On this day in 2015, Chris Stapleton won three CMA Awards, Male Vocalists of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year, for “Traveller” at the 49th Annual Country Music Association Awards.
This week, during the 50th CMA Awards, Stapleton took home the Male Vocalist of the Year and the Music Video of the Year for “Fire Away.”
Despite going head to head with the historic World Series Game 7 on FOX, ABC’s telecast of the 50th Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday night (11/2) was still watched by more than 12 million viewers. With the telecast’s big ratings, ABC became the dominant entertainment network on Wednesday in Total Viewers (12.6 million) and Adults 18-49. In viewers and young adults, ABC also scored Wednesday season highs and its best entertainment results on the night in one year.
The Country Music Association has released a statement in response to accusations that they erased any mentions of Beyoncé’sCMA Awards performance with the Dixie Chicks from their website and social media accounts. CMA’s statement explained that a five-second promotional clip was removed from ABC.com and CMA’s Facebook page prior to the broadcast, but that was because the promo was unapproved. The CMA then praised Bey’s performance with the Dixie Chicks as a highlight of the evening and said they would continue to share the full-length performance clip on their official social channels.
· In an interview with the New York Times, CMA’s chief executive, Sarah Trahern, further clarified that the promotional clip was taken down before Wednesday’s (11/2) show at Beyoncé’s request. Trahern said, “Beyoncé’s team hadn’t approved that, so we pulled it down. Fans can get kind of passionate and read other things into it.”
· The statement comes amid some backlash to Beyoncé’s appearance on the CMA Awards, with some social media users criticizing the pop icon for her recent activism for police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.
· Dixie Chicks responded to the criticism on Twitter saying, “If we all turn this up really loud, together we can drown out the hate.” The tweet was accompanied by a link to the download of the song “Daddy Lessons.”
The list of winners for The 50th Annual CMA Awards appears below:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Garth Brooks
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Mr. Misunderstood – Eric Church
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Carrie Underwood
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Chris Stapleton
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“Die a Happy Man” – Thomas Rhett
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Humble and Kind” – Tim McGraw (Songwriter Lori McKenna)
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Little Big Town
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
Brothers Osborne
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Maren Morris
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
“Different For Girls” – Dierks Bentley feat. Elle King
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
“Fire Away” – Chris Stapleton
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Dann Huff (Guitar)
The CMA’s have announced two early CMA Winners for tonight’s 50th Annual CMA Awards.
Musical Event of the Year – Dierks Bentley and Elle King – “Different For Girls”
Music Video of the Year – “Fire Away” – Chris Stapleton
The 50th Annual CMA Awards will take place tonight (11/2) at Bridgestone arena in Nashville. The event will be broadcast live beginning at 8 pm (ET) on ABC.
The list of presenters during the 50th Annual CMA Awards will feature some of the biggest country stars from past and present as well as huge celebrities from both the sports and acting worlds. From the country realm, presenters will include Country Music Hall of Famers Bill Anderson, Brenda Lee, Barbara Mandrell and The Oak Ridge Boys, as well as Lee Greenwood, Olivia Newton-John, Cam and Cole Swindell. Presenters from the sports world will include “Final Five” Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman, NFL great Peyton Manning, as well as ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Samantha Ponder. Presenters from the acting side will include Matthew McConaughey, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Garner, Lily Tomlin, Josh Dallas, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Hayley Orrantia.
· Hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, The 50th Annual CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena tomorrow (11/2) at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.
On this day in 1988, Hank Wiliams Jr. won the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year award. Williams was also awarded the Album of the Year for Born to Boogie and was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year.
On this day in 2000, the 34th Annual CMA Awards took place. The show was hosted by Reba McEntire from the Grand Ole Opry House. The Dixie Chicks were the big winners of the night, taking home four awards. The trio received the biggest honor of the evening with entertainer of the year, as well as the vocal group of the year, their album Fly was named album of the year, and their video “Goodbye Earl” won video of the year.
On this day in 2004, Tim McGraw‘s “Live Like You Were Dying” made it three straight weeks on top of the charts. The song was the lead single from the album Live Like You Were Dying, and spent seven weeks atop of the charts.
“Live Like You Were Dying” would go on to win the Single of the Year and Song of the year at the 2004 CMA Awards and the 2004 ACMA Awards.
The song has been Certified Double Platinum.
On this day in 2015, RCA released Miranda Lambert’s single “Smokin’ And Drinkin’,” featuring Little Big Town, to radio. Though the song was later nominated for a CMA Award, its reach on the charts peaked at number 33, becoming her lowest-peaking single release since “Dead Flowers” in 2009.
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