Although they may seem similar, the CMA Awards for Single and Song of the Year are quite different. The former is awarded to the artist(s) who recorded song, while the latter is awarded to the songwriter(s).
In some cases, the artist is the songwriter. But there are other cases where the artist had nothing to do with creation of the song. Case in point: Taylor Swift was solely responsible for writing Little Big Town‘s “Better Man.”
When the nominees for the 51st CMA Awards were announced, fans were surprised to hear that all of the nominees for Single and Song of the year were exactly the same. That doesn’t usually happen! Upon learning this, fans couldn’t help but wonder if the same song would win in both categories.
When it came to the Single of the Year nominees, they were as follows:
Little Big Town: “Better Man”
Keith Urban: “Blue Ain’t Your Color”
Sam Hunt: “Body Like a Back Road”
Jon Pardi: “Dirt on My Boots”
Miranda Lambert: “Tin Man”
Brittany Snow and Ruby Rose were the lucky ones who got to announce the winner of the Single of the Year Award. After reading off the nominees, Snow and Rose revealed the news the crowd had been waiting for…
The song that won this year’s Single of the Year Award is none other than “Blue Ain’t Your Color!”
CONGRATS @KeithUrban for your Single of the Year win! #BlueAintYourColor #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/48HBjk6oty
— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) November 9, 2017
It’s no surprise why Urban won this award for “Blue Ain’t Your Color!” Written by Steven Lee Olsen, Hillary Lindsey, and Clint Lagerberg, “Blue Ain’t Your Color” was released in August 2016 as the fourth single off of Urban’s album Ripcord.
The song was a smash success, and was number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 12 consecutive weeks. It also topped Billboard‘s other country chart, the Country Airplay chart. In addition to all of that, the song was an immense crossover hit, and peaked at the 24th spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Blue Ain’t Your Color” was nominated in two categories at the 59th Grammy Awards: Best Country Solo Performance (recognizing Urban) and Best Country Song (recognizing its songwriters). As if that wasn’t enough, the song has been certified Double Platinum by the RIAA for the sale of over one million units. That’s outstanding!
Congratulations to Urban on his win! It is definitely well-deserved!