CMA Awards 2024 Winners List: Morgan Wallen Is MIA but Wins Entertainer of the Year for First Time; Chris Stapleton Nabs Three (2024)

Morgan Wallen went into the 58th annual CMA Awards as the leading contender, with seven nominations. He won only one of those, but it was the prize he most would have wanted: entertainer of the year. Or we can assume so, since Wallen was the only no-show among the night’s big nominees.

The 2024 CMAs’ other multiple winners were Chris Stapleton, who picked up three trophies, and show co-host Lainey Wilson (last year’s entertainer of the year winner), who got two.

Others being awarded honors on the ABC telecast included Cody Johnson, Megan Moroney, Old Dominion and — in perhaps the night’s biggest upset — Brooks & Dunn, who won duo of the year for the 15 time… the first time in 18 years.

According to the Country Music Association, Stapleton and Brooks & Dunn are now tied for the most CMA wins ever, with 19 each.

Among those who were shut out were some of the night’s top nominees and leading favorites, including Post Malone, Jelly Roll and Shaboozey.

Wallen looked like he was being shut out, too, until he was finally named in the biggest category of the evening. He missed out on what was either the indignity or, perhaps, the great honor of having his name mispronounced by presenter Jeff Bridges as “Morgan Waylon.” (That would make the superstar the first Waylon to win entertainer of the year, since Waylon Jennings never did.)

Even though Wallen was the leading nominee this year with seven, and many believed a win for him in the entertainer category was in the tea leaves, his missing the CMAs could have reflected an expectation that he would be passed over again. Despite a slew of past nominations, and being put up for entertainer of the year for the prior two years, his only previous CMAs win was for best new artist. On any commercial level, Wallen has been the most successful artist in country music for several years running, with the kind of monstrous touring numbers that often factor into EOTY consideration.

Stapleton won for single and song of the year, for “White Horse,” as well as picking up male vocalist of the year for an eighth time. “So many great and very, very popular songs in this category,” Stapleton said while picking up the single of the year prize, alluding to a triumph over singles as huge as Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and the Post Malone/Wallen collaboration “I Had Some Help.”

Album of the year went to Cody Johnson, for “Leather,” in what could be considered an upset. Although Johnson is wildly popular in country industry and fandom circles, Johnson was not alone when he said he “fully expected” it to go to Stapleton or Jelly Roll. “I looked at my wife and said, ‘Jelly Roll’s got that.'”

Megan Moroney picked up the new artist of the year prize, not long after turning in a lively performance of the title song from her sophomore album, “Am I Okay?” “Thank you Jesus for putting this on my heart and thank you for the gift of songwriting,” she said, adding, “I’m freaking out.”

Wilson won female vocalist of the year, for the third year, as well as the music video of the year award for “Wildflowers and Wild Horses.” “This community has wrapped its arm around me and lifted me up from the get-go,” Wilson said. She made a point of naming professions beyond the music world who have gifts: “Whether you drive a tractor or make coffee, make people smile or laugh, or whatever that is, you should share that gift.”

Old Dominion won the vocal group of the year award for the seventh consecutive time, moving ahead of Little Big Town, who’d won it for six years straight. “We just made history,” said lead singer Matthew Ramsey. “Everyone we ever said ‘I love you’ to has brought us to this moment.”

Brooks and Dunn had good reason to look genuinely startled after being named for vocal duo of the year for the first time since 2006. “What a weird business, right?” said Ronnie Dunn. “I love it. Right now, I really like it.” Added Kix Brooks: “There’s a famous quote that says, ‘Time is undefeated. I say: not yet. Wow!” The duo just released a new album, “Reboot II,” of duets with the top names in young country, including Jelly Roll, who joined them for a collaboration of the classic “Believe” earlier in the show.

Naturally, as with any music awards program, the exposure of triumphing in a performance slot can be seen as counting for as much or more as a win, and in that regard there was a lot more love thrown around in the jam-packed three-hour slot.

Post Malone, who has become the darling of Nashville this year with his first country album, “F-1 Trillion,” opened the show with a raucous duet with Stapleton, “California Sober.” Later, he appeared with just two acoustic accompanists to sing a number about his daughter, “Yours.” It’s a measure of Malone’s star power but also how much he has ingratiated himself into the country community that he was the only performer to get to do two songs from a current album.

