Country Music's New School Trivia Quiz

Answer:

At the Academy of Country Music Awards, the ACMs, the last award of the night is the coveted Entertainer of the Year award.

The first award was given out in 1971 to Merle Haggard. Willie Nelson took home the award in 1980. Garth Brooks won six times in the 1990s. Taylor Swift won consecutive Entertainer of the Year awards in 2012 and 2013. Toby Keith's first nomination was in 2001 and the Dixie Chicks in 2003. But none of these artists are the "new" country we're looking for on this list of the 2021s and later. Each of the wrong answers weren't nominated in the 2021 to 2025 era.

In 2021, Luke Bryan won the coveted award and was nominated with Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton. Bryan has been a frequent host of the show too. Stapleton and Combs were each nominated every year between 2021 and 2025. Combs hadn't won in this era but Stapleton took home the trophy in 2023. The bluesy guitar player had his first nomination in 2018 after the release of his single "Tennessee Whiskey".

Miranda Lambert's first nomination was in 2011 but her magical career was still going strong over a decade later. The Texas singer/songwriter was named Entertainer of the Year in 2022. In 2023, the number of nominees went from five to seven. Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown, and Jason Aldean each received their first nominations in 2023, but Stapleton won that year. Morgan Wallen was nominated 2023 through 2026 but hadn't won. Brown was up for the award in 2023 and 2024. In 2024, Lainey Wilson not only was nominated for the first time, she took home the award in 2024 and the next year too!

Carrie Underwood was nominated six times. The first time for the former winner of "American Idol" was in 2009. Carrie won Entertainer of the Year in both 2009, 2010, and in 2020 won a tie with Thomas Rhett. But Carrie's reign continued in the 2020s when she was up for the award in 2022 and 2023. In a twist of fate, Underwood went from "American Idol" contestant to judge on the show in the decade. Kelsea Ballerini had her first nomination in 2025; while she didn't win, the young female singer known for hits like "Miss Me More" and "Peter Pan" will be a likely nominee in the years to come.