Remember Who Won Entertainer of the Year at the First Five Consecutive ACM Awards?
The same person won the ACM Award Entertainer of the Year Award five times in a row, from the first official ACM Awards in 1966 all the way through 1970. Do you know who that was?
If you said "Nobody," you're right! As crazy as it seems, the ACM Awards didn't even have the category of Entertainer of the Year for the first five years the awards show was in existence. Merle Haggard took home the first-ever Entertainer of the Year award at the ACM Awards in 1971, during a hot streak right after the release of both "Okie From Muskogee" and "Fightin' Side of Me."
The first-ever ACM Awards didn't even have categories for Song, Single or Album of the Year. The biggest prize was Man of the Year, and since the awards were developed to "promote country in the Western 13 states," they slanted very heavily toward California-based artists including Buck Owens, Roger Miller and Haggard initially. Bizarrely, Johnny Cash is among the artists who have never won an ACM Award.
See Every ACM Awards Entertainer of the Year Winner Ever
Those are just some of the fun facts Taste of Country brought to light in a recent episode of the new video series The Secret History of Country Music. Each Monday, Taste of Country News host Ania Hammar takes fans deeper inside the stories of country music's biggest hits, moments and figures.
Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood and Kid Rock are among the artists already featured, with many more still to come. Be sure to subscribe to Taste of Country's YouTube channel so you never miss a new episode.
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