Jason Aldean Bags Entertainer Of The Year Award At ACM 2018

Jason Aldean is hailed the Entertainer of the Year at the 2018 Academy of Country Music Awards held in Las Vegas.

Big Win

The 41-year-old won over fellow nominees namely Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, and Chris Stapleton. The award was presented to him by Reba McEntire on Sunday, April 15.

"My wife, I love you. My three good luck charms at home ... I love you guys," he said upon collecting his trophy onstage.

It is his third consecutive Entertainer of the Year trophy and the seventh time he was nominated for the award.

The "You Make It Easy" singer also dedicated his win to the victims of last year's Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people and injured a hundred others. The tragic event happened during the Route 91 Harvest Festival in October.

"It's been a rough year and I just want to say thank you to everybody that reached out to us and showed us love and support over the last six months," Aldean stated. "It meant the world to us. To my Route 91 people, you guys are in my hearts, always. I love you guys and we love Las Vegas. Vegas strong, baby."

The country singer-songwriter was the headliner at last year's music festival. He was performing onstage when the shooting happened.

Aldean recently released his new album, Rearview Town.

Remembering Route 91

Six months after the mass shooting, hailed as one of the deadliest in modern history, the weight of the tragedy was felt throughout the ACM Awards 2018 on Sunday night. The show had opened with the tribute as Aldean, Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, and Thomas Rett took the stage to remember the victims of the event.

"Tonight we wanted to open the show with something that sums up what it's like for our country music family to be back in Las Vegas for the first time since Oct. 1st," Aldean said. "We thought about starting with a song, but it's a lot bigger than a single song. It's everything you'll hear tonight: the songs that bring us to our feet, make you wanna pull someone close, or just live in the moment. Nothing can take that away from us."

Carrie Underwood's First Television Appearance

The telecast of the awards ceremony was also a big first to Carrie Underwood who suffered from a nasty fall accident at her home last year. She had undergone a minor surgery to treat her broken wrist and got several stitches on her face.

However, Underwood looked like herself on Sunday night as she performed a rendition of "Cry Pretty," her new single. She wore a sparkly short dress and the silver glitters under her eye made her ook like she was crying diamonds.