Music

With 20 studio albums under his belt, country superstar Kenny Chesney had plenty of songs to choose from for his performance at the 2025 CMA Awards — so many, in fact, that he couldn’t pick just one.

Hopping on stage at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, Chesney was introduced by host Lainey Wilson, who highlighted him as a “four time CMA Entertainer of the Year” before ceding the stage. Dressed in a simple straw hat and plain long-sleeved tee, Chesney pulled out his classic country track “American Kids,” strumming along with his band. By the time he reached the chorus, Chesney had the whole arena singing along about “growin’ up in little pink houses” and “makin’ out on living room couches.”

Then Chesney headed to the arena’s B-stage for a performance of his Uncle Kracker duet “When the Sun Goes Down,” greeting his fans in the crowd and grooving to the song’s sultry lyrics. But before he closed out his performance, Chesney gestured to a graphic behind him paying tribute to Grammy-winning country songwriter Brett James (“When the Sun Goes Down” writer) who died in a private plane crash in September. “Thank you so much, Brett James, we love you,” Chesney shouted to conclude his number.

While Chesney wasn’t nominated as a soloist at the 2025 CMA Awards, he did feature on Megan Moroney’s “You Had to Be There,” which earned a nod for musical event of the year at the ceremony.

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Along with serving as the evening’s host, Wilson also snatched up six nominations at the awards, which tied him for the most nods of any artist in 2025, alongside fellow singers Ella Langley and Megan Moroney. Throughout the evening, stars including Luke Combs, Shaboozey, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini and more took to the stage for their own performances.

Zach Top didn’t need anyone to hold his beer when he won big at the Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday night (Nov. 19) — he just took it right on up with him.

Shortly after performing on stage at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter was crowned new artist of the year, beating out Shaboozey, Ella Langley, Tucker Wetmore and Stephen Wilson Jr. In his excitement, Top — looking dapper in a blue suit and cowboy hat — neglected to set down his can of Coors before running up to accept the trophy.

Confessing to the crowd that he couldn’t remember if he was supposed to put his beer down or not, he said with a shrug, “Here it is,” before downing a celebratory sip.

Top went on to thank numerous people on his team for helping him reach the CMA summit. “It’s been a hell of a last couple of years,” he concluded. “So, so thankful.”

The onstage beer moment is certainly on brand for Top. The Washington native’s 2024 debut album is titled Cold Beer & Country Music, an LP he followed up this year with Ain’t In It for My Health, which reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200. The latter full-length produced two Billboard Hot 100 hits: “South of Sanity” and “Good Times & Tan Lines.”

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The new artist victory is also probably quite vindicating for Top, whose absence from the best new artist Grammy category was considered one of the most head-scratching snubs of the 2026 nominations, which went live earlier in November. In fact, no country artists were recognized in the category, with Langley and Megan Moroney also getting left out.

Even so, Top certainly felt the love from the CMAs this year. The musician earned a total of five nods — including album of the year for Cold Beer & Country Music — tying him for second-most nominations in 2025.

Following a Luke Combs performance of “Back in the Saddle,” host Lainey Wilson properly kicked off the 2025 CMA Awards, with a medley of country favorites originally performed by some of the stars in the Nashville crowd.

After some introductory remarks about how excited she was to be hosting the awards and how the creators of all her go-to playlist jams were in the audience that night, Wilson offered to demonstrate the point herself: “How about I get my buddy Charlie Worsham up here on guitar and we sing ’em for y’all?”

After Worsham dutifully joined her on stage with acoustic in tow, Wilson launched into Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse,” as the camera panned to Stapleton in the seats. That set the tone for an era-spanning medley, with a full band kicking in as Wilson started wandering the aisles at Bridgestone Arena to find the original artists of the songs she was racing through.

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Over the course of her medley, Wilson also hit on Brooks & Dunn (“Hillbilly Deluxe”), Ella Langley (“You Look Like You Love Me”), Gretchen Wilson (“Redneck Woman”), Lady A (“Need You Now”), Miranda Lambert (“Gunpowder and Lead”), Shaboozey (“A Bar Song”) and Little Big Town (joining in with her for a full-group performance of “Girl Crush”). Following that, a six-string-strapped Keith Urban took the mic on stage to perform his ’00s classic “Where the Blacktop Ends,” with Wilson eventually accomapnying him on harmonies.

The medley was a charming run through country history, with artists like Lambert, Shaboozey and Langley getting in the fun by dancing and miming to the camera along with Wilson. And the particularly good for Langley, who just minutes later accepted the awards’ single of the year award for the song Wilson serenaded her with.

When it came time to kick off the 2025 CMA Awards on Wednesday night (Nov. 19), Luke Combs didn’t waste any time — he just hopped “Back in the Saddle.”

Taking to the stage at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Combs — dressed in his usual short-sleeved button-up shirt and baseball cap — fired up the stage (literally) with a performance of his country hit, complete with a hefty payload of pyrotechnics to give the show just a little more oomph.

To set the tone, Combs reshaped the stage to look like the stables at a rodeo, with his band taking up their position in the stalls around him. As flames flared behind him and the crowd cheered him on, Combs wailed his way through the country-rock track to set the tone for the evening. “‘Cause I’m back in the saddle like some old cowboy, who dug his way out of his grave,” Combs belted. “Pulled up his boots, put his pistol on his hip, climbed up and took hold of the reins.”

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Combs was nominated for three awards at the CMA Awards on Wednesday, earning nods for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year and single of the year for his hit song “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” which earned the singer his 18th No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart back in September 2024.

Lainey Wilson, along with serving as the evening’s host, was one of the three most nominated artists at the ceremony, alongside fellow singers Ella Langley and Megan Moroney. Meanwhile, stars such as Shaboozey, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini and more were set to perform during the three-hour ceremony.