The 2025 CMA Awards will showcase new talent in country music when the ceremony gets underway on Nov. 19 in Nashville. BigXthaPlug, Ella Langley, Zach Top, Tucker Wetmore, and Stephen Wilson Jr. are all slated to perform.
BigXthaPlug, the Dallas rapper who released the country crossover album I Hope You’re Happy in August, is scheduled to perform “Pray Hard” off that LP, with the song’s collaborator Luke Combs. Combs is set to do double duty: He’ll sing his latest single “Back in the Saddle” too. Like BigXthaPlug, Stephen Wilson Jr. will also make his CMA Awards performing debut, delivering his viral cover of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” and teaming up with Shaboozey for their collab “Took a Walk.”
Wetmore and Top, also in their CMA Awards debuts, will sing “Wind Up Missin’ You” and “Guitar,” respectively.
Langley, Megan Moroney, and the CMA Awards’ host Lainey Wilson represent the three women in the first round of announced CMA performers. Langley will sing “Choosin’ Texas” with Moroney offering “6 Months Later”; Wilson’s song has yet to be announced.
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As host of the CMA Awards, Wilson becomes the first woman to emcee the show solo in 34 years: The last was Reba McEntire in 1991. “I looked it up too and I was like, there’s no way. I let Reba know I was doing this and she was so excited,” Wilson told Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast. “It’s been a long time since a woman has done it solo. I’m glad they trust me. I like to run my mouth and I love country music.”
Wilson, Moroney, and Langley are all tied with the most nominations — six each — at this year’s 59th CMA Awards. The show airs live from Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streams the following day on Hulu.
