Sam Hunt To Receive Inaugural ‘Song of the Year’ Award at CMT Artists of the Year Special
Hunt joins the night's previously announced honorees Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line.
While Sam Hunt laid low on the music front for most of the year, his only single called “Body Like a Back Road” garnered hundreds of millions of listens and gained critical attention from both the country and Top 40 worlds.
For all of the success Hunt has found with “Body Like a Back Road,” CMT decided to honor his work at the annual CMT Artists of the Year program by giving him the inaugural Song of the Year award. The song’s unprecedented airplay since its release put Hunt on the top of the Billboard Hot Country Charts for weeks on end, blowing past records before with its steady standing at the No. 1 position.
Written by Hunt, along with Nashville hit songwriters Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Zach Crowell, “Body Like a Back Road” takes Hunt’s alternative approach to country music by adding hints of rap and pop to his catchy lyrics all about the girl of his dreams.
“Body Like a Back Road” even inspired the country singer to plot a whole tour off one of the lyrics throughout the summer, which sold out various shows with a lineup that included Maren Morris and Chris Janson.
Hunt joins the evening’s previous honorees – Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Chris Stapleton and Florida Georgia Line. Each of the artists receiving awards that night will be presented such trophies by their country music colleagues to celebrate the growth and success that the genre produced throughout 2017.
The 2017 CMT Artists of the Year will also reach out its charitable hand to give back to the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma by relaying donation information out to its viewers the night of the aired program.
The 2017 CMT Artists of the Year will air live from Schermerhorn Symphony in Nashville on Wednesday, October 18, at 8 p.m. ET on CMT.
