Lainey Wilson emerged as the big winner at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards, taking home the coveted female artist of the year and the top prize of entertainer of the year.
In her acceptance speech, Wilson, who has been working in Nashville for 13 years, expressed her gratitude to her fellow nominees for their support and belief in her.
Wilson joins a select group of women who have won the entertainer of the year title, including Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift. She also opened the show with a cover of Little Texas’ “God Blessed Texas” and her new single “Hang Tight Honey.”
Other notable winners included Jordan Davis, who won song of the year for “Next Thing You Know,” and Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll, who won music event of the year for their collaboration “Save Me.”
Chris Stapleton took home album and male artist of the year, while Dan and Shay and Old Dominion won duo and group of the year, respectively.
The show featured several memorable performances, including a moving tribute to the late Toby Keith by Jason Aldean, who performed an acoustic version of Keith’s classic “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”
Post Malone debuted a new song, “Never Love You Again,” and later joined Reba McEntire for a tribute to the late Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band.
Other standout performances included Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which won single of the year, and collaborations between Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan, Nate Smith and Avril Lavigne, and Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.
Hosted by Reba McEntire, the 59th annual ACM Awards were held at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, and livestreamed on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch Live.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.