Lainey Wilson is coming back to the CMA Awards stage, and this time she'll be the only person standing on it. The Country Music Association and ABC confirmed Saturday that the 34-year-old singer will host the 60th Annual CMA Awards on November 18, her third consecutive year in the role and, per Billboard, the first time any woman has solo-hosted the show more than once. The announcement wasn't dropped in a press release — it landed live on ESPN's "College GameDay," which was broadcasting that morning from Louisiana State University, Wilson's home state, marking the program's 500th episode on the road.

Summary

  • The return was announced Saturday on ESPN's "College GameDay," timed to a homecoming stop at LSU in Wilson's native Louisiana and to a CMA season that's celebrating its 60th anniversary in November.
  • Lainey Wilson is coming back to the CMA Awards stage, and this time she'll be the only person standing on it.
  • The Country Music Association and ABC confirmed Saturday that the 34-year-old singer will host the 60th Annual CMA Awards on November 18, her third consecutive year in the role and, per Billboard, the first time any woman has solo-hosted the show more than once.

A homecoming built for the moment

The timing wasn't an accident. Wilson served as GameDay's celebrity picker that morning, and the hosting news was folded into the same segment — a deliberate pairing of her Louisiana roots with a Nashville institution, in front of a crowd that had shown up for football, not country music. It's the kind of stagecraft that fits an artist whose whole persona is built on where she's actually from, not a marketing version of it.

What she's built in three years

Wilson has picked up 12 CMA Awards since 2023, trailing only Miranda Lambert's 14 among women in the organization's history. Last November she won Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year for a fourth straight time, plus Album of the Year for "Whirlwind." She first hosted in 2024 alongside Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, then took the job solo in 2025 — a role she's clearly grown into. "I couldn't be more excited to be hosting the CMA Awards again this year, especially with it being the 60th anniversary," Wilson said in a statement carried by Rolling Stone and Deadline. "I've had so much fun hosting the last two years, and this one's going to be extra special."

Where she sits in CMA history

Wilson isn't chasing the all-time record — Vince Gill has solo-hosted the CMAs ten times, and Johnny Cash did it four — but her milestone is a different one. Dolly Parton became the first woman to solo-host the show in 1988, and Reba McEntire did it once in 1991; neither returned to host again. Wilson repeating the job, in the same anniversary year the CMA is expected to pay tribute to Parton's original run, gives the 60th show a bit of symmetry that CMA producers were almost certainly aware of when they made the call.

The ceremony airs live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 18, on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming on Hulu. Nominees for the 60th Annual CMA Awards will be revealed Thursday, September 10, first on "Good Morning America" and then via livestream on the CMA's YouTube channel; tickets go on sale September 18 at CMAworld.com.

Coverage of the announcement also draws on reporting from Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Deadline.