Most of the CMA Awards acknowledge fairly well-established stars who have several years in the business. But there’s also one category that shows us who may have the potential to win all of those big awards one day.
The category we’re talking about is the one for New Artist of the Year. Previously called the Horizon Award, the award is given to an up-and-coming artist who has shown serious promise over the course of the past year. Some past winners include big names such as Randy Travis, Garth Brooks, and Carrie Underwood. As you can tell, the New Artist of the Year Award winners are basically destined for superstardom!
When it came time to select the nominees for this year’s CMA Award for New Artist of the Year, there was no shortage of talented artists to choose from. Here were the nominees:
After acknowledging all of the nominees, the presenters revealed Pardi as the winner!
CONGRATS to #CMAawards New Artist of the Year @JonPardi! pic.twitter.com/z3GXkzDt7a
— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) November 9, 2017
It should come as no surprise that Pardi won this award! His album California Sunrise created a great deal of buzz following its June 2016 release, and went straight to the top spot on the Billboard Country Albums chart. That album contained Pardi’s breakout song and first number one hit, “Head Over Boots.”
“Head Over Boots” was released in 2015, and Pardi followed it up with another number one hit in 2016, titled “Dirt On My Boots.” Since it was released in September, the song experienced the majority of its chart success during 2017.
Pardi hit another home run with his single “Heartache On the Dance Floor,” which was released in May 2017. The song reached the third spot on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and also claimed the fifth spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. His current single, “She Ain’t In It” is already showing some serious promise on the charts as well!
After such a big year, we’d say that Pardi is more than deserving of this award! Congratulations to him!
Wow! Thank you, @CountryMusic. This is awesome! #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/Fpk88AtMVn
— Jon Pardi (@JonPardi) November 9, 2017