Entertainer Of The Year
Jason Aldean
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift
Keith Urban

Female Vocalist Of The Year
Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Male Vocalist Of The Year
Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban

New Artist
The Band Perry
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Thompson Square
Chris Young

Vocal Group
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band

Vocal Duo
The Civil Wars
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland
Thompson Square

Album Of The Year
All About Tonight, Blake Shelton
My Kinda Party, Jason Aldean
Speak Now, Taylor Swift
This Is Country Music, Brad Paisley
You Get What You Give, Zac Brown Band

Single Of The Year
“A Little Bit Stronger” — Sara Evans
“Colder Weather” — Zac Brown Band
“Don’t You Wanna Stay” — Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson
“Honey Bee” — Blake Shelton
“If I Die Young” — The Band Perry

Song Of The Year
“Colder Weather” — (songwriters: Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, Levi Lowrey, and Coy Bowles)
“Dirt Road Anthem” — (songwriters: Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford)
“If I Die Young” — (songwriter: Kimberly Perry)
“Mean” — (songwriter: Taylor Swift)
“You and Tequila” — (songwriters: Matraca Berg and Deana Carter)

Musical Event Of The Year
“As She’s Walking Away” — Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” — Loretta Lynn, Sheryl Crow, and Miranda Lambert
“Don’t You Wanna Stay” — Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson
“Old Alabama” — Brad Paisley featuring Alabama
“You and Tequila” — Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter

Music Video
“Honey Bee” — Blake Shelton, Directed by Trey Fanjoy
“If I Die Young”— The Band Perry, Directed by David McClister
“Mean” — Taylor Swift, Directed by Declan Whitebloom
“Old Alabama” — Brad Paisley featuring Alabama, Directed by Jim Shea
“You and Tequila” — Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter, Directed by Shaun Silva

Musician
Sam Bush – Mandolin
Jerry Douglas – Dobro
Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
Dann Huff – Guitar
Mac McAnally – Guitar

Q1 FUN FACT: We’d like to tell you the following is an April Fool’s joke, but it’s not. According to HITS’ numbers-crunching division (OK, it’s one guy with an abacus) , a less-than-grand total of 39 Q1 releases debuted north of 25k, and no album released during the quarter has yet hit the million mark in year-to-date sales. (4/1a)

And here are a few more fun facts for you:
• The best-selling album to come out in 2009, U2’s No Line On The Horizon, is at the 744,000-sold mark in four weeks out.
• The album right above it on this week’s SoundScan charts, Kelly Clarkson’s All I Ever Wanted, has been out for a week less, and hasn’t broken 400,000 yet.
• Martina McBride’s first-week sales on her album Shine—which debuted at No. 10 this week with 41,000 sales—were 71% lower than the opening-week sales of her last album, which came out in 2007. And that was with two American Idol contestants singing songs of hers in recent weeks!

And so on. So, will an album go platinum this year? My gut says that the U2 album will; there is, after all, a lot of year left. But any others… well, that’s up for debate. And more importantly, what do the album charts even mean in this ? I’ve refrained from writing the old “Who Charted” column because I just feel like the old metrics don’t apply… but I don’t know what does yet. A combination of album sales and streaming stats and touring and merch? (Are there even charts for merch, or is the old-school secrecy of record labels still ruling supreme there?) What about file-sharing? Are the dropping sales for music and the decimation of places to actually buy music engaged in an endless chicken-and-egg scenario? And am I outing myself as An Old (or at least A Relatively Old) by even caring about sales at this point?

Rumor Mill [Hits]