The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

s and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes place on CMT's website, CMT.com.

History

Beginning in 1967, the Music City News Awards were presented yearly by the now-defunct ''Music City News'' magazine. In 1988,

The Nashville Network The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, game shows, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows. On Septembe ...

(TNN) began a fan-voted awards show dubbed the Viewers' Choice Awards to help the network celebrate its fifth anniversary. In 1990, the two awards shows merged to become the TNN/Music City News Country Awards. The TNN contract with ''Music City News'' ended in 1999, and the magazine ceased publication shortly thereafter. '' Country Weekly'' became the presenting sponsor of the awards show in 2000, and the show was known as ''Country Weekly'' presents the TNN Music Awards. In 2001, as TNN began to phase out its association with country music, the decision was made to shift the awards show to sister network CMT. The 2001 show was simulcast on both networks and was called the TNN/CMT ''Country Weekly'' Music Awards. When the show moved permanently to CMT, ''Country Weekly'' ended its brief association with the production. During this era, viewers voted for the nominees by telephone or mail in traditional categories such as "Entertainer of the Year," "Male/Female Artist of the Year," "Song of the Year," etc. Most of the categories mirrored those on the

CMA Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony ...

and

ACM Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

, except all awards were fan-voted. The awards show was completely retooled in 2002 to become the CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards, named for the network's branding concept at the time for its most popular videos. The "Flameworthy" name was coined by program development vice president Kaye Zusmann, and aimed to symbolize the waving of

lighters A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or c ...

or similar lights at concerts. The show became more production-based, rather than awards-based, and was modeled after sister network

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's Video Music Awards. In the process, the traditional awards were shifted to specifically honor the music videos of country artists. The show included several non-traditional categories highlighting especially funny, sexy, and patriotic videos; however, these categories were phased out over the years. The show further differentiated itself from the CMA Awards and

by showcasing bluegrass performers such as

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass- country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed wit ...

and

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finge ...

. In 2003, the show was moved to April but returned to June in 2009 to coincide with the CMA Music Festival (the renamed "Fan Fair") and the influx of tourists to Nashville as well as capitalize on a time when many of the artists would already be in Nashville at once. The name of the show was changed to CMT Music Awards in 2005, although the format remained largely the same as in previous years. In 2020, the awards were delayed until October due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, with that year's CMA Fest not going forward. Initially planned for October 14, a scheduling conflict with that year's Billboard Music Awards caused the ceremony to be pushed back to October 21. On June 28, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that the CMT Music Awards would move to broadcast television on CBS beginning in 2022, and move back to April. The new scheduling competes directly with the ACM Awards, which had also been typically held in April, and had historically been broadcast by CBS; the network subsequently declined to renew its contract to air the ACM Awards, citing declines in viewership in comparison to the rights fees being demanded by

Dick Clark Productions Dick Clark Productions (DCP, stylized in lowercase as dick clark productions or dcp) is an American multinational television production company founded by radio and TV host Dick Clark. The studio primarily produces award shows and other music e ...

Major awards

Winning records

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single " Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bil ...

is the most awarded artist overall in CMT Music Awards' history (2005–present), with 25 wins.

By category

*Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; ten wins *Male Video of the Year: Kenny Chesney; five wins *Female Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; eight wins *Collaborative Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; four wins *CMT Performance of the Year: Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean (tie); two wins each

CMT Artists of the Year

* 2010: Jason Aldean, Lady A, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Zac Brown Band * 2011: Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Lady A, Taylor Swift * 2012: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood * 2013: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Hunter Hayes, Tim McGraw * 2014: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban * 2015: Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, Little Big Town, Blake Shelton * 2016: Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood * 2017: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban * 2018: Kelsea Ballerini, Karen Fairchild, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Kimberly Schlapman, Hillary Scott, Carrie Underwood * 2019: Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood * 2020: Kelsea Ballerini, Brothers Osborne, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Lady A, Little Big Town, Thomas Rhett, * 2021: Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton * 2022:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cmt Music Awards * Awards established in 1967 1967 establishments in Tennessee