The 2021 CMT Awards are airing tonight on CMT and various other platforms, hosted by Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini.  As we usually do, here is a play-by-play of what happened during the broadcast!

• The show kicked off with Lady A performing their new single “Like a Lady.”  Carly Pearce then came out to join them for the 2nd verse!
• After the announcer listed the night’s performers and guests, she kicked it to Chris Stapleton who performed his song “Arkansas” on a farm in the nearby town of Manchester.
• The announcer then introduced Kane and Kelsea who took the stage for the first time as hosts.
• They introduced Taylor Lewan and Trace Adkins who were out to present the first award of the night.  Taylor was actually pretty good with the bit they did!
• Group Duo of the Year Award
  • “All Night” – Brothers Osborne
  • “Like a Lady” – Lady A
  • “Wine Beer Whiskey” – Little Big Town (WINNER)
  • “Never Be Sorry” – Old Dominion
  • “Just the Way” – Parmalee w/ Blanco Brown
  • “We Were Rich” – Runaway June
• Hailey Whitters performed her single “Fillin’ My Cup” as they went to commercial
• Kane and Kelsea announced the Final Four finalists for Video of the Year:
  • “Hallelujah” by Carrie Underwood w/ John Legend
  • “Worldwide Beautiful” by Kane Brown
  • “One Too Many” by Keith Urban w/ P!nk
  • “Hole in the Bottle” by Kelsea Ballerini
• Michael Strahan came out to introduce Luke Combs who was performing “Cold As You” in downtown Nashville at Assembly Hall
• The announcer introduced Mickey Guyton who came out to introduce a clip about Linda Martell, the first black woman to ever land a top 2o single and to perform on the Grand Ole Opry.  It was then announced that Linda was presented with the Equal Play Award remotely.
• The announcer introduced Busy Phillips who remotely introduced Jack Ingram, Jon Randall, and Miranda Lambert who were performed “Tequila Does” while sitting around a campfire.
• The cast of a new CMT show, Campfire Sessions, came out to plug their new show and to present the next award
• Performance of the Year
  • “1, 2 Many” – Luke Combs w/ Brooks & Dunn
  • “I Should Probably Go To Bed” – Dan + Shay
  • “This Is Us” – Jimmie Allen w/ Noah Cyrus
  • “The Other Girl” – Kelsea Ballerini w/ Halsey (WINNER)
  • “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” – Little Big Town
  • “Twinkle Twinkle” – Nathaniel Rateliff & Margo Price
• Dylan Scott performed a snippet of his single “Nobody” as the show went to a commercial break
• Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne performed “Lighten Up” from the Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester
• Carly Pearce came out to introduce the next performer, Thomas Rhett who performed “Country Again”
• Kane Brown introduced Kelsea Ballerini and Paul Klein who performed “I Quit Drinking”
• Tenille Arts performed her hit single “Somebody Like That” as the show went to commercial
• Iliza Shlesinger came out to give a quick comedy bit before presenting the award for:
• Collaborative Video of the Year
  • “Hallelujah” by Carrie Underwood & John Legend
  • “One Too Many” by Keith Urban w/ P!nk
  • “Famous Friends” by Chris Young & Kane Brown (WINNER)
  • “Chasing After You” by Ryan Hurd w/ Maren Morris
  • “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna go Home)” by Elle King & Miranda Lambert
  • “Undivided” by Tim McGraw & Tyler Hubbard
• Kelsea introduced Ingrid Andress who performed her current single “Lady Like” from a rooftop in Nashville.  Ingrid then introduced JP Saxe who joined her for a duet on his song “Like That”
• Kelsea introduced Breland and Mickey Guyton who performed Breland’s single “Cross Country” – hear it on our 2021’s Best New Country Music Spotify Playlist!
• Gladys Knight then joined them on stage to perform “Friendship Train”
• Brett Young was then introduce by the announcer to present the award for Breakthrough Video of the Year
• Breakthrough Video of the Year
  • “Nobody” by Dylan Scott (WINNER)
  • “Filling My Cup” by Hailey Whitters
  • “Give Heaven Some Hell” by Hardy
  • “Things a Man Oughta Know” by Lainey Wilson
  • “Black Like Me” by Mickey Guyton
  • “Good Time” by Niko Moon
• Kane Brown introduced Blanco Brown who performed a snippet of his new single “Country More Than Me”
• Cody Allan, Katie Cook and Ashley ShahAhmadi introduced Lauren Alaina and Jon Pardi, who performed “Getting Over Him” from a park in Nashville
• Little Big Town announced the Male Video of the Year
• Male Video of the Year
  • “Starting Over” by Chris Stapleton
  • “Beers and Sunshine” by Darius Rucker
  • “Worship You” by Kane Brown (WINNER)
  • “Down to One” by Luke Bryan
  • “Lovin’ On You” by Luke Combs
  • “What’s Your Country Song” by Thomas Rhett
• The show went to commercial as Lainey Wilson performed her single “Things a Man Ougtha Know”
• Kane and Kelsea introduced Chris Stapleton and H.E.R. who performed a duet on her song “Hold On”
• Kane and Kelsea introduced Carrie Underwood and Needtobreathe who performed “I Wanna Remember” at the Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester
• Niko Moon took the show to commercial with a performance of “Good Time”
• Gladys Knight came out to present the next award
• Female Video of the Year
  • “Next Girl” by Carly Pearce
  • “The Good Ones” by Gabby Barrett (WINNER)
  • “Hole in the Bottle” by Kelsea Ballerini
  • “To Hell and Back” by Maren Morris
  • “Heaven Down Here” by Mickey Guyton
  • “Settling Down” by Miranda Lambert
• Dylan Scott was next out to plug a Lipton spot, then introduced Luke Bryan performing at Assembly Hall in downtown Nashville who performed his new single “Down to One”
• Anthony Mackie was introduced to present the award for Music Video of the Year
• Music Video of the Year
  • “Hallelujah” by Carrie Underwood w/ John Legend (WINNER)
  • “Worldwide Beautiful” by Kane Brown
  • “One Too Many” by Keith Urban w/ P!nk
  • “Hole in the Bottle” by Kelsea Ballerini
• The show ends with Kelsea introducing Chris Young and Kane Brown to perform “Famous Friends”