News

2018 CMA Award For Female Vocalist Of The Year Announced

Published Nov 14, 2018 By Miranda Raye

CMA / Country Music Association / Facebook

A History Of Outstanding Female Artists

One of the greatest awards an artist can earn at the CMA Awards is the award for Male or Female Vocalist of the Year. These awards have long been viewed as being just below the coveted Entertainer of the Year award in terms of prestige.

In the past, the award for Female Vocalist of the Year has gone to artists who have gone on to become country music icons. Artists such as Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire, and Tammy Wynette have all taken home that treasured trophy.

Within more recent times, the category has been dominated by Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.

The last time one of them didn’t win the award was back in 2009 (the trophy went to Taylor Swift), and Underwood won it three years prior to that.

A Tight Race To The Trophy

Lambert scored her first win in the category in 2010, and has won every year following except for 2016, when the trophy went to Underwood. Those seven wins make Lambert the record holder in the category.

For the longest time, Underwood, McEntire, and Martina McBride have been tied for the second-most wins, with a total of four each.

But although the category has been Lambert and Underwoods’ ballgame in the past, their fellow 2018 nominees proved to be some tough competition. All of the nominees were as follows:

Miranda Lambert

Maren Morris

Kelsea Ballerini

Kacey Musgraves

Carrie Underwood

As you can tell from reading that list of names, it was always clear that the 2018 race for Female Vocalist of the Year was going to be a tight one.

The 2018 Winner Is…

So who ended up taking home that trophy? Did Lambert score her eighth win, or did someone else get the chance to have her moment on the CMA stage?

Well here’s your answer….the winner was Carrie Underwood!

Is it really any surprise that Underwood won the Female Vocalist of the Year Award? After all, her career was on fire this year!

Below, you’ll find a short list of the many things Underwood accomplished since last year’s CMA Awards:

  • Released a new album, which was the biggest debut of any country album in three years and made her the first female to have four country albums top the all-genre albums chart (Cry Pretty)
  • Had a single chart within the top ten on both country charts (“Cry Pretty”)
  • Released a new song used as the theme for the Super Bowl and Olympics, has since been certified gold (“The Champion”)
  • Named as one of CMT’s Artists of the Year
  • Won the American Music Award  for Favorite Female Country Artist, the CMT Music Award for Female Video of the Year (“The Champion”), and the ACM Award for Vocal Event of the Year (“The Fighter” with Keith Urban)

This brings Underwood’s total Female Vocalist of the Year wins to five, now making her the only artist with the second most wins in the category.

Looking over that list of accomplishments, it’s easy to see why Underwood is the new CMA Female Vocalist of the Year! Congratulations to her on the big win!