CMT Music Awards 2024 WINNERS: Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton score first award of the

The 2024 CMT Awards are finally here with a slew of fan favorite artists set to be recognized this Sunday evening in Austin, Texas.

Following fiery opening performances from three-time CMT winner Cody Johnson, three-time nominee Jason Aldean, and one-time winner Megan Maroney, the actor Paul Walter Hauser unveiled Carly Pearce and featured singer and musician Chris Stapleton as the first winners of the evening.

The two stars were honored with the award for Collaborative Video of the Year for their single We Don’t Fight Anymore.

Despite winning in a collaborative category, Pearce accepted the award solo, as Stapleton didn’t attend the show.

She thanked Stapleton for making all of her ‘dreams come true’ by joining her on the song. 

Carly Pearce (pictured) and featured singer and musician Chris Stapleton were the first winners of the evening at the 2024 CMT Music Awards

She accepted solo as Stapleton did not attend

This year’s edition is hosted once again by country star Kelsea Ballerini, who served as host for the past three ceremonies. This year, however, marks the first time she will be doing the honors without a co-host

After the break, rising star Ashley Cooke was over the moon after being declared the winner of Breakthrough Female Video of the Year for her song Your Place. 

‘I’m just taking a minute to soak this in, because I have dreamed of winning an award like a CMT award for so long,’ Ashley gushed. ‘This is my first CMT award and award in general, so thank you so much!’

Warren Zeiders declared that ‘God is good all the time’ when he was next called to the stage after winning the award for Breakthrough Male Video of the Year.

He also declared his father to be his ‘best friend’ and called him his ‘ride or die’ his entire life after noting that they were sitting together at the show. 

One of the big honorary awards of the evening was the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award, which was previously announced to honor Trisha Yearwood.

The songstress, who is also the wife of country legend Garth Brooks, joked that it’s ‘nice to know you won before you got here.’

Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini, Megan Moroney, Jelly Roll and Cody Johnson top the nominees list, with each earning three nods. 

Trisha Yearwood will be the recipient of the first-ever June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award this year. 

The fan-voted award show is airing live on CBS from Austin’s Moody Center, and fans can also stream the show live or on-demand on Paramount+ with the add-on Showtime subscription.

This year’s edition is hosted once again by country star Kelsea Ballerini, who served as host for the past three ceremonies. This year, however, marks the first time she will be doing the honors without a co-host.

She opened the show with a hilarious self-deprecating segment highlighting her loss to fellow country star Lainey Wilson at the Grammys, before launching into a segment revealing the inner thoughts of other musicians at the CMT awards. 

Ballerini, who previously hosted with Kane Brown, told People: ‘It’s definitely new grounds for me.

‘But it’s my fourth year hosting, so I feel like I’ve learned a lot. And the good thing about CMT is there’s such a light energy, so there’s not a pressure that I feel to be perfect.

Pearce thanked Stapleton for making all of her ‘dreams come true’ by joining her on the song

After the break, rising star Ashley Cooke was over the moon after being declared the winner of Breakthrough Female Video of the Year for her song Your Place

‘I’m just taking a minute to soak this in, because I have dreamed of winning an award like a CMT award for so long,’ Ashley gushed

Warren Zeiders declared that ‘God is good all the time’ when he was next called to the stage after winning the award for Breakthrough Male Video of the Year

‘I just want to be fun, honor the night and help people have a good time.’

On top of hosting, Kelsea has been named as one of the night’s performers. Jason Aldean, Dasha, Trisha Yearwood, Sam Hunt and more will also be hitting the stage.

There will also be a performance paying tribute to the late Toby Keith featuring Brooks & Dunn, Sammy Hagar, Lainey Wilson and more, with Toby’s band will be backing the performance.

Billy Bob Thornton, Emma Roberts, James Van Der Beek, Jane Seymour, Mickey Guyton, and Jelly Roll are among the all-star presenters hitting the stage.   

Nominees for this year’s awards show were announced last month.  

In the female video of the year category, Ashley McBryde, Gabby Barrett, Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney and Reba McEntire square off.

In the breakthrough female video of the year, Anne Wilson, Ashley Cooke, Brittney Spencer and Tigirlily Gold are competing.

Morgan Wallen, one of the genre’s top stars — and also one of country music’s most controversial — received only one nomination: for male video of the year for ‘Last Night (One Record at a Time Sessions).’ 

He will be competing against Bailey Zimmerman’s ‘Religiously,’ Cody Johnson’s ‘The Painter,’ HARDY’s ‘Truck Bed,’ Jelly Roll’s ‘Need A Favor,’ Jordan Davis’ ‘Next Thing You Know’ and Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car (Official Live Video).’

Wallen’s 2023 album, ‘One Thing at a Time,’ spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, making it the most popular album of any style last year. Its run broke a record previously held by Garth Brooks´s 1991 LP ‘Ropin´ the Wind’ by becoming the longest reigning No. 1 country album, ever.

At the start of the show — which airs at 8 p.m. on CBS and streams live and on-demand on Paramount+ with Showtime — Kelsea poked fun at herself for losing a Grammy to Lainey Wilson

She launched a hilarious segment in which she read the minds of stars in the audience — including Lainey

Kelsea’s boyfriend Chase Stokes also got wrapped up in the humorous segment

In the breakthrough male video of the year category, Chayce Beckham, Tyler Childers, Warren Zeiders and Zach Bryan go head-to-head.

Other categories include Duo/Group Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year, and CMT Performance of the Year. 

There are also 14 first-time nominees this year, a list that includes some acts that go beyond country music – a direct reflection of CMT’s spotlight on genre-blending collaborations.

Those new names include Amber Riley, Ashley Cooke, Anne Wilson, Ella Langley, The Castellows, Tigirlily Gold, Bret Michaels, Chayce Beckham, Hozier, Koe Wetzel, Stephen Wilson Jr., Tyler Childers, Warren Zeiders, and Zach Bryan.