All the 2025 ACM Awards Performances Ranked

The Academy of Country Music Awards celebrated a major milestone with this year’s ceremony, commemorating 60 years of feting many of the top performers and artists in country music. Held Thursday night (May 8) and livestreamed on Amazon Prime Video, the ACM Awards featured performances that highlighted six decades of enduring hits, as well as many of today’s biggest songs.

When it came to awards, women dominated, with Lainey Wilson taking home honors for entertainer of the year, artist-songwriter of the year, album of the year (for Whirlwind) and female artist of the year. Meanwhile, Ella Langley, who led the nominees this year with eight nominations, picked up five honors including new female artist of the year, while her Riley Green collab “You Look Like You Love Me” earned single of the year, visual media of the year and music event of the year.

Other winners included Chris Stapleton (male artist of the year), Brooks & Dunn (duo of the year), Old Dominion (group of the year), Zach Top (new male artist of the year) and The Red Clay Strays (new duo or group of the year).

Women not only dominated the winner’s circle, but helmed the show, as Reba McEntire returned to host the show for the 18th time. Overall, the show was a mighty representation of the enduring impact of the genre’s past, present and future. While each artist turned in a top-notch performance, some performances stood out more than others.

Here, Billboard counts down the top performances at the 60th annual ACM Awards.

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.