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. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s and television performances. The ceremony launched in 1967 as Music City News Awards; it is the oldest award show currently airing under

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

. The ceremony originally aired on TNN, prior to its parent company's acquisition of former rival network

Country Music Television Country Music Television, often abbreviated to CMT, is an American pay TV network that launched on March 5, 1983. It is currently owned by Paramount Global through the MTV Entertainment Group unit of its networks division. CMT was the first na ...

in 1991. The show would then air on CMT from 2001 to 2021. Beginning in 2022 until the pause in 2025, the show was broadcast live on CBS.

History

Early 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 September ...

(TNN) began a fan—voted awards show dubbed the Viewers' Choice Awards to help the network celebrate its fifth anniversary; two were broadcast in 1988 and

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. In 1990, the two awards shows merged to become the TNN/Music City News Country Awards. TNN's 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.

2001—2021

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, known as the TNN/CMT ''Country Weekly'' Music Awards, was simulcast on both networks. 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 and ACM Awards, except all awards were fan—voted. The awards show was completely retooled in 2002 as 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

lighter A lighter is a portable device which uses mechanical or electrical means to create a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typic ...

s or similar lights at concerts (this was before the current negative meaning of the word flaming from the Internet became more commonplace). The show became more production—based, rather than awards—based, and was modeled after sister network

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

'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 ACM Awards by showcasing bluegrass performers such as

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

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 the CMT Music Awards in 2005. In 2020, the awards were delayed until October due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, with that year's CMA Fest not going forward. Initially planned for October 14, a scheduling conflict with that year's

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

caused the ceremony to be pushed back to October 21.

2021—present

On June 28, 2021, ViacomCBS (now known as

) announced that the awards would move to broadcast television on sister network CBS and shift back to April beginning in 2022. CBS subsequently declined to renew its broadcast rights to the ACM Awards (which had also traditionally been held in April), citing declining viewership in comparison to increased rights fees demanded by

Dick Clark Productions Dick Clark Productions, LLC (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 Awards ceremony, award sh ...

. In 2023, after more than twenty years in Nashville, the CMT Music Awards were hosted for the first time at the Moody Center in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. In February 2025, Bruce Gillmer of Paramount International Networks announced a one-year pause for a few selected events scheduled for 2025, including the CMT Music Awards, as Paramount seeks "to reimagine and optimize urevents slate going forward".

Major awards

Winning records

Carrie Underwood 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

References

External links

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