NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Think you’re a country music expert? Here are 53 things you may…or may not know about the annual CMA Awards show.
#1: The first CMA Awards was held in 1967 at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.
#2: The first televised CMA Awards took place the following year.
#3: Taylor Swift was the youngest person ever to win the “Entertainer of the Year” award. She was 19.
#4: The CMA Awards have been held in Nashville ever year except in 2005 when they were held at Madison Square Garden in NYC.
#5: Loretta Lynn was the first woman to win the coveted “Entertainer of the Year” award.
#6: George Strait has the most CMA Awards nominations – 83.
#7: Of his 83 nominations, George Strait has won 23 CMA Awards.
#8: Brooks & Dunn is the only duo to ever win “Entertainer of the Year.”
#9: Vince Gill hosted the CMA Awards every year from 1992 to 2003.
#10: Barbara Mandrell was the first artist to win the “Entertainer of the Year” award twice.
#11: Garth Brooks has won the “Entertainer of the Year” award six times – more than any other performer.
#12: The CMA Awards is the longest-running annual awards show on national TV. (Information from Billboard Magazine)
#13: Musician Paul Franklin is the most-nominated artist who has not won a CMA Award. (Information from Billboard Magazine)
#14: Miranda Lambert is the most awarded female in CMA history with a dozen wins and 39 nominations. (Information from Billboard Magazine)
#15: Lambert also won “Female Vocalist of the Year” a record straight six years (2010 – 2015).
#16: The Country Music Association was founded in 1958.
Related – PHOTOS: Dolly, Reba, and Carrie through the years at the CMA Awards
#17: At the 2014 CMA Awards, Brad Paisley announced his co-host Carrie Underwood was expecting a baby boy with her husband, retired Nashville Predator Mike Fisher.
#18: Eddy Arnold won the first-ever “Entertainer of the Year” award in 1967.
#19: Albums and songs released between July 1 of the previous calendar year and June 30 of the award show’s year are eligible for consideration. (Information from Wikipedia)
#20: Awards are given for 12 different categories – Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist, New Artist, Vocal Group, Vocal Duo, Single, Song, Album, Musical Event, Music Video, and Musician.
Related: QUIZ – The history of the CMA Awards
#21: In 1981, a new category was added to the lineup – the Horizon Award.
#22: The Horizon Award later became Best New Artist.
#23: Six artists who won the Horizon Award/Best New Artist have gone on to win “Entertainer of the Year” (Ricky Skaggs, Garth Brooks, Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, and Taylor Swift).
#24: Reba McEntire has the most CMA nominations in history for a female artist. She has a total of 50 nominations and six wins.
#25: The Judds, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Statler Brothers and Taylor Swift all have 9 CMA Awards.
#26: Jimmy Buffett won “Vocal Event of the Year” in 2003 for the song “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” performed by him and Alan Jackson.
#27: Carrie Underwood has a total of seven CMA Awards.
#28: Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton have all won the “Female Vocalist of the Year” award.
#29: Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton have both won “Entertainer of the Year.”
#30: Johnny Cash won three CMA Awards in 2003 two months after he died.
#31: Country singer Chris Stapleton announced he and his wife were expecting their fifth child at the 2018 CMA Awards.
#32: Alabama was the first group to win “Entertainer of the Year” (1982)
#33: Speaking of Alabama, they were also the first to threepeat the “Entertainer of the Year” award (82-84).
#34: Charley Pride is the first (and as of 2019 the only) African American artist to win “Entertainer of the Year” – 1971.
#35: After winning “Entertainer of the Year” in 1989 and 1990, George Strait won for the third time in 2013. The 23-year gap is the longest time between wins for an artist in the category.
#36: The CMA’s instituted a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. It was named after the inaugural recipient, Willie Nelson.
#37: In 2016, Dolly Parton became the first female recipient of the “Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award”.
#38: Dolly Parton has won an award in each decade the CMA Awards have existed.
#39: Two movie soundtracks have won “Album of the Year” – Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2001)
#40: In 2000, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill made history as the first married couple to win both “Male/Female Vocalist of the Year”.
#41: “There Goes My Everything,” written by Dallas Frazier and performed by Jack Greene, won the first “Song of the Year” and “Single of the Year.” It was later covered by Elvis Presley.
#42: Kenny Chesney and Alabama hold the record for the most consecutive wins for “Entertainer of the Year.”
#43: For the first time since 2008, Brad Paisley is not hosting this year’s show.
#44: Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn has won the most CMA Awards with 19.
#45: Maren Morris has the most nominations this year.
#46: The coveted CMA Award was originally made of walnut.
#47: Each award weighs 6 pounds and stands 15 inches tall.
#48: The award is made hand-blown fine crystal in Florence, Italy.
#49: At its inception, the award was designed to resemble a chart bullet.
#50: In the last 32 years, three female acts have won “Entertainer of the Year” – Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks and Taylor Swift
#51: The CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by more than 7,400 industry professional members of the CMA.
#52: The Country Music Association was established in 1958 and was the first trade organization formed to promote an individual genre of music.
#53: The CMA Awards began airing on ABC in 2006, where it continues to air.
The 53rd annual CMA Awards will be hosted by Carrie Underwood with special guests Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. The show will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
