Chris Stapleton Tops Wins At CMA Awards 2021

The CMA has presented the 55th Annual CMA Awards, celebrating the remarkable music and achievements that have come from the industry throughout the year.

Miranda Lambert opened the awards with a fiery medley of some of her biggest hits, including Kerosene, Gunpowder & Lead, Bluebird, Little Red Wagon and Mama’s Broken Heart.

Eric Church brought the heat, literally, with his performance of Heart On Fire. Blake Shelton performed his newest single, Come Back As A Country Boy, and Luke Combs debuted his new track, Doin’ This.

Chris Young and Kane Brown delivered a memorable performance of Famous Friends in front of hilarious yearbook photos of fellow country artists such as Shelton, Church, Willie Nelson, Ashley McBryde, Lady A, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw among others.

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“Blake Shelton – Most likely to make the mullet famous,” one of the yearbook photo captions read. While another said, “Tim McGraw – Most likely to get a misspelled tattoo."

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Chris Stapleton sang Cold, while Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood performed their hit duet, If I Didn’t Love You. Brothers Osborne gave a heartfelt performance of love and acceptance with Younger Me, and Zac Brown Band delivered their catchy single, Same Boat.

Other performers included Mickey Guyton, Brittney Spencer and Madeline Edwards; Gabby Barrett; Thomas Rhett; Keith Urban; Carly Pearce and McBryde; Jennifer Hudson; Luke Bryan; and Dierks Bentley, BRELAND and HARDY.

Ahead of the show, the CMA unveiled the winners of the non-televised categories, and Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney took home the ‘Musical Event of the Year’ and ‘Music Video of the Year’ wins for their collaborative release, Half Of My Hometown.

Jimmie Allen took home the award for ‘New Artist of the Year’. While Old Dominion were crowned ‘Vocal Group of the Year’, Brothers Osborne were awarded ‘Vocal Duo of the Year’.

Stapleton’s Starting Over was the big winner of the night, taking home the awards for ‘Single of the Year’, ‘Song Of The Year’ and ‘Album of the Year’.

Stapleton also took home ‘Male Vocalist of the Year’, and Pearce was awarded ‘Female Vocalist of the Year’. Jenee Fleenor was named ‘Musician Of the Year’ too. Combs, however, was given the biggest honour of the night, taking home the coveted award for ‘Entertainer of the Year’.

Find all the winners in our list below:

Entertainer of the Year

Eric Church
WINNER: Luke Combs
Miranda Lambert
Chris Stapleton
Carrie Underwood

Female Vocalist of the Year

Gabby Barrett
Miranda Lambert
Ashley McBryde
Maren Morris
WINNER: Carly Pearce

Male Vocalist of the Year

Dierks Bentley
Eric Church
Luke Combs
Thomas Rhett
WINNER: Chris Stapleton

Vocal Group of the Year

Lady A
Little Big Town
Midland
WINNER: Old Dominion
Zac Brown Band

Vocal Duo of the Year

Brooks & Dunn
WINNER: Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Maddie & Tae

New Artist of the Year

WINNER: Jimmie Allen
Ingrid Andress
Gabby Barrett
Mickey Guyton
HARDY

Musician of the Year

WINNER: Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle
Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
Aaron Sterling – Drums
Ilya Toshinskiy – Banjo
Derek Wells - Guitar

Album of the Year

(Award goes to artist, producer(s) and mix engineer(s))

29Carly Pearce
Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Jimmy Robbins
Mix engineer: Ryan Gore
Big Machine Records

Dangerous: The Double AlbumMorgan Wallen
Producers: Dave Cohen, Matt Dragstrem, Jacob Durrett, Charlie Handsome and Joey Moi
Mix engineer: Joey Moi
Big Loud Records / Republic Records

Heart
Eric Church
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix engineers: Jason Hall and Jay Joyce
EMI Records Nashville / Universal Music Group Nashville

SkeletonsBrothers Osborne
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix engineers: Jason Hall and Jay Joyce
EMI Records Nashville / Universal Music Group Nashville

WINNER: Starting OverChris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb and Chris Stapleton
Mix engineer: Vance Powell
Mercury Nashville / Universal Music Group Nashville

Single of the Year

(Award goes to artist(s), producer(s) and mix engineer(s))

“Famous Friends”
Chris Young with Kane Brown
Producers: Corey Crowder and Chris Young
Mix engineer: Sean Moffitt
RCA Nashville

“The Good Ones”
Gabby Barrett
Producers: Ross Copperman and Zach Kale
Mix engineers: Chris Galland and Manny Marroquin
Warner Music Nashville

“Hell Of A View”
Eric Church
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix engineers: Jason Hall and Jay Joyce
EMI Records Nashville / Universal Music Group Nashville

“One Night Standards”
Ashley McBryde
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix engineers: Jason Hall and Jay Joyce
Warner Music Nashville

WINNER: “Starting Over”
Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb and Chris Stapleton
Mix engineer: Vance Powell
Mercury Nashville / Universal Music Group Nashville

Song of the Year

(Award goes to songwriter(s))

“Forever After All”
Luke Combs, Drew Parker, Robert Williford

“The Good Ones”
Gabby Barrett, Zach Kale, Emily Landis, Jim McCormick

“Hell Of A View”
Casey Beathard, Eric Church, Monty Criswell

“One Night Standards”
Nicolette Hayford, Shane McAnally, Ashley McBryde

WINNER: “Starting Over”
Mike Henderson, Chris Stapleton

Musical Event of the Year

(Award goes to artist(s) and producer(s))

“Buy Dirt”
Jordan Davis and Luke Bryan
Producer: Paul DiGiovanni
MCA Nashville / Universal Music Group Nashville

“Chasing After You”
Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris
Producers: Aaron Eshuis and Teddy Reimer
Arista Nashville

“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”
Elle King & Miranda Lambert
Producer: Martin Johnson
RCA Records / Columbia Nashville

“Famous Friends”
Chris Young with Kane Brown
Producers: Corey Crowder and Chris Young
RCA Nashville

WINNER: “half of my hometown”
Kelsea Ballerini (featuring Kenny Chesney)
Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Ross Copperman and Jimmy Robbins
Black River Entertainment