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Luke Combs won his very first Entertainer of the Year trophy at the CMA Awards in 2021, and as he heads into the 2022 ceremony this week, he’ll have the chance to defend his title. He’s one of the contenders again this year.
But Luke tells ABC Audio that he’s still wrapping his head around last year’s win. “It’s still surreal, honestly,” he admits.
The Entertainer award is the CMA’s highest honor, and winning it is never a sure bet — even for a bonafide superstar like Luke. “That might be the only time you ever win it and you never do it again, you know what I mean? So it’s pretty wild,” he reflects.
But that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to try. On Wednesday night, he’s going head to head against Miranda Lambert, Morgan Wallen, Carrie Underwood and Chris Stapleton in the category.
“Oh, for sure. No doubt about that, man,” Luke says, when asked if he’s hoping to extend his Entertainer reign for another year. “But again, it’s one of those things — there’s nobody nominated that doesn’t have a good argument to win it.”
Luke’s got a lot of reverence for the category, and for his competition, he continues. “There’s never anybody, in my opinion, who’s nominated for Entertainer that if they won, you could go, ‘I don’t think that guy should’ve won it’ or ‘[I don’t think that] girl should’ve won it.’ Everybody has a case,” he points out.
The 2022 CMA Awards air live from Nashville Wednesday night on ABC.
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