Shania Twain is set to host the Academy of Country Music Awards on May 17, 26 years after she won their top prize, entertainer of the year. Only Garth Brooks waited longer (32 years) between first winning entertainer of the year and finally hosting or co-hosting the show. He first won entertainer of the year in 1991 and co-hosted in 2023.
Twain was the fifth woman to win an ACM Award for entertainer of the year, following Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell and Reba McEntire. She will become just the third woman to solo-host the show, following Parton and McEntire.
Twain will become the second Canadian to host the show. I could give you all day to guess who the first one was and probably you still wouldn’t get it (nope, it wasn’t Anne Murray). It was actor Lorne Greene, best known for playing Ben Cartwright on Bonanza, who hosted the first two ACM Awards shows in 1966 and 1967. Greene also had a hit spoken-word record in 1964, “Ringo,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 21 on Hot Country Singles, as the chart was then called.
Twain will be the 14th act to both host or cohost the show and win entertainer of the year (not necessarily in the same year). Three acts (George Strait, Brooks & Dunn and Luke Bryan) have won entertainer of the year in a year they hosted, an impressive show of dominance. Bryan was the only act to double up in this way twice.
The 61st annual ACM Awards will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The show will stream live globally on Prime Video on Sunday, May 17 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. PT. Fans will also be able to watch the broadcast on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, as well as in the Amazon Music app.
Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest-running country music awards show. It made history in 2022 as the first major awards ceremony to exclusively livestream, in collaboration with Prime Video. Tickets are available for purchase on AXS.com.
Raj Kapoor and Patrick Menton are executive producers of the 61st annual ACM Awards, with Kapoor also serving as showrunner. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music. Jay Penske and Barry Adelman serve as executive producers for DCP. John Saade will also continue to serve as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
Here’s a complete list of the 14 acts to both host the ACM Awards and win entertainer of the year.
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
