Will Garth Brooks, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood or Keith Urban win Entertainer of the Year when the 53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards are handed out on Wednesday night, November 13? Make your CMA predictions now right here in our predictions center in that category and 10 others. You can keep updating your predictions as many times as you like before winners are announced.
Maren Morris is actually the most nominated artist at this year’s awards with six total bids, but she’s not in the running for the top award. As it turns out, none of the Entertainer of the Year nominees have more than three nominations. Underwood, Stapleton and Church are tied at that number, while Brooks and Urban have two noms apiece.
But having more nominations isn’t necessarily a sign of which way the wind is blowing. For instance, Brooks has won Entertainer of the Year six times, and his last two victories (2016-2017) came when it was his only nomination. And last year Urban won with three total nominations while his rival Stapleton had five nominations and ultimately three wins.
Brooks and Urban are the only past winners in the top category this year. The other three are gunning for their first victory. Stapleton is nominated for the fourth year in a row, but even though he’s a CMA darling with 10 wins in the last four years, he still hasn’t managed to take top honors.
Church, meanwhile, is nominated for the third time following bids in 2015 and 2017; he has won three CMAs over the course of his career so far, including Album of the Year for “Chief” (2012) and “Mr. Misunderstood” (2016). He’s nominated again in that category this year for “Desperate Man.”
Underwood has been one of the biggest stars in country music for the last 15 years, but didn’t earn her first Entertainer of the Year nomination until 2016. This is only her second ever nomination in the top category, though she has won seven awards from the association over the course of her career so far. She has even hosted the awards every year since 2008, but her country music peers usually don’t find women that entertaining. If Underwood wins this year, she would be the first female champ since Taylor Swift in 2011 and only the third female winner of the 21st century.
Will Underwood pull off an overdue victory? Will Urban defend his title after last year’s win? Let us know here in our predictions center, and discuss all things music with our savvy readers here in our forums.
Be sure to make your CMA predictions so that Hollywood insiders can see this year’s contenders are faring in our CMA odds. You can keep changing your predictions until winners are announced on November 13. And join the discussion on this and more taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our music forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
