George Strait Is in Jeopardy of Losing an All-Time Country Music Record at the ACM Awards
The Academy of Country Music Awards is always a big night for the genre and the artists up for nominations. However, tonight’s show has some higher stakes than usual, as ACM royalty, George Strait, stands to lose his title as the artist with the most ACM awards of all time. And who is threatening that record? Well, none other than Chris Stapleton.
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Since winning his first ever ACM in 1986, Strait has gone on to win a total of 24 ACM awards. He has won the Entertainer of the Year Award twice and has been nominated for the award 14 times. 24 ACM Awards seems like an untouchable number, but that is not the case. Tonight, Stapleton stands to beat Strait’s record of 24 wins if he wins five of the six awards he has received nominations for. As of now, Stapleton has procured 20 ACM Awards, but that might change tonight at 8:00 pm EST.
How Chris Stapleton Could Be Strait’s Record
Tonight, Chris Stapleton is nominated for six major awards—Visual Media of the Year, Music Event of the Year, Single of the Year(Artist & Producer nominations), Male Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.
Even if Stapleton doesn’t walk away beating Strait’s record, he will still walk away with some incredibly impressive accolades. Specifically, Stapleton’s Male Artist of the Year nomination marks his 10th consecutive nomination. Furthermore, if Stapleton wins EOTY, he will become just the fourth person to win the award more than five times. Other artists in that decorated group include Brad Paisley with five wins, Merle Haggard with six wins, and George Strait with five wins.
For a bit of context, it took George Strait roughly 28 years to win 24 ACM Awards. It has taken Stapleton less than 10 years to win 20, as he won his first set of ACM awards in 2015 with his debut album, Traveller. Chris Stapleton has a chance to make country music history tonight, and given his track record, it seems like he just might. Though time will tell, and the anticipation is brewing.