The 60th Academy of Country Music Awards kick off with fiery medley from LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire

By Canadian Press on May 8, 2025.

NEW YORK (AP) — The moment everyone was waiting for arrived right at the top of the 60th annual Academy of Country Music Awards: a 14-minute medley of six decades of country classics, performed by giants of the genre.

Host Reba McEntire launched into Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee,” followed by Clint Black with Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” and Wynonna Judd with The Judds’ “Why Not Me.” LeAnn Rimes returned to the ACM Awards stage for her 1997 ballad “Blue.” Little Big Town tackled their 2014 track “Girl Crush” and Dan + Shay delivered their “Tequila.”

It was an exciting way to kick off the 2025 ACM Awards, live from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas.

In her intro speech, McEntire mentioned that it has been 45 years since she received her first ACM Award nomination — and this year marks her 18th time hosting the show.

The first award of the night was for the coveted song of the year, awarded to Cody Johnson for his radio hit “Dirt Cheap,” presented by Lionel Richie.

There’s a lot more to celebrate. Keith Urban will be awarded the coveted ACM Triple Crown Award, marking the first time an artist has received the trophy on stage since Carrie Underwood was honored in 2010.

The ACM festivities actually began ahead of Thursday’s event. Before the award show, first-time nominee Ella Langley won the title of female new artist; the male award went to Zach Top.

And directly ahead of the ceremony, Lainey Wilson was awarded the artist-songwriter of the year title by host Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert. And for the second year in a row, Jessie Jo Dillon earned the songwriter of the year award.

Langley leads the ACM Awards this year with eight nominations, six of which are from her smash hit “You Look Like You Love Me” with Riley Green. Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson and Morgan Wallen closely follow Langley’s nominations with seven each. Chris Stapleton has six nominations; Green and Post Malone are tied with five.

Johnson, Wilson, Wallen and Stapleton are up for the night’s top category, entertainer of the year. Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs and Jelly Roll are also nominated for the award.

In addition to the star-studded “Songs of the Decades” performance, Langley, Wilson, Top, Stapleton, Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Megan Moroney, Blake Shelton and Alan Jackson will perform.

There will be a few star-studded duets as well. Backstreet Boys and Rascal Flatts will take the stage together, as will Jelly Roll and Shaboozey. Brooks & Dunn will perform with Johnson.

Other 2025 ACM Awards presenters include Shelton, Judd, Green, Black, Carly Pearce, Crystal Gayle, ERNEST, Gabby Barrett, Gretchen Wilson, Jordan Davis, Lee Ann Womack, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Parker McCollum, Rita Wilson, Sara Evans, Sugarland, The Oak Ridge Boys and NASCAR driver Chase Elliott.

How to watch the ACM Awards

The ACM Awards are streaming on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch Live beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific. No Prime membership is required to view the livestream.

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For more coverage of this year’s ACM Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-of-country-music-awards

Maria Sherman, The Associated Press

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