Lainey Wilson rules the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards once again,
Alan Jackson is honored
[May 09, 2025]
By MARIA SHERMAN
NEW YORK (AP) — It was her night once again. Lainey Wilson took home the
top prize at the 60th annual Academy of Country Music Awards — the title
of entertainer of the year — for a second year in a row. And that was
after she cleaned house, taking home trophies for both female artist and
album of the year.
“I really do have the best fans in the world,” she said in her final
acceptance speech, admitting to experiencing impostor syndrome. “I
dreamed about entertaining. ... Country music has given me more than I
deserve.”
Beyond Wilson's dominance, the 2025 ACM Awards were packed with
celebration. Earlier, first-time and leading nominee Ella Langley's duet
with Riley Green, the ubiquitous “You Look Like You Love Me,” was named
single and music event of the year.
Both Langley and Green used their first acceptance speech to shout out
classic country — songs with talking in them — that inspired their
modern hit.
A revisitation of the past might have been a theme Thursday night,
evidenced right at the top of the ceremony: 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 ACM Awards, live from the Ford
Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas.
And it was a show highlight, rivaled only by the introduction of the ACM
Alan Jackson Lifetime Achievement Award, the inaugural trophy given to
its namesake, Jackson, after he performed “Remember When.”
In his acceptance speech, he joked that a fan named a dog after him.
Having an award named after him? That isn't half bad, either.
The first trophy of the night, the coveted song of the year, was awarded
to Cody Johnson for his radio hit “Dirt Cheap."
Performances followed, fast and furious. McEntire, Wilson and Miranda
Lambert teamed up for the world premiere of their new single
“Trailblazer,” celebrating women in country music.
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Alan Jackson accepts the lifetime achievement award during the 60th
annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, May 8, 2025, in
Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
 Eric Church performed his brand-new
single “Hands of Time,” succeeded by the most awarded artist in the
history of the award show, Lambert with “Run.” She was then joined
by Langley to duet “Kerosene" from Lambert’s 2005 debut album of the
same name.
Zach Top stripped things down for “Use Me.” Blake Shelton channeled
the great George Strait for his new single “Texas," followed by
Wilson with “Whirlwind.” Kelsea Ballerini performed atop her
“Baggage." Johnson rocked “The Fall," before performing “Red Dirt
Road” with Brooks & Dunn. Chris Stapleton and his wife, Morgane,
harmonized on “It Takes a Woman.”
Jelly Roll and Shaboozey joined forces for their collaboration,
“Amen.”
“It’s Shaboozey’s birthday,” Jelly Roll said. “We wanna thank y’all
and we wanna thank God.”
Backstreet Boys and Rascal Flatts closed the show.
The Oak Ridge Boys gave the group of the year award to Old Dominion.
It was a moving gesture; in 2024 the Oak Ridge Boys' Joe Bonsall, a
Grammy award winner and celebrated tenor, died from complications of
the neuromuscular disorder Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Another tearjerker: McEntire leading the audience in a sing-along of
the late Kris Kristofferson's “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Male artist of the year went to Stapleton. Duo of the year was
awarded to Brooks & Dunn.
Megan Moroney covered Keith Urban's “Stupid Boy” and Stapleton did
“Blue Ain't Your Color” ahead of the Australian superstar's
reception of 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.
If anything, the 60th ACM Awards proved the show is at its best when
it celebrates new acts and legends in equal measure.
The ACM Awards streamed on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel
on Twitch Live. No Prime membership was required to view the
livestream.
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