52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards

The 52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards, commonly known as the 52nd CMA Awards, were held on November 14, 2018, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee and was hosted for the eleventh and final time by CMA Award winners Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

Winners and nominees

The nominations for the 52nd CMA Awards were announced on August 28, 2018, on Good Morning America by Luke Bryan, Dan + Shay and Sugarland.
The winners are shown in Bold.

Entertainer of the Year	Album of the Year
Keith Urban * Jason Aldean * Luke Bryan * Kenny Chesney * Chris Stapleton	Golden Hour — Kacey Musgraves * The Mountain — Dierks Bentley * Life Changes — Thomas Rhett * From A Room: Volume 2 — Chris Stapleton * Graffiti U — Keith Urban
Male Vocalist of the Year	Female Vocalist of the Year
Chris Stapleton * Dierks Bentley * Luke Combs * Thomas Rhett * Keith Urban	Carrie Underwood * Kelsea Ballerini * Miranda Lambert * Maren Morris * Kacey Musgraves
Vocal Group of the Year	Vocal Duo of the Year
Old Dominion * Lady Antebellum * LANCO * Little Big Town * Midland	Brothers Osborne * Dan + Shay * Florida Georgia Line * Maddie & Tae * Sugarland
Single of the Year	Song of the Year
"Broken Halos" — Chris Stapleton * "Drinkin' Problem" — Midland * "Drowns the Whiskey" — Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert * "Meant to Be" — Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line * "Tequila" — Dan + Shay	"Broken Halos" — Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson * "Body Like a Back Road" — Zach Crowell, Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally, and Josh Osborne * "Drowns the Whiskey" — Brandon Kinney, Jeff Middleton, and Josh Thompson * "Drunk Girl" — Scooter Carusoe, Tom Douglas, and Chris Janson * "Tequila" — Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds, and Dan Smyers
New Artist of the Year	Musician of the Year
Luke Combs * Lauren Alaina * Chris Janson * Midland * Brett Young	Mac McAnally, Guitar Jerry Douglas, Dobro Paul Franklin, Steele Guitar * Dann Huff, Guitar * Derek Wells, Guitar
Music Video of the Year	Musical Event of the Year
"Marry Me" — Thomas Rhett * "Babe" — Sugarland and Taylor Swift * "Cry Pretty" — Carrie Underwood * "Drunk Girl" — Chris Janson * "Tequila" — Dan + Shay	"Everything's Gonna Be Alright" — David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney * "Drowns the Whiskey" — Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert * "Burning Man" — Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne * "Dear Hate" — Maren Morris and Vince Gill * "Meant to Be" — Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line

Reception

Underwood and Pasley's monologue was praised for ignoring the subject of politics, with Fox News stating that "despite avoiding controversial topics, Underwood and Paisley still delivered a joke-filled opening monologue that left many in the audience in stitches".
In their review of the best and worst moments of the telecast, The Washington Post praised Stapleton's performance with Morris and Staples, Brooks' "sweet" and "adorable" tribute to Trisha Yearwood, Bryan's opening number, the "fiery" Pistol Annies performance and the Ricky Skaggs tribute and celebrated Musgraves' Album of the Year win as well as the performances on newer artists such as Combs and Dan + Shay. However, they were critical of Paisley and Underwood's monologue, calling it "flat", "lame" and claiming that it "didn't make sense", leaving audience members "confused". Lauren Alaina's tribute to Dottie West was criticised for being too short and Midland's tribute to Burt Reynolds was described as being too confusing and unexplained.