2021 CMT Music Awards

2021 CMT Music Awards
2021 CMT Music Awards
Date	June 9, 2021
Location	Nashville, Tennessee
Hosted by	Kelsea Ballerini; Kane Brown;
Most awards	Kane Brown (2)
Most nominations	Kane Brown (4)
Television/radio coverage
Network	CMT, MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network, TV Land
Viewership	0.82 million

The 2021 CMT Music Awards, the 55th edition of the awards ceremony, were held in Nashville, Tennessee on June 9, 2021. Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini were hosts of the ceremony.^[1]

Background

The CMT Music Awards are a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances; Voting takes place on CMT's website. The CMT Music Awards is the oldest MTV awards show, dating its history to the 1967 Music City News Awards. MTV acquired the awards show in 2000. This was the second time the on Duo/Group video of the year category has been combined since 2016.

Linda Martell

One of the pioneers for Black acts in country music and the first Black woman to perform solo at the Grand Ole Opry, Linda Martell, was honored at the 2021 CMT Music Awards with the CMT Equal Play Award. The CMT Equal Play Award is a commitment to feature more diverse voices from historically marginalized artists, like Martell. The award was presented by Mickey Guyton and featured video messages from Darius Rucker, Rissi Palmer and Rhiannon Giddens. ^[2]^[3]

Winners and nominees

Winners are shown in bold.^[4]^[5]

Video of the Year	Female Video of the Year
Carrie Underwood with John Legend — "Hallelujah" Kane Brown — "Worldwide Beautiful" Keith Urban and Pink — "One Too Many" Kelsea Ballerini — "Hole in the Bottle"	Gabby Barrett — "The Good Ones" Carly Pearce — "Next Girl" Kelsea Ballerini — "Hole in the Bottle" Maren Morris — "To Hell & Back Mickey Guyton — "Heaven Down Here" Miranda Lambert — "Settling Down"
Male Video of the Year	Duo/Group Video of the Year
Kane Brown — "Worship You" Chris Stapleton — "Starting Over" Darius Rucker — "Beers and Sunshine" Luke Bryan — "Down to One" Luke Combs — "Lovin' on You" Thomas Rhett — "What's Your Country Song"	Little Big Town — "Wine, Beer, Whiskey" Brothers Osborne — "All Night" Lady A — "Like a Lady" Old Dominion — "Never Be Sorry" Parmalee and Blanco Brown — "Just the Way" Runaway June — "We Were Rich"
Breakthrough Video of the Year	Collaborative Video of the Year
Dylan Scott — "Nobody" Hailey Whitters and Little Big Town — "Fillin' My Cup" Hardy — "Give Heaven Some Hell" Lainey Wilson — "Things a Man Oughta Know" Mickey Guyton — "Black Like Me" Niko Moon — "Good Time" (Ride Along Video)	Chris Young and Kane Brown — "Famous Friends" Carrie Underwood with John Legend — "Hallelujah" Elle King and Miranda Lambert — "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)" Keith Urban and Pink — "One Too Many" Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris — "Chasing After You" Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard — "Undivided"
CMT Performance of the Year	Best Family Feature
From the 2020 CMT Music Awards: Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey — "The Other Girl" From the 2020 CMT Music Awards: Brooks & Dunn and Luke Combs — "1, 2 Many" From the 2020 CMT Music Awards: Dan Shay — "I Should Probably Go to Bed" From the 2020 CMT Music Awards: Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus — "This Is Us" From the 2020 CMT Music Awards: Little Big Town — "Wine, Beer, Whiskey" From CMT Crossroads: Nathaniel Rateliff and Margo Price — "Twinkle Twinkle"	Taylor Swift — "The Best Day (Taylor's Version)" Brooke Eden — "Sunroof" Kane Brown — "Worship You" Luke Combs — "Forever After All" Miranda Lambert — "Settling Down" Russell Dickerson — "Home Sweet" Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris — "Chasing After You"
CMT Equal Play Award
Linda Martell

Performers

On May 26, CMT announced some performers for the 2021 CMT Music Awards.^[6]^[7] The final performers were announced on June 7.^[8] Maren Morris and Gabby Barrett were previously announced as performers but both backed out; the former was replaced by Ingrid Andress and the latter by Lindsay Ell.^[9]

