Everything you need to know about the 2021 CMT Music Awards

The CMT Awards are Country music’s only entirely fan-voted award show. They celebrate the genre’s top music videos of the year with seven different categories including CMT Performance of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video of the Year, Duo/Group Video of the Year, Male Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year and the biggest prize of the night, Video of the Year.

The two-and-a-half hour show airs Wednesday, June 9 at 8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT and can be viewed on CMT, MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network and TV Land.

Fan favorites Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown will host this year’s award show. This will be Kane’s second year hosting the awards, after being joined by co-hosts Ashley McBryde and Sarah Hyland in 2020. Kelsea will be stepping on stage for the first time as a host for the event.

Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris topped the nominations for this year’s show with four apiece. Close behind are show hosts Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini as well as Little Big Town and Mickey Guyton. Thirteen artists earned first-time nominees including Guyton, Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters, HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Niko Moon, Noah Cyrus, Parmalee, Ryan Hurd, Tyler Hubbard and Willie Jones. Check out a full list of the nominees here.

While voting for six of the seven categories ended on June 1, there is still time to vote for the night’s biggest prize, Video of the Year. Fans can submit their votes for the Video of the Year category all the way through the show on June 9. Vote here.

Throughout the show, Country music’s hottest stars will take the stage to perform their hit songs and deliver unique collaborations as a way to say “thank you” to their loyal fans. The performances take place in iconic venues all across Nashville.

Solo performers scheduled to perform include Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan and Luke Combs. This year’s collaborations will feature Miranda Lambert + Jack Ingram + Jon Randall, BRELAND + Mickey Guyton, Brothers Osborne + Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood + NEEDTOBREATHE, Chris Young + Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton + Gladys Knight, Kelsea Ballerini + Paul Klein from LANY, Lady A with Carly Pearce and Gabby Barrett + Lindsay Ell, Lauren Alaina and Jon Pardi, Chris Stapleton + H.E.R., Ingrid Andress + JP Saxe

Be sure to join the conversation with other Country fans on all Audacy social platforms and don’t forget to tag #CMTawards.