Morgan Wallen wins top honors at 2024 CMA Awards, but Chris Stapleton took home the most trophies

As Gold Derby’s odds predicted, Morgan Wallen was the big winner of the night at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards, claiming Entertainer of the Year for the first time in his career. It was actually the first award Wallen has won from the CMAs since he was named New Artist of the Year in 2020. However, he wasn’t there to accept the prize, and he didn’t sweep the way we thought he might. Check out the complete list of winners here.

Our odds indicated that Wallen would likely win three more times over the course of the night. “I Had Some Help,” his collaboration with Post Malone, was tipped to win Single of the Year, Musical Event of the Year, and Music Video of the Year. However, none of those Malone nominations paid off. Instead, Chris Stapleton won Single of the Year for “White Horse,” the musical event prize went to Ella Langley and Riley Green for “You Look Like You Love Me,” and music video honors went to Lainey Wilson for “Wildflowers and Wild Horses.”

Stapleton won two other awards tonight: “White Horse” also claimed Song of the Year, and he himself took home Male Vocalist of the Year for the eighth time. That made him the most awarded artist of the night, though he didn’t claim one prize he was widely expected to get: Album of the Year. That went to Cody Johnson‘s “Leather” in arguably the night’s biggest upset.

Stapleton was followed closely by CMAs co-host Wilson, who was named Female Vocalist of the Year in addition to her music video victory. And there was another major surprise, Brooks and Dunn winning their 15th Vocal Duo of the Year title, while Vocal Group of the Year went the way we expected, with Old Dominion taking home trophy No. 7 in that race. What did you think of the evening’s results?