Many of the awards at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards, which were presented on Thursday (May 16) at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, went as expected. Lainey Wilson’s second consecutive win as female artist of the year was a foregone conclusion. Old Dominion’s seventh consecutive win as group of the year was also no surprise.
There was a bit of suspense in the duo of the year category. The award has toggled between Dan + Shay and Brothers Osborne for eight years. Dan + Shay, whose visibility was boosted this year by being coaches on The Voice, won. (These two duos are tied up at four wins each.)
The fact that Reba McEntire was a capable host was also no surprise. This was her 17th time hosting or co-hosting the show, so she knows what she’s doing. (She announced at the end of the ceremony that she would be back next year to host the 60th annual ACM Awards.)
That doesn’t mean there were no snubs or surprises at this year’s ACM Awards, which was produced by Dick Clark Productions.
Morgan Wallen went 0-6 on the night. The well-publicized incident in which he allegedly threw a chair off the roof of a sixth-story building in Nashville may have cost him some votes.
DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldridge. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.
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Snub: Morgan Wallen
Wallen lost to Chris Stapleton in three categories: album of the year, male artist of the year and artist-songwriter of the year. This is the second year in a row Wallen has been passed over in the latter category. He lost last year to Hardy.
One Thing at a Time’s loss for album of the year was surprising because the album topped Billboard’s all-genre year-end albums chart for 2023. The three most recent country albums before One Thing at a Time to achieve this feat – Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts, Taylor Swift’s Fearless and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album – walked off with the ACM Award for album of the year.
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Surprise: Jordan Davis
The Jordan Davis hit “Next Thing You Know” won song of the year, beating Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which most pundits had expected to win. “Fast Car” won the CMA Award for song of the year last fall. Davis co-wrote “Next Thing You Know” with Chase McGill, Greylan James and Josh Osborne. It’s the second win in this category for Osborne, who co-wrote the Old Dominion hit “One Man Band,” which won four years ago.
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Snub: Jelly Roll
Jelly Roll won his first ACM Award, music event of the year for “Save Me” (with Lainey Wilson). But he lost two awards that some experts figured he would win – male artist of the year and single of the year for “Need a Favor.”
Trivia note: An instrumentalist who went by the nickname “Jelly Roll” won two ACM Awards in the ‘00s. Kirk “Jelly Roll” Johnson won top specialty instrument(s) player of the year in 2004 and again in 2009.
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Snubs: Cody Johnson, Kelsea Ballerini, Zach Bryan
Wallen wasn’t the only artist who went into the show with a large number of nominations who was completely shut out. Others who fit that description were Cody Johnson, who had five nods; Kelsea Ballerini, who had three; and Zach Bryan, who also had three. For all three of them, and Wallen too, maybe next year.
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