Winners & Losers From the 55th ACM Awards Show

Winners & Losers From the 55th ACM Awards Show

Here are the Winners & Losers—off of the top of my head sans any deep insight—from the 55th annual ACM Awards on Sept. 16. Of course, the Losers aren’t really losers, so don’t get your fringe twisted.


Winners – Riley Green & Tenille Townes

photos by Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

The New Female and New Male Artists of the Year delivered during their performances. Tenille’s performance of “Somebody’s Daughter” was the best—or at least, my favorite—performance of the night, while Riley’s performance of “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” was the most-Shazamed song of the evening.


Winner – Mickey Guyton

photo by Arroyo/O’Connor, AFF-USA.com

Mickey delivered a stunning performance of “What Are You Going to Tell Her.” While casual country music fans—and non-fans who happened to be watching the show—probably didn’t know who she was, they do now. The tune was the second-most-Shazamed song of the evening.


Losers – Thomas Rhett & Carrie Underwood

photos by Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

The award is called Entertainer of the Year, not Entertainers of the Year. Thousands of votes . . . and it ends in a tie? Shenanigans! Shenanigans!! Shenanigans!!!


Winner – Carrie Underwood

photo by Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Wait, how can Carrie be both a winner and a loser? It’s my list. Anyone who pulls off a medley of songs by Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton is a winner in my book.


Loser – Eric Church

photo by Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Eric was nominated for Entertainer of the Year . . . an award he has never won. A very solid case can be made for why he should have won. Alas, he didn’t even finish in the top two in the voting, which we know because there was a TIE.


Winner – Luke Combs

photo by Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Of the four most-coveted awards (Male Artist, Female Artist, Album and Entertainer of the Year), Luke won two: Album of the Year and Male Artist of the Year. That’s a winner!


Winner – Trisha Yearwood

photo by Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Trisha’s rendition of “I’ll Carry You Home” during the In Memoriam was beautiful. If she’s not careful, she’ll be beckoned to sing it at every awards show for the rest of her life, much like Vince Gill singing “Go Rest High On That Mountain” at seemingly every funeral. It must be mentally/spiritually exhausting for Vince.


Losers – Dierks Bentley and Kacey Musgraves Viewers

photos by AFF-USA.com

Both Dierks and Kacey were nominated for major awards—Male Vocalist and Female Vocalist/Single of the Year, respectively—but neither performed. Of course, Dierks has been nominated for the award six times without winning, so he has legitimate beef, but Kacey was the reigning Female Vocalist of the Year. I want Kacey and Dierks performing at every awards show in perpetuity. Period.

main photos by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Blogs

THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2025

It was just announced that Lainey Wilson will soon make her feature film debut. The movie is called “Reminders of Him”. It’s described as a “transformative feature film about motherhood, forgiveness and the power of one love to heal even the most shattered heart.” No word on what kind of part Lainey will be playing,…

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2025

Jack Black just set a new record for the quickest song to land on the Hot 100 chart with “Steve’s Lava Chicken”, clocking in at 34 seconds.  It’s from “A Minecraft Movie”. Luke Combs headlined Stagecoach on Sunday, but after his set he wasn’t done . . . He actually had one more song to…