2021 CMT Music Award winners, performances and highlights

The 2021 CMT Music Awards brought all the glitz and glamour on June 9, hosted by Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown. The show aired live from Nashville on CMT Australia and is available now to stream on Foxtel.

Brothers Osborne and Dierks Bentley kicked off the show with a bluesy performance of Lighten Up. The track features on the brothers third album, Skeletons and is about finding ways to stay positive in trying times. Mickey Guyton was joined by Breland and seven-time GRAMMY Award winner, Gladys Knight for a show-stopping performance of Cross Country and Friendship Train.

Chris Stapleton and H.E.R. performed Hold On, Luke Bryan gave an unforgettable performance of Down To One, while Thomas Rhett sang the heartfelt Country Again, off his double album of the same name. Carrie Underwood and NEEDTOBREATHE made their first public performance together, joining forces for I Wanna Remember. Underwood also took home the award for ‘Video Of The Year’ for her duet of Hallelujah with John Legend, taking her CMT Music Award tally to an impressive 24 wins.

Other performances included Lauren Alaina and Jon Pardi with their outlaw single Getting Over Him, Ingrid Andress and JP Saxe sang Lady Like and Like That, Luke Combs performed Cold As You, and Ballerini and Paul Klein of LANY brought I Quit Drinking. Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randell came together for Tequila Does off their stripped-down album, The Marfa Tapes.

Brown and Chris Young closed the show with a performance of their catchy hit Famous Friends, with the song also taking home the award for ‘Collaborative Video Of The Year’ and Brown also winning the ‘Male Video of the Year’ award for Worship You.

Dylan Scott took home his first ever CMT Award with ‘Breakthrough Video of the Year’. Ballerini scored a win for ‘CMT Performance Of The Year’ for her 2020 performance of The Other Girl with pop singer, Halsey. Meanwhile, newcomer Gabby Barrett beat out country heavyweights Ballerini, Guyton, Carly Pearce, Maren Morris and Lambert for ‘Female Video of the Year’ for The Good Ones.

Also, Taylor Swift’s The Best Day Ever (Taylor’s Version) was named ‘Best Family Feature’, Little Big Town won 'Duo/Group Video of the Year' and Linda Martell was honoured with the CMT Equal Play Award for being a trailblazer for artists of colour in country music.

See the full list of winners below:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

WINNER: Carrie Underwood with John Legend - “Hallelujah”
Kane Brown - “Worldwide Beautiful”
Keith Urban with P!nk - “One Too Many”
Kelsea Ballerini - “hole in the bottle”

FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Carly Pearce - “Next Girl”
WINNER: Gabby Barrett - “The Good Ones”
Kelsea Ballerini - “hole in the bottle”
Maren Morris - “To Hell & Back”
Mickey Guyton - “Heaven Down Here”
Miranda Lambert - “Settling Down”

MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Chris Stapleton - “Starting Over”
Darius Rucker - “Beers and Sunshine”
WINNER: Kane Brown - “Worship You”
Luke Bryan - “Down To One”
Luke Combs - “Lovin' On You”
Thomas Rhett - “What's Your Country Song”

DUO/GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Brothers Osborne - “All Night”
Lady A - “Like A Lady”
WINNER: Little Big Town - “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
Old Dominion - “Never Be Sorry”
Parmalee and Blanco Brown - “Just the Way”
Runaway June - “We Were Rich”

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR

WINNER: Dylan Scott - “Nobody”
Hailey Whitters feat. Little Big Town - “Fillin' My Cup”
HARDY - “Give Heaven Some Hell”
Lainey Wilson - “Things a Man Oughta Know”
Mickey Guyton - “Black Like Me"
Niko Moon - “GOOD TIME (Ride Along Video)”

COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Carrie Underwood with John Legend - “Hallelujah”
WINNER: Chris Young and Kane Brown - “Famous Friends”
Elle King and Miranda Lambert - “Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)”
Keith Urban with P!nk - “One Too Many”
Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris - “Chasing After You”
Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard - “Undivided”

CMT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

From the 2020 CMT Music Awards - Brooks & Dunn and Luke Combs “1, 2 Many”
From the 2020 CMT Music Awards - Dan + Shay “I Should Probably Go To Bed”
From the 2020 CMT Music Awards - Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus “This Is Us”
WINNER: From the 2020 CMT Music Awards - Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey “The Other Girl”
From the 2020 CMT Music Awards - Little Big Town “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
From CMT Crossroads - Nathaniel Rateliff and Margo Price “Twinkle Twinkle”

BEST FAMILY FEATURE

Brooke Eden — “Sunroof” Kane Brown — “Worship You”
Luke Combs — “Forever After All”
Miranda Lambert — “Settling Down”
Russell Dickerson — “Home Sweet”
WINNER: Taylor Swift — “The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)”

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Images: via Facebook