CMA Awards 2022: The Complete List of Winners, Including Entertainer of the Year Luke Combs and Double Honorees Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson

Luke Combs was anointed entertainer of the year for a second time at the 56th annual Country Music Association Awards Wednesday night, one of two trophies he picked up during the evening, along with album of the year.

“I want to thank country music for making my dreams come true,” Combs said at the end of the three-hour ABC telecast from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. As a kicker, he gave his seal of approval to the performing lineup: “This is my fifth or sixth year being at this awards show, and country sounded a lot more country than it has in a long time,” he noted.

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Scroll down to see all the winners, marked in bold amid the full list of nominees.

The double winners of the evening besides Combs were a pair of relative newcomers: Lainey Wilson, who won female artist of the year as well as best new artist, and Cody Johnson, who won single of the year and video of the year for “Til You Can’t.”

The leading nominee coming into the ceremony was Wilson, with six nods, after never having been up for a CMA before. Wilson’s big look not just going into but coming out of the CMAs will only be heightened in the very near future, as she is about to be seen in a recurring role on the television series “Yellowstone.”

Those awards all had a great deal of suspense to them. There was less of that for a handful of sure-thing repeats: Brothers Osborne winning vocal duo of the year for the fifth time, Old Dominion earning the vocal group award for a sixth time, and Chris Stapleton picking up male vocalist of the year, also for the sixth time.

Old Dominion lead singer Matthew Ramsey noted the death the day before of Jeff Cook of the veteran group Alabama, thinking of that band as he accepted an award for his own group. “There’s nobody in this category that would be here without Alabama,” he said, looking at his two bandmates and adding, “I couldn’t imagine losing one of you guys.”

The show opened with Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert forming a trio to salute the late Loretta Lynn with a medley of “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “You’re Looking at Country,” “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin'” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Jerry Lee Lewis got an homage from the combination of Elle King and the Black Keys. A forthcoming Rolling Stones all-star country tribute album was teased on the show with a rendition of “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Brothers Osborne and the War and Treaty — the latter duo getting what could be a star-making turn on the show.

Alan Jackson got his flowers while he’s still around to receive them with the last of the telecast’s big tributes. Prior to his receiving a lifetime achievement award, he was serenaded by Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi and Lainey Wilson singing some of his greatest hits, capped off by Jackson himself performing “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.” “I’ve definitely lived the American dream, and I’m still livin’ that honky tonk dream, y’all,” he exclaimed, hoisting his trophy.

Other strong and very country performances that Combs may have been referring to in his climactic speech included McBryde and friends covering “When Will I Be Loved,” a song that appears on her new album; Pearce singing the second Loretta Lynn tribute of the night, “Dear Miss Loretta,” an album track from her last record; and Kelsea Ballerini being joined by pals Pearce and Kelly Clarkson for a trio performance of “You’re Drunk, Go Home” from her latest record.

The artist who is undoubtedly the biggest star in the genre right now, as well as the most controversial, Morgan Wallen, was shut out in his two turns at bat (one of which was for entertainer of the year), after being barred from the ceremony last year. He was welcomed back this year to perform “You Proof,” one of a string of recent country radio smashes.

For the most dramatic performance of the evening, that might have been a tie. Wilson joined up with fellow new artist nominee Hardy for their new single, “Wait in the Car,” a domestic abuse melodrama that packed a powerful punch. But almost certainly the most lauded performance of the night had Stapleton being joined by revered veteran Patty Loveless for “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” a dour but riveting ballad about the coal mining life that had the audience at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena completely rapt with attention and admiration.

Scroll down beneath the winners to see clips of some of the top performances of the telecast. The full program will be available on Hulu starting Thursday.

The full list of nominees, with the winners’ names marked in bold:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

• Luke Combs 

• Miranda Lambert

• Chris Stapleton

• Carrie Underwood

• Morgan Wallen

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer

• “Buy Dirt” – Jordan Davis featuring Luke Bryan
  Producer: Paul DiGiovanni
  Mix Engineer: Jim Cooley

• “Half of My Hometown” – Kelsea Ballerini (feat. Kenny Chesney)
  Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Ross Copperman, Jimmy Robbins
  Mix Engineer: Dan Grech-Marguerat

• “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
  Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
  Mix Engineer: Ryan Gore

• “’Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson
  Producer: Trent Willmon
  Mix Engineer: Jack Clarke

• “You Should Probably Leave” – Chris Stapleton
  Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
  Mix Engineer: Vance Powell

ALBUM OF THE YEAR  
 Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)

• “Growin’ Up” – Luke Combs
  Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
  Mix Engineers: Jim Cooley, Chip Matthews

• “Humble Quest” – Maren Morris
  Producer: Greg Kurstin
  Mix Engineer: Serban Ghenea

• “Palomino” – Miranda Lambert
  Producers: Luke Dick, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall, Mikey Reaves
  Mix Engineer: Jason Lehning

• “Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin'” – Lainey Wilson
  Producer: Jay Joyce
  Mix Engineer: F. Reid Shippen

• “Time, Tequila & Therapy” – Old Dominion
  Producers: Shane McAnally, Old Dominion
  Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank

SONG OF THE YEAR 
 Award goes to Songwriters

• “Buy Dirt”
  Songwriters: Jacob Davis, Jordan Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins

• “Never Wanted to Be That Girl”
  Songwriters: Shane McAnally, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce

• “Sand in My Boots”
  Songwriters: Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Josh Osborne

• “Things a Man Oughta Know”
  Songwriters: Jason Nix, Jonathan Singleton, Lainey Wilson

• “You Should Probably Leave”
  Songwriters: Chris DuBois, Ashley Gorley, Chris Stapleton

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

• Miranda Lambert

• Ashley McBryde

• Carly Pearce

• Carrie Underwood

• Lainey Wilson

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

• Eric Church

• Luke Combs

• Cody Johnson

• Chris Stapleton

• Morgan Wallen

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

• Lady A

• Little Big Town

• Midland

• Old Dominion

• Zac Brown Band

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

• Brooks & Dunn

• Brothers Osborne

• Dan + Shay

• Locash

• Maddie & Tae

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR  
 Award goes to Artist(s) and Producer(s) 

• “Beers on Me” – Dierks Bentley with Breland & Hardy
  Producers: Dierks Bentley, Ross Copperman

• “If I Didn’t Love You” – Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood
  Producer: Michael Knox

• “Longneck Way to Go” – Midland (featuring Jon Pardi)
  Producers: Dann Huff, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne

• “Never Say Never” – Cole Swindell (with Lainey Wilson)
  Producer: Zach Crowell

• WINNER: “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
  Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

• Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle

• Paul Franklin, Steel guitar

• Brent Mason, Guitar

• Ilya Toshinskiy, Banjo

• Derek Wells, Guitar

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR  
 Award goes to Artist(s) and Directors

• “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” – Taylor Swift (featuring Chris Stapleton)
  Director: Blake Lively

• “Longneck Way to Go” – Midland (featuring Jon Pardi)
  Director: Harper Smith

• “Never Say Never” – Cole Swindell (with Lainey Wilson)
  Director: Michael Monaco

• “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
  Director: Alexa Campbell

• WINNER: “’Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson
  Director: Dustin Haney

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• Hardy

• Walker Hayes

• Cody Johnson

• Parker McCollum

• Lainey Wilson

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