Madelyn Furstenau ‘26, Lyonlife.org Editor-in-Chief
The 2024 Country Music Awards (CMAs) were held on Nov. 20 in Nashville, Tennessee. It has been a great year for country music, as brand-new and veteran artists alike have released extremely popular music and headlined record-breaking tours. Just in case you missed the show, here is a quick overview of the 2024 CMA winners:
Chris Stapleton, one of the most iconic and well-known country artists, received Male Vocalist of the Year for a record-extending eighth time. He is currently on his All-American Road Show Tour, which started in May 2017 and will run until March 2025. The tour has garnered over $38 million in box office ticket sales, and he also won both Single of the Year and Song of the Year for “White Horse,” released in July 2023. This single became one of his most widely-streamed songs on Spotify, ranked fourth with over 200 billion streams. Stapleton has established himself as one of the best country artists of all time and will continue to take home award after award for his incredible music.
Much to fans’ satisfaction, Morgan Wallen finally took home Entertainer of the Year for his record-smashing tour, One Night At A Time. Wallen has not won a CMA since 2020, before his reputation-diminishing scandal. Although Wallen released multiple highly successful albums, the CMAs deemed him ineligible for awards in the years following his cancellation. However, the tour’s undeniable success warranted his first CMA in four years. One Night At A Time won Billboard’s and Pollstar’s Country Tour of the Year in 2023, and People’s Choice Country Concert Tour of 2024. He exceeded attendance records in numerous places, including sold-out Neyland and Ohio Stadiums. Substream Magazine described the tour as “a performance that transcends mere entertainment to become a collective experience.”
In recent years, Megan Moroney’s music has become extremely popular. She released her debut album, Lucky, in May 2023, followed by her sophomore album, Am I Okay?, in July 2024. Her first well-known single, “Tennessee Orange,” took country radio by storm in 2022. The song kickstarted Moroney’s career and created a name for her in country music, which has carried over into this year’s CMAs. Moroney won New Artist of the Year, an extremely well-deserved award considering her immense success over the last two years. In addition to releasing music, Moroney completed The Lucky Tour in July 2023, and will start the Am I Okay? Tour in March 2025. The new and already beloved country artist is certainly keeping herself busy, but it seems to be paying off.
Continuing her 2023 CMA success, Lainey Wilson took home two awards this year. Last year, Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country won Album of the Year, which caused a negative uproar in the country music space. Fans were outraged that although Wallen’s One Thing At A Time broke numerous records, including Most Weeks at Number One on Billboard 200 for a Country Album, he was not nominated for the award. Regardless, Wilson has become a big name in country music and recently released her Whirlwind album in August. She won both Female Vocalist and Music Video of the Year for her song “Wildflowers and White Horses.” Wilson is gaining popularity, especially thanks to her collaborations with top artists and her feature on the soundtrack of the Twisters film, which came out in July of this year.
Cody Johnson’s Leather was named Album of the Year. The album was released in November 2023, and it is complete with 12 songs spanning 40 minutes in total. A few became big on country radio, such as “Dirt Cheap” and “The Painter.” It also features two collaborations with the ever-iconic duo Brooks & Dunn, along with up-and-coming country artist Jelly Roll. Upon receiving this CMA award, Johnson said, “I was told that I would never get one of these. A long time ago sitting in a record label office I was told the cowboy hat is not going to work, being from Texas is not going to work. So this has been a mission of mine for 18 years now.” After almost two decades of hard work in his career, Johnson finally accomplished his long-awaited dream of receiving his first CMA—and likely not his last.
Vocal Group of the Year was given to Old Dominion. Although they have not released any new music since their most recent album, Memory Lane, in October 2023, the band came out with a 31-track compilation of their overall most fan-favorite works in September. Old Dominion, best known for their hits such as “One Man Band,” “Memory Lane,” and “Hotel Key,” have established themselves as one of, if not the most popular country music groups of our time. The band is currently on their No Bad Vibes Tour, which kickstarted in January 2023 and will come to an end next summer.
The Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award was given to country music icon George Strait. He is arguably the backbone of the country music industry and has been for decades. Strait, now 72 years old, has sold over 120 million records in his career, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. Despite his age, Strait is still producing music and even performed live on Dec. 7 alongside Little Big Town and Stapleton. He released his most recent album, Cowboys And Dreamers, in September, and does not seem to be retiring from the music industry anytime soon.
Brooks & Dunn won Vocal Duo of the Year, which surprised country fans. The two accepted the award for an astounding fifteenth time, but for the first time in 17 years. They won the award every year between 1992 and 2006, aside from 2000 when Montgomery Gentry took it. Brooks & Dunn came out with a revamped collection of some of their best hits but altered with several collaborations featuring newer names in the industry: Wilson, Wallen, Moroney, Riley Green, HARDY, ERNEST, and more. The 18-track album, Reboot II, has done exceptionally well; their remake of the duo’s highly cherished “Neon Moon” featuring Wallen has already been streamed over five million times on Spotify since being released on Nov. 15.
New artist Ella Langley’s song featuring Green, “you look like you love me,” went absolutely viral on social media this year. It received Musical Event of the Year, and upon accepting the award, Langley revealed that she never thought she would release it in the first place: “I didn’t think it was ever going to come out… It was just a song in my audio recordings for almost a year after we wrote it.” After sharing it with others, she was encouraged to add Green and perform the song as a duet. This pairing of an extremely new artist and veteran country singer was unexpected, but deeply loved by country music listeners.
With several of these artists already having confirmed new music coming up, tours starting up or continuing into 2025, and other exciting projects, the country music industry is sure to surge in the upcoming months. Maybe some of these artists will have repeated wins at the next CMAs, or perhaps we will see new country artists rise to stardom and receive their first awards.
Lyon Life 