Ella Langley made history at the 2026 ACM Awards, taking home seven trophies and breaking the record for the most awards won in a single night. Her victories included Female Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (“Choosin’ Texas”), Single of the Year (“Choosin’ Texas”), Music Event of the Year (“Don’t Mind If I Do” with Riley Green) and Artist-Songwriter of the Year.
The country superstar has a lot to celebrate following a record-breaking evening at the coveted awards show, which took place Sunday night (May 17) at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Hosted by Shania Twain, the show featured performances from Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown, Blake Shelton, Kacey Musgraves, Dan + Shay, Cody Johnson and more.
The “Choosin’ Texas” singer’s winning streak began before the show even started when she was named Artist-Songwriter of the Year. After arriving at the 2026 ACM Awards with a big smile on her face in a white Andrew Kwon gown featuring a corset top and a Whitehouse Brothers dandelion-inspired bolo tie, Ella Langley’s wins continued throughout the two-and-a-half hour Prime Video broadcast.
At the top of the show, Ella Langley’s record-breaking hit “Choosin’ Texas” was named Song of the Year, earning trophies for both artist and songwriter, as well as Single of the Year for artist and producer. The Alabama native was on hand, seated at a table alongside Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson and more, to accept the wins. She took the stage both times with collaborators Miranda Lambert, Joybeth Taylor and Luke Dick by her side.
“If you’ve ever met me, you know that I am not at a loss for words very often. And all I got to say is thank you God for putting me in a room with these three people right here. Thank you to the fans. I don’t know why you latched onto this song, but thank you for doing it,” Langley said in front of the star-studded audience. “Thank you for loving this song, thank you for making it your own, thank you for making it do things that I never would have imagined to even dream for and I’ve been dreaming about this job for a long time.”
Lambert then stepped up to the microphone and added, “I’m just so thankful that Ella trusted me with her art and Ben is amazing. He’s an amazing producer and all the songwriters, musicians, everybody that played on this song and the whole record Dandelion was such a blessing to get to do that. Thank y’all for loving a country song. We love you so much for it.”
With her 2026 Single of the Year and Song of the Year victories for “Choosin’ Texas,” Ella Langley further cemented her place in ACM Awards history. The singer/songwriter became just the third woman ever to earn back-to-back Single of the Year wins, following Miranda Lambert and Faith Hill. She previously claimed the honor in 2025 with “You Look Like You Love Me” featuring Riley Green. The milestone also made Langley only the fourth female artist to win Single of The Year more than once, placing her alongside Miranda Lambert, Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood.
Later in the night, Ella Langley added another historic win alongside Riley Green as their duet “Don’t Mind If I Do” earned Music Event of the Year. The victory marked a rare milestone, making them just the second pair of collaborators to win in the category in consecutive years, following their 2025 win for “You Look Like You Love Me.” The only other duo to achieve back-to-back wins in Music Event of the Year are Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who accomplished the feat in 1998 and 1999.
The evening got even more surreal when Langley was crowned the winner of Female Artist of The Year, an award that she was nominated for against some of her friends and musical heroes such as Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini and Megan Moroney. She was quickly overcome with emotion when her name was called and she made her way to the stage with tears in her eyes.
Shocked by the win, Ella Langley was left speechless and tearful for a moment before delivering her acceptance speech. During her remarks, she paid tribute to a woman in the audience she deeply admires, an emotional moment that moved the crowd as they celebrated her win.
“I’m trying to get to say something, but I can’t,” she admitted. “Today I was having a strange day. I don’t know what it is about awards, but I have strange days in the mornings here. I walked right into Lainey’s room and I just got emotional and she hugged me and wrapped me up and started praying for me. And then all of a sudden here comes Miranda Lambert in her little pink hat. And I would not be standing up here without the encouragement of so many women.”
Langley shouted out Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini and Lauren Alaina, thanks them and her family for believing in her and continuing to show up for her. “Thank you Jesus for letting me do this for a while. Thank you to the ACM’s…Thank you to the women. I would not be standing up here without that, so thank you,” she concluded.
With her win for Female Artist of the Year, Ella Langley completed a clean sweep at the show, going 7-for-7 and taking home every award she was nominated for. In doing so, she set a new record for the most ACM Awards won in a single night by any artist, surpassing the previous mark of six wins held by Chris Stapleton, Faith Hill, and Garth Brooks, who achieved the feat in 2016, 1999, and 1991, respectively.
Langley also took to the ACM Awards stage for a unique, stripped-down performance of her anthemic hit, “Be Her.”
The 2026 ACM Awards also featured performances from Blake Shelton, Cody Johnson, Dan + Shay, Ella Langley, Jordan Davis, Kacey Musgraves, Kane Brown, Lainey Wilson, Lee Ann Womack, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, The Red Clay Strays, Thomas Rhett, Zach Top and more, as well as ACM New Female Artist of the Year Avery Anna and ACM New Male Artist of the Year Tucker Wetmore.
The 61st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards also included a star-studded list of presenters, including Andrew Whitworth, Ashley McBryde, Carl Edwards, Corey LaJoie, Keith Urban, Lauren Alaina, Michael Bublé, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Shaboozey, The War And Treaty, T.J. Osborne and more.
Female artists led this year’s nominations, with Megan Moroney earning nine nods, followed by Miranda Lambert with eight, and both Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson tied with seven. Chris Stapleton, Zach Top, and Cody Johnson also entered the night as top nominees.
The 2026 ACM Awards brought country music’s biggest night back to Las Vegas in a star-studded celebration hosted by legendary songwriter and best-selling female country artist Shania Twain, marking her first time leading the show. The broadcast streamed live exclusively on Prime Video across more than 240 countries and territories and aired Sunday, May 17, 2026, from the iconic MGM Grand Garden Arena. The show was also available to stream via the Amazon Music app and Amazon Music channel on Twitch.
For country music fans that missed the live broadcast, the full show will also be available to stream on Prime Video the following day (May 18) at 8/7c.
