Keith Urban Is Now an ACM Awards Triple Crown Winner
Keith Urban's first-ever ACM Entertainer of the Year win on Sunday night (April 7) added the 51-year-old country music veteran to the short list of ACM Triple Crown winners. He's one of only eight acts to earn the prestigious honor.
An ACM Awards Triple Crown consists of an Entertainer of the Year win, plus wins in an act's respective new artist (Male, Female or Duo or Group) and artist (Male, Female or Duo or Group) categories. Prior winners, in chronological order, are Merle Haggard (1971), Mickey Gilley (1977), Barbara Mandrell (1981), Brooks & Dunn (1996), Kenny Chesney (2004), Carrie Underwood (2009) and Jason Aldean (2016).
Past ACM Triple Crown winners didn't wait quite as long in between their first and final Triple Crown-completing wins, however. Urban won Best New Male Vocalist in 2001, 10 years after his debut album arrived in Australia and 18 years before the New Zealander's first Entertainer of the Year victory.
"I've been nominated [for ACM Entertainer of the Year] nine times, so at some point, I come to terms and accept that the nomination is the award," Urban admits. "I don't know how things go that way sometimes. I mean I love what I get to do, I put everything into it, but, I don't know, all the others do too so ... Thank you, God."
There's a separate ACM Triple Crown trophy that'll be presented to Urban at a future ACM event. Underwood received hers at the 2010 ACM Awards, while Aldean's big moment came as part of 2016's ACM Honors, a summertime ceremony for off-camera winners, special prizes and the Songwriter of the Year.
Urban is now the reigning ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year. Urban won the latter honor in November, for the second time in his career but the first time in 13 years.
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