Five artists were nominated for Entertainer of the Year at the 2025 CMA Awards, but only one could secure the title.
Lainey Wilson ultimately won the final category of the Wednesday, November 19, ceremony at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, beating out Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen.
“I was just so tickled to be here hosting this thing tonight,” Wilson, 33, began as she accepted the evening’s top prize. “I just came in here just wanting to celebrate country music, the love of my life, and I know the love of so many of y’all’s lives.”
She went on to thank her parents as well has her fiancé, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, adding, “We’re getting married next year, come on now!”
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“I could not do this without my village. It takes a village,” she continued. “I just have the most incredible team, people who just work tirelessly all the time, and I just don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much. Thank you for loving me and supporting me, and thank you to the fans. They just keep on making my dreams come true every single day. I love y’all, God bless. We about to party at [Wilson’s Nashville bar] Bell Bottoms Up.”
Wilson began to exit the stage before remembering she needed to close out the show as this year’s emcee.
“I forgot I was hosting this thing,” she joked. “This is crazy! Congratulations to all our nominees and our winners. Thank you so much for letting me run my mouth on this legendary stage and celebrate the best genre in the world: country dang music!”
Prior to the 2025 awards show, Wallen, 32, was the reigning Entertainer of the Year after taking home the prize in 2024. He has been nominated a total of four times throughout his career.
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Combs, 35, previously won the award for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022 amid his six total Entertainer of the Year nods.
Wilson prevailed in the category in 2023, earning a total of three career nominations.
Prior to the 2025 ceremony, Stapleton, 47, had been up for Entertainer of the Year nine times since 2016 without ever winning the accolade.
For his part, Johnson, 38, landed his first nomination in the category this year.
The Entertainer of the Year contenders received several nods in other categories at the 2025 event. Despite being the only woman in the running for the night’s top prize, Wilson led the pack with six total nominations, including for Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Whirlwind, Single of the Year and Song of the Year for “4x4xU” and Music Video of the Year for “Somewhere Over Laredo.”
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Johnson trailed with four nods for Male Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “I’m Gonna Love You” with Carrie Underwood. (Before the live show kicked off, Post Malone and Blake Shelton’s “Pour Me a Drink” and Ella Langley and Riley Green’s “You Look Like You Love Me” won Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year, respectively.)
Wallen, Combs and Stapleton followed with three nominations each, including nods for all of them in the Male Vocalist of the Year category. They were additionally up for Album of the Year for Wallen’s I’m the Problem, Single of the Year for Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” and Music Video of the Year for Stapleton’s “Think I’m in Love With You.”
All of the Entertainer of the Year nominees were already CMA Award winners prior to Wednesday’s ceremony. Stapleton had 19 trophies to his name, Combs and Wilson were tied with nine each, while Johnson boasted three and Wallen had two.