Performer(s)	Song
Lady A Carly Pearce Lindsay Ell The Shindellas	"Like a Lady"
H.E.R. Chris Stapleton	"Hold On"
Ingrid Andress JP Saxe	"Lady Like" "Like That”
Breland Mickey Guyton	"Cross Country"
Brothers Osborne Dierks Bentley	"Lighten Up"
Carrie Underwood Needtobreathe	"I Wanna Remember"
Chris Young Kane Brown	"Famous Friends"
Chris Stapleton	"Arkansas"
Kelsea Ballerini Paul Klein	"I Quit Drinking"
Lauren Alaina Jon Pardi	"Getting Over Him"
Luke Bryan	"Down To One"
Luke Combs	"Cold As You"
Mickey Guyton Gladys Knight	"Friendship Train"
Miranda Lambert Jack Ingram Jon Randall	"Tequila Does"
Thomas Rhett	"Country Again"
Blanco Brown	"Nobody's More Country"
Dylan Scott	"Nobody"^[10]
Hailey Whitters	"Fillin' My Cup"^[10]
Lainey Wilson	"Things a Man Oughta Know"
Niko Moon	"Good Time"
Tenille Arts	"Somebody Like That"

Presenters

The following have been announced as presenters for the ceremony:^[8]

Anthony Mackie
Brett Young
Busy Philipps
Carly Pearce
Dylan Scott
Gladys Knight
Iliza Shlesinger
Little Big Town
Michael Strahan
Mickey Guyton
Restless Road
Trace Adkins
Taylor Lewan
Cody Alan, Katie Cook and Ashley ShahAhmadi

References

^ "Kelsea Ballerini And Kane Brown To Host This Year's CMT Music Awards". MusicRow.com. 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
^ "CMT Equal Play". Equal Play. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
^ "Linda Martell, A Rediscovered Country Legend, To Receive CMT's 2021 Equal Play Award". CMT. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
^ "Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert Lead CMT Music Awards Nominees". MusicRow.com. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
^ MTV. "Vote Now – Nominees for 2021 CMT Music Awards". www.fakazahq.co.za. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
^ Dowling 5/26/2021, Marcus K. "Collaborations Highlight Newly Announced Performances At 2021 CMT Music Awards". CMT News. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ "CMT on Instagram: "These rising country stars 🎸 are bringing the heat to the 2021 Ram Trucks Stage! Who are you most excited to see?!"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
^ ^a ^b Grein, Paul (June 7, 2021). "Here Are All the Performers & Presenters For 2021 CMT Music Awards". Billboard. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
^ Grein, Paul (June 8, 2021). "Maren Morris & Gabby Barrett Back Out of 2021 CMT Music Awards Performances". Billboard. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Day, Nate (June 8, 2021). "CMT Music Awards 2021: The performers". Fox News. Retrieved June 9, 2021.

[1] "Kelsea Ballerini And Kane Brown To Host This Year's CMT Music Awards". MusicRow.com. 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2021-05-14.

[2] "CMT Equal Play". Equal Play. Retrieved 2024-04-07.

[3] "Linda Martell, A Rediscovered Country Legend, To Receive CMT's 2021 Equal Play Award". CMT. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved 2024-04-07.

[4] "Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert Lead CMT Music Awards Nominees". MusicRow.com. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-05-14.

[5] MTV. "Vote Now – Nominees for 2021 CMT Music Awards". www.fakazahq.co.za. Retrieved 2021-05-14.

[6] Dowling 5/26/2021, Marcus K. "Collaborations Highlight Newly Announced Performances At 2021 CMT Music Awards". CMT News. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved 2021-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[7] "CMT on Instagram: "These rising country stars 🎸 are bringing the heat to the 2021 Ram Trucks Stage! Who are you most excited to see?!"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 2021-06-03.

[billboard-8] Grein, Paul (June 7, 2021). "Here Are All the Performers & Presenters For 2021 CMT Music Awards". Billboard. Retrieved June 7, 2021.

[backout-9] Grein, Paul (June 8, 2021). "Maren Morris & Gabby Barrett Back Out of 2021 CMT Music Awards Performances". Billboard. Retrieved June 9, 2021.

[fox-10] Day, Nate (June 8, 2021). "CMT Music Awards 2021: The performers". Fox News. Retrieved June 9, 2021.

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Categories	Video of the Year