Last night was another great moment for WMG, as our artists and songwriters took home top accolades at two of the industry’s most celebrated awards ceremonies.
Beginning with the 51st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, Dave Cobb — who recently signed a publishing agreement with Warner/Chappell and launched a label imprint, Low Country Sound, via Elektra Records — was named Producer of the Year in recognition of his renowned work with Elektra’s Anderson East, W/C songwriters A Thousand Horses, W/C songwriter Chris Stapleton, and others. Stapleton and Cobb together took home wins for Album of the Year with Traveller and Song of the Year with “Nobody to Blame,” while Stapleton also took home Male Vocalist of the Year and New Male Vocalist of the Year, making him the winningest performer of the night. Additionally, W/C songwriter Jason Aldean won Entertainer of the Year and W/C songwriter Sean Douglas contributed to the win for Single Record of the Year, Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man.”
W/C songwriters Little Big Town received the Crystal Milestone Award in honor of the success of their boundary-pushing hit, “Girl Crush,” which was co-written by W/C songwriter Liz Rose. The double-platinum single was the most-downloaded country song of 2015 and held the top spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 13 consecutive weeks. The band also took home ACM Vocal Group of the Year—for which they have been nominated 10 times, and have now won four times — as well as Vocal Event of the Year. Overall, Warner/Chappell songwriters contributed to six of the seven televised awards presented by the ACMs, which is a tremendous feat.
Warner Music Nashville’s Blake Shelton gave a beautiful performance of his new single “Came Here To Forget,” while his label mates Cole Swindell and Brett Eldredge made their ACM performance debuts with “You Should Be Here” and “Drunk On Your Love,” respectively. To top it off, W/C’s Katy Perry dueted with the legendary Dolly Parton on a few of her classic hits, including “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene,” and “9 to 5.”
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, WBR’s Jason Derulo hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards and opened the show with his new single, “If It Ain’t Love.” WMG’s big winners from the night included: Fueled By Ramen and W/C signees twenty one pilots, who picked up Alternative Rock Artist of the Year and Alternative Rock Song of the Year for “Stressed Out”; Atlantic’s Bruno Mars, who took home Best Collaboration for “Uptown Funk”; Warner Music Nashville’s Chris Janson, who won Country Song of the Year for “Buy Me a Boat”; W/C songwriter Belly, who co-wrote R&B Song of the Year “Earned It,” by the Weeknd, and 300 Entertainment’s Fetty Wap who was named Best New Artist.
Congratulations to all of our artists and songwriters!
