Quick, how many current country music duos can you name? There aren’t many. Brooks & Dunn, Dan + Shay, and Brothers Osborne are the main acts who stand out. And they’re all not quite as successful now as they once were.
The fact is, country music just doesn’t have a lot of duos anymore. Yet, the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs) and Country Music Association Awards (CMAs) stubbornly continue to present a “Duo of the Year” award, instead of combining duos and groups into one category, like pretty much every other non-country award show.
Keeping a Duo of the Year category when there aren’t enough quality acts to fill up the five nominee slots makes a mockery of the award. It lessens the importance of the award itself, since duos are taking home honors they don’t really deserve.
It also means that Brooks & Dunn have won a preposterous 18 trophies in this ACM category, and 16 times in the CMA category. That skews the record books to an unfortunate degree. Brooks & Dunn have had an amazing career, but should they have this many ACM Awards? More than Garth Brooks? More than Alan Jackson? More than George Strait?
To be clear, we’re not anti-Brooks & Dunn. In fact, they’re one of the country acts that we think should get consideration for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Let’s look at the history of the ACMs’ and CMAs’ Duo of the Year category, and explain why we think it should go away for good.
Low Quality Nominees Round Out the Duo of the Year Category
Because there aren’t enough quality duos to fill all five nominee slots anymore, in recent years, the category has had to reach to nominate a lot of acts who aren’t well-known, even to most country music listeners.
Among the nominees in recent years: The War & Treaty, LoCash, Joey + Rory, the Swon Brothers, Steel Magnolia, the JaneDear Girls, Halfway to Hazard, Muscadine Bloodline, and Thelma & James. The last two duos in that list don’t even have their own Wikipedia pages! Yet they’re being given major award show noms.
None of these duos are bad. Some, like the War & Treaty, are actually great. But ACM and CMA nominations are supposed to be a really big deal. People should have to earn hit singles and album sales and critical acclaim to get a nomination, rather than receiving one by default simply because there aren’t enough duos to round out the category.
Maddie & Tae are the perfect example of why this category is ridiculous. Maddie & Tae have earned a grand total of three Top 10 hits on the country charts over the past decade-plus. Yet, those three hits were enough for them to score eleven nominations for Duo of the Year at the CMAs, consecutively from 2015 to 2025. ELEVEN! They’re getting nominated simply because there is nobody else to give that honor to.
Why Not Combine the Duo and Group Categories?
In 1998, after hearing some criticism about the fact that Brooks & Dunn basically got a “free” award every year in what was essentially a category that existed solely for them, the ACMs wised up and merged the Group of the Year and Duo of the Year categories.
For three years, from 1998 to 2000, duos and groups competed for the same award. During that time, Brooks & Dunn still managed to win once, while losing twice to the Chicks.
When the Chicks won in 1999, Natalie Maines mentioned in her speech how excited she was to win “the Brooks & Dunn award.” That’s how synonymous the category had become with that duo.
Every other major award show outside of country music combines duos and groups into one category. The Grammys do this. The American Music Awards do this. Why can’t the CMAs and ACMs?
At this point, because they’ve had these categories for decades, it’s hard to imagine them going away.
ACM and CMA Awards: Vocal Duo of the Year Winners in History
Here’s a recap of every Duo of the Year winner in ACM and CMA history. There have been some worthy victors here, for sure, but there just aren’t enough quality nominees every year to sustain this category.
This award is currently known as “Vocal Duo of the Year” at the CMAs, while the ACMs just call it “Duo of the Year,” which could theoretically allow for the inclusion of instrumental duos.
| YEAR | ACM WINNER | CMA WINNER |
| 2026 | Brooks & Dunn | Show hasn’t taken place yet |
| 2025 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2024 | Dan + Shay | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2023 | Brothers Osborne | Brothers Osborne |
| 2022 | Brothers Osborne | Brothers Osborne |
| 2021 | Dan + Shay | Brothers Osborne |
| 2020 | Dan + Shay | Dan + Shay |
| 2019 | Dan + Shay | Dan + Shay |
| 2018 | Brothers Osborne | Brothers Osborne |
| 2017 | Brothers Osborne | Brothers Osborne |
| 2016 | Florida Georgia Line | Brothers Osborne |
| 2015 | Florida Georgia Line | Florida Georgia Line |
| 2014 | Florida Georgia Line | Florida Georgia Line |
| 2013 | Thompson Square | Florida Georgia Line |
| 2012 | Thompson Square | Thompson Square |
| 2011 | Sugarland | Sugarland |
| 2010 | Brooks & Dunn | Sugarland |
| 2009 | Sugarland | Sugarland |
| 2008 | Brooks & Dunn | Sugarland |
| 2007 | Brooks & Dunn | Sugarland |
| 2006 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2005 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2004 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2003 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2002 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2001 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 2000 | No award* | Montgomery Gentry |
| 1999 | No award* | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1998 | No award* | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1997 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1996 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1995 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1994 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1993 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1992 | Brooks & Dunn | Brooks & Dunn |
| 1991 | The Judds | The Judds |
| 1990 | The Judds | The Judds |
| 1989 | The Judds | The Judds |
| 1988 | The Judds | The Judds |
| 1987 | The Judds | Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White |
| 1986 | The Judds | Dan Seals & Marie Osmond |
| 1985 | The Judds | Anne Murray & Dave Loggins |
| 1984 | Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers | Willie Nelson & Julio Iglesias |
| 1983 | Shelly West & David Frizzell | Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard |
| 1982 | Shelly West & David Frizzell | Shelly West & David Frizzell |
| 1981 | Joe Stampley & Moe Bandy | Shelly West & David Frizzell |
| 1980 | Joe Stampley & Moe Bandy | Joe Stampley & Moe Bandy |
| 1979 | Award did not exist | Kenny Rogers & Dottie West |
| 1978 | Award did not exist | Kenny Rogers & Dottie West |
| 1977 | Award did not exist | Jim Ed Brown & Helen Cornelius |
| 1976 | Award did not exist | Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson |
| 1975 | Award did not exist | Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn |
| 1974 | Award did not exist | Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn |
| 1973 | Award did not exist | Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn |
| 1972 | Award did not exist | Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn |
| 1971 | Award did not exist | Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner |
| 1970 | Award did not exist | Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner |
*From 1998 to 2000, the ACMs did combine groups and duos into one category, called Top Vocal Group or Duo of the Year. Brooks & Dunn won that award in 1998, while the Chicks won in 1999 and 2000.
Do you think the ACM and CMA Awards should keep the Duo of the Year category?
Last Updated on June 8, 2026