CMT Music Awards
The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on CMT. Voting takes place on CMT's website, CMT.com.
History
Beginning in 1967, the Music City News Awards were presented yearly by the now-defunct Music City News magazine. In 1988, The Nashville Network began a fan-voted awards show dubbed the Viewers' Choice Awards to help the network celebrate its fifth anniversary. In 1990, the two awards shows merged to become the TNN/Music City News Country Awards.The TNN contract with Music City News ended in 1999, and the magazine ceased publication shortly thereafter. Country Weekly became the presenting sponsor of the awards show in 2000, and the show was known as Country Weekly presents the TNN Music Awards. In 2001, as TNN began to phase out its association with country music, the decision was made to shift the awards show to sister network CMT. The 2001 show was simulcast on both networks and was called the TNN/CMT Country Weekly Music Awards. When the show moved permanently to CMT, Country Weekly ended its brief association with the production. During this era, viewers voted for the nominees by telephone or mail in traditional categories such as "Entertainer of the Year," "Male/Female Artist of the Year," "Song of the Year," etc. Most of the categories mirrored those on the CMA Awards and ACM Awards, except all awards were fan-voted.
The awards show was completely retooled in 2002 to become the CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards, named for the network's branding concept at the time for its most popular videos. The show became more production-based, rather than awards-based, and was modeled after sister network MTV's Video Music Awards. In the process, the traditional awards were shifted to specifically honor the music videos of country artists. The "Flameworthy" name was coined by program development vice president Kaye Zusmann.
The show included several non-traditional categories highlighting especially funny, sexy, and patriotic videos; however, these categories were phased out over the years. The show further differentiated itself from the CMA Awards and ACM Awards by showcasing bluegrass performers such as Alison Krauss and Earl Scruggs.
In 2003, the show was moved to April but returned to June in 2009 to coincide with the CMA Music Festival and the influx of tourists to Nashville as well as capitalize on a time when many of the artists would already be in Nashville at once. In 2020, the awards will take place on October 14 instead, due to the coronavirus pandemic, with that year's CMA Fest not going forward.
The name of the show was changed to CMT Music Awards in 2005, although the format remained largely the same as in previous years.
From 2009 to 2014, the CMT Music Awards featured a live band led by John Bohlinger.
Major awards
| Year | Video of the Year | Male Video of the Year | Female Video of the Year | USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of The Year |
| 2002 | Kenny Chesney – "Young" | Kenny Chesney – "Young" | Martina McBride – "Blessed" | Chris Cagle – "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" |
| 2003 | Toby Keith – "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue " | Toby Keith – "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue " | Martina McBride – "Concrete Angel" | Joe Nichols – "Brokenheartsville" |
| 2004 | Toby Keith – "American Soldier" | Kenny Chesney – "There Goes My Life" | Shania Twain – "Forever and for Always" | Dierks Bentley – "What Was I Thinkin'" |
| 2005 | Keith Urban – "Days Go By" | Kenny Chesney – "I Go Back" | Gretchen Wilson – "When I Think About Cheatin'" | Gretchen Wilson – "Redneck Woman" |
| 2006 | Keith Urban – "Better Life" | Kenny Chesney – "Who You'd Be Today" | Carrie Underwood – "Jesus, Take the Wheel" | Carrie Underwood – "Jesus, Take The Wheel" |
| 2007 | Carrie Underwood – "Before He Cheats" | Kenny Chesney – "You Save Me" | Carrie Underwood – "Before He Cheats" | Taylor Swift – "Tim McGraw" |
| 2008 | Taylor Swift – "Our Song" | Trace Adkins – "I Got My Game On" | Taylor Swift – "Our Song" | Kellie Pickler – "I Wonder" |
| 2009 | Taylor Swift – "Love Story" | Brad Paisley – "Waitin' on a Woman" | Taylor Swift – "Love Story" | Zac Brown Band – "Chicken Fried" |
| 2010 | Carrie Underwood – "Cowboy Casanova" | Keith Urban – "'Til Summer Comes Around" | Miranda Lambert – "White Liar" | Luke Bryan – "Do I" |
| 2011 | Taylor Swift – "Mine" | Blake Shelton – "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking" | Miranda Lambert – "The House That Built Me" | The Band Perry – "If I Die Young" |
| 2012 | Carrie Underwood – "Good Girl" | Luke Bryan – "I Don't Want This Night to End" | Miranda Lambert – "Over You" | Scotty McCreery – "The Trouble With Girls" |
| 2013 | Carrie Underwood – "Blown Away" | Blake Shelton – "Sure Be Cool If You Did" | Miranda Lambert – "Mama's Broken Heart" | Florida Georgia Line – "Cruise" |
| 2014 | Carrie Underwood – "See You Again" | Blake Shelton – "Doin' What She Likes" | Miranda Lambert – "Automatic" | Cassadee Pope – "Wasting All These Tears" |
| 2015 | Carrie Underwood – "Something in the Water" | Luke Bryan – "Play It Again" | Carrie Underwood – "Something in the Water" | Sam Hunt – "Leave the Night On" |
| 2016 | Tim McGraw – "Humble and Kind" | Thomas Rhett – "Die a Happy Man" | Carrie Underwood – "Smoke Break" | Chris Stapleton – "Fire Away" |
| 2017 | Keith Urban – "Blue Ain't Your Color" | Keith Urban – "Blue Ain't Your Color" | Carrie Underwood – "Church Bells" | Lauren Alaina – "Road Less Traveled" |
| 2018 | Blake Shelton - "I'll Name the Dogs" | Blake Shelton - "I'll Name the Dogs" | Carrie Underwood - “The Champion" | Carly Pearce - "Every Little Thing" |
| 2019 | Carrie Underwood - "Cry Pretty" | Kane Brown - "Lose It" | Carrie Underwood - “Love Wins" | Ashley McBryde – “Girl Goin’ Nowhere" |
Special/Discontinued awards
All of the traditional categories awarded during the TNN/Music City News/Country Weekly era were discontinued following the 2001 show when the production was moved to CMT and retooled to honor music videos.Several categories were removed after only one year, including the Love Your Country Video, LOL Video, Fashion Plate Video, Special Achievement, Cocky Video, Cameo of the Year, Comedy Video, Tearjerker Video, and Supporting Character of the Year. The Most Inspiring Video Award was presented only two years.
In 2004, the Johnny Cash Visionary Award was introduced to honor innovation and vision in creating music. Reba McEntire was the first recipient of the award. It was discontinued after 2007.
The Hottest Video of the Year award was discontinued after 2006. It honored videos featuring especially sexy performances by the artists or supporting cast.
In 2007, the Wide Open Country Video Award was introduced to recognize music not normally played on country radio. Jack Ingram's "Love You" was the first recipient. It was discontinued after 2009.
In 2009, the CMT Performance of the Year and Nationwide Is On Your Side awards were introduced. The Nationwide award is awarded off-camera, but the recipient offers a brief acceptance as the broadcast cuts to a commercial break.
Winning records
is the most awarded artist overall in CMT Music Awards' history, with 20 wins.By category
- Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; seven wins
- Male Video of the Year: Kenny Chesney; five wins
- Female Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; seven wins
- Collaborative Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley ; three wins each
- CMT Performance of the Year: Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean ; two wins each