Country

There goes Chris Stapleton riding off into the sunset with yet another addition to his awards mantle. At Thursday night’s ACM Awards (May 16), which are produced by Dick Clark Productions, the country superstar took home male artist of the year.

Nominated alongside fellow country hitmakers Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson and Morgan Wallen, Stapleton earned his third career triumph in this category. He boasts nine total nominations for male artist of the year, including victories in 2016, 2018 and 2022. In his acceptance speech, Stapleton gave a sweet shoutout to his mother, who is unfortunately “under the weather.”

On Wednesday (May 15), Stapleton was announced as the winner of artist-songwriter of the year, beating out Wallen, Zach Bryan, Ernest and HARDY. The “Tennesee Whiskey” singer is nominated in two other categories at the 2024 ACM Awards: album of the year for 2023’s Higher and entertainer of the year. Stapleton won the latter category last year.

Higher debuted atop Country Albums late last year (chart dated Nob. 25, 2023), marking his fifth consecutive chart-topper on that ranking. Stapleton introduced the set with Grammy-winning lead single “White Horse,” which reached No. 5 on Hot Country Songs and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, his highest peak as a lead artist. Follow-up single “I Think I’m In Love With You” reached No. 20 on Hot Country Songs.

With his triumph this year, a different artist has won male artist of the year each year of the 2020s. Combs triumphed in 2020, Thomas Rhett followed in 2021, Stapleton reigned in 2022 and Wallen took home the trophy in 2023.

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.

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton brought their latest swoon-worthy collaboration to the 2024 ACM Awards stage on Thursday night (May 16), performing “Purple Irises” at the star-studded event.

The duo traded verses — while Stefani was fittingly dressed as a purple iris in a sparkly top shaped like the flower and matching pants — and they came together to harmonize on the romantic chorus. “Don’t let ’em change your mind/ Wonder why you took a risk/ On a broken heart you cannot fix/ No I never knew a love like this/ Now we’re pickin’ purple irises,” the couple sang in the chorus of the country pop ballad.

“Purple Irises” is hardly the first musical collaboration from the two lovebirds. The announcement of the latest duet comes just days after Shelton dropped his six-track Love Language EP, featuring the previous Stefani collabs “Nobody But You” and “Happy Anywhere,” as well as “God Gave Me You,” “Sangria,” “Honey Bee” and “A Guy With a Girl.” The duo also released their festive hit, “You Make It Feel Like Christmas,” in 2017.

Shelton and Stefani met on the set of The Voice, when they were both coaches on the reality singing competition series. They tied the knot in 2021, and have been going strong ever since. 

Other performers for this year’s 2024 ACM Awards included Jason Aldean; Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan; Kane Brown; Jelly Roll; Cody Johnson; Miranda Lambert; Post Malone; Parker McCollum; Reba McEntire; Thomas Rhett; Nate Smith featuring Avril Lavigne; Chris Stapleton; and Lainey Wilson.

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.

Leave it to Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan to nail the first crossover performance of the night! At Thursday night’s Dick Clark Productions-backed ACM Awards (May 16), the country superstar teamed up with the chart-topping alt-rocker for a cinematic mash-up of their hits “Mountain With a View” and “Stick Season,” respectively.

Ballerini began her performance in a lacy gold slip dress, lounging retrospectively on a blue couch, effectively recreating the track’s music video. “Mountain With a View” — a somber, cathartic ballad — is the opening track to Ballerini’s Grammy-nominated double album, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which peaked at No. 11 on Top Country Albums.

Midway through her pitch-perfect, emotive performance, the scene changed to a new set decorated with wild greenery, and a khaki-clad Kahan strumming and singing the opening notes of his Billboard Hot 100 top 10 smash “Stick Season.” By the time he reached the midpoint of the song’s first chorus, Ballerini, now wearing an oversized gray flannel, joined in on an upper harmony, lending her bright voice to Kahan’s hit single.

Soon enough, Ballerini launched back into “Mountain With a View,” delivering her self-penned lyrics over the music of “Stick Season.” The two stars closed the performance with the final chorus of “Stick Season,” sharing a warm hug as the crowd exploded into cheers. The duo set a high bar for the night’s other performances, which include appearances from other non-country music stars such as Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani.

Ballerini is a nominee at this year’s ACMs, earning her 11th career nomination with a nod for female artist of the year.

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.

Dan + Shay won their fourth duo of the year award at The Academy of Country Music’s 59th ACM Awards on Thursday night (May 16).

