The biggest names in country music were honored at the 54th annual Country Music Association Awards tonight, with Eric Church taking home the highly coveted entertainer of the year award.
“This award, this year, at least for me, has been about the loss of this year — loss of life, loss of playing shows, loss of freedom, loss of kids being in school," Church said during his acceptance speech. "And you know what the win is? The win is we all were here tonight together, as country music, in-person, live, not on Zoom. And I think ... It's going to be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that is going to save the entire world.”
Maren Morris took home three awards: female vocalist of the year, single of the year for “The Bones,” and song of the year for the same single. Luke Combs, who had six nominations this year, received awards for male vocalist of the year and album of the year for "What You See Is What You Get.” Morgan Wallen was honored in the new artist of the year category.
Dan + Shay won the vocal duo of the year award and Old Dominion took home the trophy for vocal group of the year.
Several artists took part in emotional tribute performances for some of the country greats who died in 2020, including Charlie Daniels, Kenny Rogers, Joe Diffie and Mac Davis.
Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker hosted the star-studded award show from the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The night's nominees and their guests attended the ceremony in-person and sat at physically distanced tables.
Here is the complete list of the 2020 CMA Award winners and nominees:
Entertainer of the Year
Album of the Year
Female Vocalist of the Year
Male Vocalist of the Year
Musical Event of the Year
Music Video of the Year
New Artist of the Year
Single of the Year
Song of the Year
Vocal Group of the Year
Vocal Duo of the Year
Musician of the Year