A detailed rundown of the 2022 CMA Awards’ wins, best moments, and worst moments

Here are all the 2022 CMA Award winners as well as the best and worst moments.

The recent, widely-reported social media argument between Maren Morris and Jason Aldean, in which Aldean’s wife, the influencer Brittany, posted an Instagram video that Morris criticized as transphobic, was not mentioned. Even though Morris had previously said she might not come, they were all present. (Aldean and Morris each received one nomination, but neither won any awards.)

Even though co-host Luke Bryan gave an explanation for why he invited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) onstage at a recent concert last week, no one brought up politics or current affairs. Bryan could run under the slogan “A candidate who will never plead the Fifth, but he will drink the Fifth,” Peyton Manning joked.

Both Cody Johnson and Lainey Wilson, who are both somewhat fresh to the music industry, tied Combs by winning two trophies each. Wilson won both the new artist and female vocalist honors, while Johnson won both the single and music video prizes for his very catchy track “Til You Can’t.” Brothers Osborne and Old Dominion both kept up their momentum as the best duo and group in the industry, and Jordan Davis’ most recent hit, “Buy Dirt,” which featured Bryan, another member of his label, was named song of the year.

Here is a complete list of the winners and nominees, as well as some of the evening’s highlights.

Many in the country music industry were mourning the loss of a pioneer who opened doors for many women when Loretta Lynn passed away last month at the age of 90. A tribute performance by Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, and Reba McEntire was performed after an archival video from 1972, the year Lynn became the first woman to win the CMA artist of the year award, was shown.
A dazzling mashup of some of Lynn’s biggest singles was played, including You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man) by Underwood, Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind) by Lambert, You’re Looking at Country by McEntire, and “Coal Miner’s Daughter” by all three. Despite the fact that it would have been appropriate for a woman to win entertainer of the year for the first time since Taylor Swift won the award in 2011, neither Underwood nor Lambert returned home with any prizes.

Cole Swindell, Jo Dee Messina, and other artists from the 1990s

This was the moment that fans of country music from the 1990s had been waiting for: The audience went berserk when Jo Dee Messina and Cole Swindell performed “She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” a cover of Messina’s 1996 song “Heads Carolina, Tails California.”
Swindell, who has had many hit songs in the past, saw this one take off during the summer and fall, spending five weeks at the top of the radio charts (since everyone in Nashville is aware of how strong and prevalent the ’90s nostalgia phenomena is). Swindell and Messina collaborated on a remix of the song this week, just in time for their CMAs performance.