The 2025 ACM Awards are almost upon us. Hosted by 16-time ACM Award winner Reba McEntire, the show will stream live for a global audience on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The show will be expanded from two to two-and-a-half hours.
The show will open with 12 straight minutes of music highlighting ACM Award-winning song of the year winners from across six decades. The segment will feature Clint Black, Dan + Shay, LeAnn Rimes, McEntire, Sugarland and Wynonna Judd. Four of those artists popularized songs that won ACM Awards for song of the year, so you’re very likely to hear these songs in that medley: Dan + Shay’s “Tequila,” The Judds’ “Why Not Me,” Rimes’ “Blue” and Sugarland’s “Stay.”
The show will also feature collaborative performances by Jelly Roll & Shaboozey; Backstreet Boys & Rascal Flatts; and Brooks & Dunn with Cody Johnson. Jelly and Shaboozey performed together at last month’s Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California. Backstreet Boys were also on the bill for the three-day country festival.
Keith Urban will finally receive the ACM Triple Crown Award, which he clinched in 2019 when he was named entertainer of the year (having won new male artist of the year in 2001 and male artist of the year in 2005-06). The ACM had somehow never actually presented him with the award, and it is going all out this year. Chris Stapleton, Megan Moroney and Brothers Osborne will perform Urban hits in the segment.
This will be the 18th time McEntire has hosted or co-hosted the ACM Awards. She first co-hosted the show in 1986 with John Schneider and the late Mac Davis. McEntire is fast closing in on Bob Hope’s record as the most frequent host of any major awards show. Hope hosted or co-hosted the Oscars 19 times between 1940 and 1978.
Other performers include Ella Langley and Zach Top, who have already been announced as the winners of new female and male artist of the year.
The ACM also announced presenters on the show, most of whom are top country stars past and present. Other presenters include music legend and American Idol judge Lionel Richie, actress/singer Rita Wilson, NASCAR driver Chase Elliott and Amazon Music’s co-hosts of the Country Heat Weekly podcast Amber Anderson and Kelly Sutton.
Broadcaster Bobby Bones has also been added to the program. The five-time ACM winner will have multiple moments throughout the show in which he conducts artist interviews.
Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner of the 2025 ACM Awards, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music, and Jay Penske and Barry Adelman serve as executive producers for Dick Clark Productions. John Saade will also continue to serve as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest-running country music awards show. The ACMs made history in 2022 as the first major awards ceremony to exclusively livestream, in collaboration with Prime Video. Carnival Cruise Line is the presenting sponsor of this year’s show.
Here’s the full list of performers and presenters for the 2025 ACM Awards
Opening Segment
Clint Black
Dan + Shay
LeAnn Rimes
Sugarland
Reba McEntire
Wynonna Judd
Keith Urban Triple Crown Award Segment
Brothers Osborne
Chris Stapleton
Megan Moroney
Collaborations
Backstreet Boys & Rascal Flatts
Brooks & Dunn with Cody Johnson
Jelly Roll & Shaboozey
Other Performers
Alan Jackson
Blake Shelton
Brothers Osborne
Chris Stapleton
Ella Langley
Eric Church
Kelsea Ballerini
Lainey Wilson
Megan Moroney
Miranda Lambert
Zach Top
Amber Anderson & Kelly Sutton
Blake Shelton
Carly Pearce
Chase Elliott
Clint Black
Crystal Gayle
ERNEST
Gabby Barrett
Gretchen Wilson
Lee Ann Womack
Jordan Davis
Lionel Richie
Little Big Town
Martina McBride
Parker McCollum
Riley Green
Rita Wilson
Sara Evans
Sugarland
The Oak Ridge Boys
Wynonna Judd
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.