Country Artists Take Home iHeartRadio Music Awards
The 6th annual iHeartRadio Music Awards took place Thursday night at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Hosted by T-Pain, many artists were on display such as Halsey, Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, The Backstreet Boys, John Legend as well country artists including Kacey Musgraves who sang her current hit single, “Rainbow” and Garth Brooks who performed a melody of a bunch of his hits over the years. Country music winners included Luke Combs, Maren Morris, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Jordan Davis, Taylor Swift, and Brooks.
Brooks was honored with Artist of the Decade for his tremendous success in country music over the last ten years. In 2001, Brooks retired from recording and touring to raise his kids. In 2009, he got back into music and has now sold over 148 million albums, more than any solo artist in any genre. iHeartRadio DJ, Bobby Bones asked Brooks backstage what else is left for him to accomplish and he had this to say: “People go ‘what’s on your bucket list?’ and the only thing up there is one more day like today; this is a great way to live.”
Luke Combs took home Country Artist of the Year. Combs had a big 2018 as last year’s iHeartRadio New Country Artist of the Year released his deluxe version of This One’s For You which featured singles “She Got The Best Of Me” and the current number one song on the Billboard Country Airplay chart “Beautiful Crazy”. In a category with well-established stars in country music such as Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, and Jason Aldean, Combs was very modest on receiving this award.
“To have been nominated for this award with Carrie, Jason, Luke and Thomas was humbling enough…But to win it?!” the Country Artist of the Year said via Twitter. “I’m at a loss for words. Thank you to the best fans in the world and to all of my friends at iHeart Radio. I’m forever grateful.”
Aldean, however, did not walk away empty-handed as the three-time ACM Entertainer of the Year won the Country Album of the Year. Rearview Town is currently certified gold in the US and has four singles: “You Make It Easy”, “Drowns The Whiskey”, “Girl Like You” and his most recent single “Rearview Town.” The first three all reached a number one spot.
The Country Song of the Year went to Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be”. The song broke the record for most consecutive weeks (50) at number one on the Hot Country Song chart, previously held by Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road”. Maren Morris took home the Song of the Year along with Zedd and Grey for their pop hit “The Middle”.
Jordan Davis won the New Country Artist of the Year. The “Take It From Me” singer released his debut album, Home State in March of last year. Davis co-wrote all twelve songs on the album, including his two number one tracks “Singles You Up” and most recently “Take It From Me”.
Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour won Tour of Year. Although Swift is classified as pop now, we still wanted to give her a shout out for her success in country music in the past. Swift sold out all 53 shows on the tour (which were huge football stadiums) and generated over $300 million in ticket sales.
You can see many of these artists and more at the Academy of Country Music Awards April 7th on CBS. To view the list of nominees, click here.
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