“I’m freaking out right now,” Dan Smyers told the crowd at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, upon taking the stage to accept the trophy, turning to his partner. “Shay, I love you so much brother. I’m so proud to be back up on this stage with you. We’ve been on quite a wild journey over the past 10 years, we’ve seen a lot of highs and a lot of lows, but the one thing that has remained the same is the love and support of this country music community. You all are family to us.”

Smyers went on to shout out his family, and give a special message to his dog, Joy, who he shared is “kicking cancer’s a– right now.”

Shay Mooney then took the microphone, noting, “I’m so nervous right now. You’d think you’d get less nervous the more you do this.”

He continued, “I’m a little overwhelmed and I’m looking out here and see all my friends. You guys are my family, man. Thank you guys for getting us here and thank you for allowing us to make country music. God bless Texas, God bless country music and God bless Reba McEntire!”

The awards show is hosted by McEntire and produced by Dick Clark Productions. (DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldridge. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.)

Jelly Roll made sure to make his appearance at Thursday night’s (May 16) 2024 ACM Awards count, when he treated audiences at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, to a brand new song.

Taking to the stage bathed in red light, Jelly performed his unreleased new song “Liar,” a rousing rock track in which the star calls out every vice that bring temptation his way. “Saying drink another whiskey/ Pop another pill,” Roll sang, dressed in an all-black leather ensemble. “Money makes you happy/ Heaven isn’t real.”

When it came to the song’s bombastic chorus, Roll got the crowd at the Ford Center singing along almost instantly. “You ain’t nothing but a liar/ Yeah I walk right out that fire,” he wailed. “Yeah you try to keep me down/ Try to put me underground/ I know we’re going higher.” Before he left the stage, the singer made sure to make the point of the song crystal clear, declaring, “The devil is a liar!”

Jelly Roll wasn’t only at the ceremony to debut his new song. The fast-rising star was nominated for his first ever trophies at the evening’s ceremony, scoring nominations in categories including entertainer of the year, male artist of the year, single of the year (for his track “Need a Favor”) and music event of the year (for his song “Save Me” with Lainey Wilson).

The “Liar” singer was also far from the only performer at Thursday’s event. The 2024 ACMs, which were hosted by country icon Reba McEntire and produced by Dick Clark Productions, boasted numbers from Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan, Kane Brown, Post Malone, Avril Lavigne and plenty of others.

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.

Jordan Davis took home the first televised award of the night at the Academy of Country Music Awards Thursday (May 16), winning for song of the year with “Next Thing You Know.”

The 36-year-old looked surprised as he heard presenter Randy Travis read out his name as the category’s winner, beating out Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” Lainey Wilson’s “Heart Like a Truck,” Cody Johnson’s “The Painter” and Megan Moroney’s “Tennessee Orange” for the prize. Taking the stage at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, he thanked his co-writers — Chase McGill, Greylan James and Josh Osborne — the academy and the country music community for pushing him to be a better songwriter.

A track from Davis’ 2023 album Bluebird Days, “Next Thing You Know” peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July.On the Hot Country Songs chart, it reached No. 7, as well as No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart.

The feat comes amid the Louisiana native’s recent success with fellow Bluebird Days single “Tucson Too Late,” which peaked at the top of the Country Airplay ranking in the week dated May 18. It marks Davis’ fifth career No. 1 on the chart.

This year’s ACMs — which are produced by Dick Clark Productions — are hosted by Reba McEntire. Davis is also nominated for single and visual media of the year.

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.

On Tuesday night (May 16), Lainey Wilson kicked off what host Reba McEntire would later call “country music’s party of the year” with her 2024 ACM Awards-opening mini-medley performance.

Billboard‘s recent cover star began her performance with a “What’s going on, Texas?” greeting to the crowd at The Star in Frisco, TX, before launching into a crowd-pleasing rendition of Little Texas’ ’90s country staple “God Blessed Texas.” She wore a red leather bodysuit and a big red cowboy hat for the kickoff performance, before handing off the latter to an elated fan in the audience.

Wilson wasn’t done with that, however, as she then transitioned to a performance of her own new song: “Hang Tight Honey,” the lead single from her recently announced upcoming Whirlwind set. The rave-up sounded fantastic in its live debut, with Wilson rocking an acoustic guitar in front of a lone-star backdrop, hitting a fever pitch on her climactic “headed straight HOOOOOOOOOME” chorus delivery.

In addition to being a featured performer, Wilson has five nominations at this year’s ACM Awards: entertainer of the year, female artist of the year, song of the year — both as an artist and as a writer (for “Heart Like a Truck”) — and event of the year (for her Jelly Roll collaboration “Save Me”). Her latest hit single, “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” hit a new peak of No. 5 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart earlier this month.

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.