The 59th Annual CMA Awards went down in Nashville, Tennessee, last week. As country music has embraced a populist new epoch in the 2020s, its biggest award show has made a valiant effort to keep pace with the brave new landscape. It’s a world where the format’s biggest star can’t be bothered to receive his Entertainer of the Year trophy in person. At the same time, another plays the single-largest-ticketed concert in American history, only to be shut out of the nominations entirely.
The Country Music Association hasn’t done a bad job representing the lofty interests of major labels and its audience in tandem. In fact, the 2025 presentation offered a handful of genuine eyebrow-raising moments.
As the dust settles on Nashville 24 hours later, let’s run through a few of the most notable highlights and what they mean for the future of country music’s biggest singular institution.
- The host with the most: Lainey Wilson takes home a huge haul.
Last week, the CMA voters continued their relentless pursuit of what seems to be its most important, unstated goal year over year: to make Lainey Wilson the biggest star in country music (or at least appear that way).
You hate to throw around paranoid terms like “psy-op,” but if your only exposure to country music were this awards show, there would be no doubt in your mind that Lainey is the format’s biggest star by a seismic margin. If you look at the list of country artists who have won both Album and Entertainer of the Year in the same year, it’s a ‘who’s who’ of many of the biggest names. Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, and Luke Combs have each done it once.
Now here’s the kicker: Vince Gill, Barbara Mandrell, and Lainey Wilson are the only artists to win both awards in the same year twice.
Such an achievement should immediately put her in the ‘country legend’ conversation, let alone the biggest artist of her time. However, looking at every significant metric, from radio singles to streaming to ticket sales, Lainey Wilson falls short of Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, and Luke Combs, and is neck and neck at best with Megan Moroney, Riley Green, and Cody Johnson.
Lainey’s prolonged dominance over these shows has cast a gloomy, plasticky shadow over an otherwise impressive showing, where rising stars like Zach Top and the Red Clay Strays got meaningful moments to shine, and Nashville outsiders like Cody Johnson finally got their due.
2. The Red Clay Strays Shock the World
Ding dong, the witch is dead! After a record-breaking seven consecutive wins as the CMA Vocal Group of the Year, Old Dominion was finally forced to pass the torch to the genre’s hottest band. Another fun fact: their streak was the second-longest in any category, second only to Brooks & Dunn’s dominating eight-year run as Vocal Duo of the Year in the 1990s.
But aside from dancing on Old Dominion’s proverbial grave, we have to recognize the significance of this win for Red Clay. They’re a genuine mainstream band that also boasts one of the most committed grassroots followings in all of music. This win opened the door for the Strays to compete in bigger categories for years to come. They may not ever release a radio-friendly single, but you can be sure that when their third full-length LP rolls around, they’ll have a legitimate shot at Album of the Year.
3. Zach Top’s Moment is Now
Much like the Red Clay Strays’ victory over country music’s most entrenched plant, Zach Top’s victory as the 2025 New Artist of the Year felt like a coming-out party for the young star. Even more than Cody Johnson’s recent success at this awards show, it shows that the CMA voters are unafraid to embrace young acts that go against the mainstream grain.
Zach Top has been the people’s favorite country star for more than a year now (see his prolific run at the top of the CC50, and prevailing over more established favorites like Ella Langley and Shaboozey should be extremely telling.
Going back over the last 15 years, the New Artist of the Year Winner has been a very good predictor of future CMA Award success. Of the 15 winners before Zach Top, ten went on to take home other trophies, including many of the show’s biggest awards. Moreover, of those other five, Jelly Roll and Megan Moroney will be very much in the mix to win future awards in the years to come. Jimmie Allen, Hunter Hayes, and Brett Eldredge made up the other three.
All that said, Zach Top’s victory this year brings the promise of a bright new star in country music, born by organic passion and quickly recognized by the powers-that-be. It’s a hopeful sign for the CMA Awards that the buzziest acts, no matter what label they’re signed to, may be immediately welcomed to the biggest stages.
4. A huge win for Ella Langley… or just her breakout single?
Time will tell if the CMA Awards’ lavish recognition of “you look like you love me” will be indicative of Ella Langley’s future winnings. In the past, the CMA Awards have been pretty quick to crown country music’s next big female star, with Carly Pearce and Lainey Wilson winning in 2021 and 2022, respectively. In these cases, neither artist had a single anywhere as big as “you look like you love me,” and yet, Ella Langley missed out on both Female Artist and New Artist of the Year, both of which she would’ve been entirely deserving of.
That said, the list of songs that won both Song and Single of the Year is fairly short, and includes some of the most significant songs in country music history *insert examples when on wifi*. As big a win as this is for Ella, the shadow Lainey Wilson casts as three-time reigning Female Vocalist of the Year is long.
If Ella unseats her in 2026, her superstar status will be firmly cemented.
Morgan Wallen goes home empty-handed
Despite another colossal commercial year, Morgan Wallen was denied any new hardware last week. After his unceremonious acceptance last year when he won Entertainer of the Year, it’s hard not to wonder if his lack of enthusiasm for the show had something to do with his leaving empty-handed.
It may not be fair to raise any speculation over Morgan Wallen’s standing in the CMA voting community just yet; after all, it’s just one year. However, if Wallen doesn’t compete for Entertainer of the Year again, you have to wonder who will stand in Lainey Wilson’s way for a record-breaking third win, or even fourth, in this category.
Cody Johnson’s stock is obviously rising, and Luke Combs is positioned well for a second win. Riley Green and Zach Top should both be competitive within a few years as well. Otherwise, the field is worryingly thin without Wallen.
Aside from the competition aspect, you also want to see the award shows reflect the interests of the average country music fan to some degree. Without getting too much into the credentialism Wallen fans love to employ, leaving out the format’s #1 superstar does no favors for a show already struggling to hang onto its relevance in the modern day.
