Even before the ACM Awards got underway Thursday (May 8), winners had been announced in six categories. And in one of those categories, the voters delivered a big surprise. Country traditionalist Zach Top took the award for new male artist of the year, beating Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” had spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and seven weeks atop Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Shaboozey’s loss was our first sign that surprises were in store, and indeed there were more once the telecast began.
Who expected Morgan Wallen, Post Malone and Kelsea Ballerini to be completely shut out, despite going into the show with a total of 16 nominations between them?
To be sure, some things went about as expected on the show. Brooks & Dunn won their record-extending 17th award as duo of the year; Old Dominion, their record-setting eighth award as group of the year; Chris Stapleton, his record-tying fifth award as male artist of the year; and Lainey Wilson, her third consecutive award as female artist of the year.
Ella Langley won five awards: single of the year, music event of the year, new female artist of the year and visual media of the year (winning two awards in the latter category, as both artist and director). Wilson won four awards: entertainer of the year, female artist of the year, album of the year and artist-songwriter of the year. Riley Green, Langley’s duet partner on “You Look Like You Love Me,” won three awards. Will Bundy, their producer, won two.
Here’s a look at some of the most notable snubs and surprises on the 2025 ACM Awards.
Wallen went 0-for-7 on the night. His showing was especially disappointing because he had won entertainer of the year at the 2024 CMA Awards. After five years of massive success in country music, Wallen has won just two ACM Awards in competition: album of the year in 2022 for Dangerous: The Double Album and male artist of the year two years ago.
Post Malone, Wallen’s duet partner on the megahit “I Had Some Help,” went 0-for-5, the second biggest shutout of the night. He was nominated for album of the year, single of the year, song of the year (as both artist and songwriter) and music event of the year.
Old Dominion won vocal group of the year for the eighth year in a row, setting a new record for the most wins by anyone in the history of the category. You can hardly call that a surprise, and yet in a way it is. Streaks invariably end, but that hasn’t happened yet for this band.
Kelsea Ballerini went 0-for-4 on the night, the night’s third biggest shutout. She was nominated for female artist of the year, but lost for the eighth time. She has lost in that category to Miranda Lambert three times, Maren Morris twice and Lainey Wilson three times. But Ballerini is in very good company. Lee Ann Womack and Tanya Tucker also went 0-8 in the category, and one beloved singer, Anne Murray, went 0-9. Of course, Ballerini could still win in a future year and shed her perennial bridesmaid status.
Shaboozey lost in both categories in which he was nominated – single of the year and new male artist of the year. That’s surprising because his single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” was such a crossover smash. Shaboozey was vying to become the first Black artist in ACM history to win single of the year and just the second to win new male artist of the year, following Jimmie Allen five years ago.
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