Chris Stapleton was crowned Entertainer of the Year at the 2023 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards on Thursday night.
The Tennessee Whiskey singer won the night’s most coveted honour at the awards ceremony, which was held at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
It marked the country star’s first time winning the prize, and his win qualifies him for the coveted ACM Triple Crown Award, celebrating artists who have won New Female/Male Artist of the Year, Female/Male Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.
Lainey Wilson and HARDY were the show’s biggest winners, taking home four awards each. They shared two prizes – Music Event of the Year and Visual Media of the Year – for their duet Wait in the Truck, while HARDY was named Artist-Songwriter of the Year and Wilson was crowned Female Artist of the Year. She also won Album of the Year for Bell Bottom Country.
Cole Swindell followed closely behind with three wins, including Song and Single of the Year for She Had Me At Heads Carolina.
The show was co-hosted by Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton, who gave her debut performance of World on Fire, a song from her upcoming rock album. Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert also took to the stage, while Ed Sheeran surprised the audience by bringing Luke Combs out for a duet of his new song Life Goes On.
The 2023 ACM Awards streamed live on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch.
The main list of winners is as follows:
Entertainer of the Year: Chris Stapleton
Female Artist of the Year: Lainey Wilson
Male Artist of the Year: Morgan Wallen
Duo of the Year: Brothers Osborne
Group of the Year: Old Dominion
New Female Artist of the Year: Hailey Whitters
New Male Artist of the Year: Zach Bryan
Album of the Year: Bell Bottom Country – Lainey Wilson
Single of the Year: She Had Me At Heads Carolina – Cole Swindell
Song of the Year: She Had Me At Heads Carolina – Cole Swindell
Visual Media of the Year: wait in the truck – HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson
Songwriter of the Year: Ashley Gorley
Artist-Songwriter of the Year: HARDY
Music Event of the Year: wait in the truck – HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson.
