Carrie Underwood & Thomas Rhett Make History as They Tie for ACM's Entertainer of the Year

On Wednesday, the Academy of Country Music Awards went ahead remotely amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Two artists made history this year when they both tied in the same category.

This week, the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) was held remotely to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease. The host for this year’s awards was 2019’s Entertainer of The Year and country musician, Keith Urban.

Urban had the pleasure of announcing the new Entertainer of The Year winner but this time there was a bit of a twist. Instead of one winner, two singers made ACM history this year at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

THE TWO WINNERS

Urban revealed that the 2020 winners were none other than Carrie Underwood, 37, and Thomas Rhett, 30. The ACM host couldn’t help but state that he’d "never heard of" there being two winners in the category before.

Despite the winners seemingly being ok with sharing the award, some fans weren’t too thrilled.

Rhett was announced first and he couldn’t help but be shocked at the revelation. He gave his speech before Underwood was presented with the same award and shared her own gratitude.

WHO THEY WON AGAINST

Rhett and Underwood won against fellow nominees Luke Bryan, Eric Church, and Luke Combs. The “Cry Pretty” songstress officially became the first woman to win the Entertainer of the Year award three times.

She’s also the first woman to take home the prize since 2012 when Taylor Swift won it. Plus, she was also the only woman nominated in the category this year.

FANS NOT HAPPY WITH DUO WIN

Despite the winners seemingly being ok with sharing the award, some fans weren’t too thrilled. Some complained about how Underwood had to somehow share the award with a man while others thought another vote should’ve been made to get a clear winner.

WHY 2 PEOPLE CAN WIN AN AWARD

Two singers are able to share and award due to ACM’s guidelines and criteria. The award’s policy states that only one vote can be cast in each category in the final round.

ACM’S POLICY

The winner will be chosen when a nominee receives the most votes in each category. However, the ACM Award policy further states:

“In the case of a tie, all winners will receive an award.”

POSTPONING THE AWARDS

The 2020 ACM Awards were initially supposed to be held in Las Vegas on April 5, 2020. They had to be postponed to September 16, 2020, due to COVID-19.