The 56th Academy of Country Music Awards were held on April 18, 2021 in

Nashville 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 the ...

, Tennessee and broadcast from various locations around Nashville. The evening was co-hosted by

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...

and

Mickey Guyton Mickey Guyton (; born Candace Mycale Guyton; June 17, 1983) is an American country music artist. Raised in Texas, Guyton was exposed to various types of music at a young age, and her material subsequently incorporates elements of contemporary cou ...

. Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton received the most nominations (six each), including one for Morris as a member of the Highwomen. Morris led the night with three wins, including one trophy for Female Artist of the Year and two trophies for Song of the Year, "The Bones," as both the artist and as the songwriter. The ceremony involved no ticketed audience due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but featured a limited number of health care workers.

Background

On March 11, 2021,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

announced that the ceremony would be co-hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton. With her involvement, Guyton became the first African-American female, and second African-American overall, to host the ceremony, after

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...

, who co-hosted the ceremony in 1984. The full list of performers were announced on April 5, 2021, which included a record four Black artists. 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 identif ...

, the show followed a similar format to the 55th ceremony, utilizing several locations and including a mix of live and pre-recorded performances. As with the 55th ceremony, presentations took place at the

Grand Ole Opry House The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

Ryman Auditorium Ryman Auditorium (also known as Grand Ole Opry House and Union Gospel Tabernacle) is a 2,362-seat live-performance venue located at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, in Nashville, Tennessee. It is best known as the home of the ''Grand Ole Opry'' fr ...

, and the

Bluebird Café The Bluebird Café is a 90-seat music club in Nashville, Tennessee that opened in 1982. The club features acoustic music performed by both established singer-songwriters, and cover artists. The Bluebird receives over 70,000 visitors annually. T ...

, while performances were also held at

The Station Inn The Station Inn is a concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee that hosts bluegrass music acts. Frommers wrote that it is "widely regarded as one of the best bluegrass venues around". The small nightclub has a reputation for being a simple building, ...

, Lower Broadway, and the

Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

. Unlike the previous ceremony, a limited number of health care workers were also invited to attend the components of the ceremony at the Grand Ole Opry House and Ryman Auditorium, seated on the balconies (while the main floors were used to seat rotating groups of nominees). On February 3, 2021, the ACM announced that

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country singer and songwriter. He competed in the sixth season of ''The Voice'', originally as a member of Usher's team, but later as a member of Adam Levine's team. After being eliminated ...

would be ineligible to receive nominations or be involved with the ceremony, amid criticism of Wallen over a video that depicted him using a

racial slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...

. The ACM stated that it "does not condone or support intolerance or behavior that doesn't align with our commitment and dedication to diversity and inclusion."

Winners and nominees

Winners are shown in bold.

Performances

On April 15, 2021, the ACMs announced the official setlist for the ceremony.

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Reco ...

was originally scheduled to perform at the ceremony but had to withdraw after testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He was replaced by

Lady A Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar), ...

Presenters

On April 16, 2021, the ACMs announced the presenters for the ceremony:

Reception

The ceremony was generally well received. Noted for its "efforts to add diversity to its ranks" said the ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', "the broadcast hit nearly all the right notes". The 56th ACM Awards gained 6.28 million viewers making it the lowest-rated and least watched ACM Awards to date, but still topping all of broadcast in the demo and drew larger audience than its network competitors combined.

References

{{Academy of Country Music Awards Academy of Country Music Awards

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Academy of Country Music 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 ...

2021 in Tennessee Academy of Country Music Awards, 56