see the winners announced so far, marked in bold amid a full list of nominees.
The first on-air award of the night, coming just shy of the half-hour point, was for song of the year, awarded to singer Jordan Davis and his co-writers for the hit “Buy Dirt.”
The show opened with Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert forming a trio to salute the late Loretta Lynn with a medley of “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “You’re Looking at Country,” “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Ashley McBryde followed with a cover of the classic “When Will I Be Loved” (aided by the guests who perform it with her on her new album, Brandy Clark, Pillbox Patti, Caylee Hammack and guitarist John Osborne).
Two winners were announced prior to the telecast on Wednesday. Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce shared a CMA Awards win in the category of musical event of the year for their duet “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” and Cody Johnson’s “Til You Can’t” was awarded the prize for music video of the year. These early wins would seem to up the chances of these three artists picking up something else over the course of the three-hour telecast. McBryde and Pearce started the day with five nominations apiece, and Johnson with four.
The leading nominee coming into the ceremony was Lainey Wilson, with six nods, after never having been up for a CMA before — including best new artist. Wilson is due for a big look at the end of the year regardless of how she fares with the awards, as she is about to be seen in a recurring role on the popular series “Yellowstone.”
Those running close behind with five nominations were McBryde, Pearce, Chris Stapleton and songwriter/producer Shane McAnally. Racking up four nominations each were Johnson and writer-producer Josh Osbourne. The triple nominees coming in were Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Hardy and Midland.
Morgan Wallen, who can reasonably be counted as the biggest star in country music right now, only registered two nominations. But one of them was for the the CMAs’ top prize: entertainer of the year. A lot of prognosticators have predicted that Wallen will get it, despite still being a polarizing figure outside the world of mainstream country, where he has come back and enjoyed a steady stream of hit singles after being put on time-out in 2021. But he faces heavy competition for that award from last year’s winner, Combs, not to mention Lambert, Stapleton and Underwood
The full list of nominees, with the winners’ names marked in bold as they are announced:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
- Luke Combs
- Miranda Lambert
- Chris Stapleton
- Carrie Underwood
- Morgan Wallen
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer
- “Buy Dirt” – Jordan Davis featuring Luke Bryan
Producer: Paul DiGiovanni
Mix Engineer: Jim Cooley - “Half of My Hometown” – Kelsea Ballerini (feat. Kenny Chesney)
Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Ross Copperman, Jimmy Robbins
Mix Engineer: Dan Grech-Marguerat - “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
Mix Engineer: Ryan Gore - “’Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Mix Engineer: Jack Clarke - “You Should Probably Leave” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
Mix Engineer: Vance Powell
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
- “Growin’ Up” – Luke Combs
Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
Mix Engineers: Jim Cooley, Chip Matthews - “Humble Quest” – Maren Morris
Producer: Greg Kurstin
Mix Engineer: Serban Ghenea - “Palomino” – Miranda Lambert
Producers: Luke Dick, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall, Mikey Reaves
Mix Engineer: Jason Lehning - “Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’” – Lainey Wilson
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix Engineer: F. Reid Shippen - “Time, Tequila & Therapy” – Old Dominion
Producers: Shane McAnally, Old Dominion
Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank
SONG OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Songwriters
- “Buy Dirt”
Songwriters: Jacob Davis, Jordan Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins - “Never Wanted to Be That Girl”
Songwriters: Shane McAnally, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce - “Sand in My Boots”
Songwriters: Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Josh Osborne - “Things a Man Oughta Know”
Songwriters: Jason Nix, Jonathan Singleton, Lainey Wilson - “You Should Probably Leave”
Songwriters: Chris DuBois, Ashley Gorley, Chris Stapleton
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- Miranda Lambert
- Ashley McBryde
- Carly Pearce
- Carrie Underwood
- Lainey Wilson
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- Eric Church
- Luke Combs
- Cody Johnson
- Chris Stapleton
- Morgan Wallen
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion
- Zac Brown Band
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Locash
- Maddie & Tae
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s) and Producer(s)
- “Beers on Me” – Dierks Bentley with Breland & Hardy
Producers: Dierks Bentley, Ross Copperman - “If I Didn’t Love You” – Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood
Producer: Michael Knox - “Longneck Way to Go” – Midland (featuring Jon Pardi)
Producers: Dann Huff, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne - “Never Say Never” – Cole Swindell (with Lainey Wilson)
Producer: Zach Crowell - WINNER: “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
- Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle
- Paul Franklin, Steel guitar
- Brent Mason, Guitar
- Ilya Toshinskiy, Banjo
- Derek Wells, Guitar
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s) and Directors
- “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” – Taylor Swift (featuring Chris Stapleton)
Director: Blake Lively - “Longneck Way to Go” – Midland (featuring Jon Pardi)
Director: Harper Smith - “Never Say Never” – Cole Swindell (with Lainey Wilson)
Director: Michael Monaco - “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
Director: Alexa Campbell - WINNER: “’Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Hardy
- Walker Hayes
- Cody Johnson
- Parker McCollum
- Lainey Wilson