Many of the awards presented at the 2025 CMA Awards, which went down at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday (Nov. 19), went just about as expected. Did anyone seriously think that Lainey Wilson wasn’t going to win her fourth consecutive award for female artist of the year?

And no one could have been too surprised that Brooks & Dunn took vocal duo of the year for the 16th time. Kix Brooks & Ronnie Dunn first set the record as the duo with the most wins in the category in 1999 when they won for the eighth time.

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But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any surprises at the 59th annual CMA Awards, which were broadcast on ABC for the 20th consecutive year. Just ask Old Dominion, which came up short in the voting for vocal group of t

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