Collaborations were plentiful: Thomas Rhett and Teddy Swims did a medley of their respective hits. Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan reprised their recorded duet of “Cowboys Cry Too.” Carrie Underwood joined forces with Cody Johnson; Ella Langley and Riley Green teamed up for “You Look Like You Love Me,” which had been announced as the vocal event of the year prior to the telecast. Keith Urban sat in on lead guitar for Jelly Roll’s “Liar.” Dierks Bentley was joined by several top female pickers for a bluegrass-style cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”

And a highlight for many was an all-star tribute to lifetime achievement honoree George Strait, including Wilson, Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson. Strait thanked the performers for doing such outstanding covers, saying “I’m so glad I got ’em (the songs) before you” — then added, “Not you, Jamey,” since Johnson had just done a song he wrote himself for Strait, “Give It Away.” The legendary performer used his speech to also thank his wife Norma, “who has supported me for just shy of 53 years, and it’s been an amazing 53 years too,” and his late manager Irv Woolsey and other associates “who are resting at peace with the Lord.”

Ashley McBryde earned a standing ovation for paying tender tribute to Kris Kristofferson with a reading of “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” Although there was no extended In Memoriam section, the late Joe Bonsall came up for saluting as well, as the remaining Oak Ridge Boys made an appearance to briefly pay testimony to their comrade.

Kacey Musgraves was the only performer to appear completely alone on stage, turning in a solo acoustic rendition of her currently Grammy-nominated “The Architect.” If that elegant performance questioning the nature of divinity stood at one pole during the evening, the other was reached by Bailey Zimmerman, stretching the limits of the dress code by rocking out in white cut-off shorts amid his band’s hair-metal-style rocking out and a confetti explosion.

The show can be streamed beginning Thursday on Hulu.

Here is the full list of 2024 categories, with the winners marked in bold:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
• Luke Combs
• Jelly Roll
• Chris Stapleton
• WINNER: Morgan Wallen
• Lainey Wilson

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
• “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry
Mix Engineer: Raul Lopez
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Mix Engineer: Jack Clarke
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
Mix Engineer: Ryan Gore
• “Watermelon Moonshine” – Lainey Wilson
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
• WINNER: “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton
Mix Engineer: Vance Powell

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist, Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
• “Deeper Well” – Kacey Musgraves
Producers: Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian
Mix Engineers: Shawn Everett, Konrad Snyder
• “Fathers & Sons” – Luke Combs
Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
Mix Engineer: Chip Matthews
• “Higher” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton
Mix Engineer: Vance Powell
• WINNER: “Leather” – Cody Johnson
Producer: Trent Willmon
Mix Engineer: Jack Clarke
• “Whitsitt Chapel” – Jelly Roll
Producers: Andrew Baylis, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Jesse Frasure, David Garcia, Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft, Austin Nivarel, David Ray Stevens
Mix Engineers: Jeff Braun, Jim Cooley

SONG OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Songwriter(s)
• “Burn It Down”
Songwriters: Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose
• “Dirt Cheap”
Songwriter: Josh Phillips
• “I Had Some Help”
Songwriters: Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters
• “The Painter”
Songwriters: Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins
• WINNER: “White Horse”
Songwriters: Chris Stapleton, Dan Wilson

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• WINNER: Megan Moroney
• Shaboozey
• Nate Smith
• Mitchell Tenpenny
• Zach Top
• Bailey Zimmerman

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
• Kelsea Ballerini
• Ashley McBryde
• Megan Moroney
• Kacey Musgraves
• WINNER: Lainey Wilson

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
• Luke Combs
• Jelly Roll
• Cody Johnson
• WINNER: Chris Stapleton
• Morgan Wallen

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
• Lady A
• Little Big Town
• WINNER: Old Dominion
• The Red Clay Strays
• Zac Brown Band

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
• Brooks & Dunn
• Brothers Osborne
• Dan + Shay
• Maddie & Tae
• The War and Treaty

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artists and Producer(s)
• “Cowboys Cry Too” – Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan)
Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
• “I Remember Everything” – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves)
Producer: Zach Bryan
• “Man Made a Bar” – Morgan Wallen (feat. Eric Church)
Producer: Joey Moi
• WINNER: “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green)
Producer: Will Bundy

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
• Tom Bukovac – Guitar
• Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle
• Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
• Rob McNelley – Guitar
• WINNER: Charlie Worsham – Guitar

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s) and Director(s)
• “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
• “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
Director: Chris Villa
• “I’m Not Pretty” – Megan Moroney
Directors: Jeff Johnson, Megan Moroney
• “The Painter” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
• “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” – Lainey Wilson
Director: Patrick Tracy