{"id":534557,"date":"2026-03-20T10:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534557\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T10:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:21:11","slug":"acm-awards-announce-lainey-wilson-cody-johnson-and-riley-green-as-first-performers-for-2026-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534557\/","title":{"rendered":"ACM Awards Announce Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson, and Riley Green as First Performers for 2026 Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After three years in the Lone Star State, the Academy of Country Music Awards <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/acm-awards-to-return-to-las-vegas-after-three-year-stint-in-texas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will officially return<\/a> to Las Vegas this year. The 61st edition of the awards show will take place May 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Today (Thursday, March 19), the ACM Awards announced the first round of performers for this year\u2019s show. Riley Green, Cody Johnson, and Lainey Wilson will all take the stage.<\/p>\n<p>Catch This Year\u2019s ACM Awards on Prime<\/p>\n<p>Reigning Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson will bring her new single \u201cCan\u2019t Sit Still\u201d to the ACM Awards stage. The song is also included in her upcoming Netflix documentary Keepin\u2019 Country Cool, which airs April 22.<\/p>\n<p>This will mark the live debut of \u201cCan\u2019t Still Still\u201d, released March 13.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, four-time ACM Award winner Riley Green will perform his hit \u201cChange My Mind.\u201d He released the song in January as the third single from his top 10 country album Don\u2019t Mind If I Do.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Green picked up three trophies for his viral Ella Langley duet \u201cYou Look Like You Love Me.\u201d Those included Single of the Year, Visual Media of the Year, and Music Event of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson\u2019s 2026 number has yet to be announced. He became a first-time ACM Award winner last year when he picked up the Song of the Year trophy for \u201cDirt Cheap\u201d, off his 2023 album Leather.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/lainey-wilson-pens-message-to-country-music-community-after-big-night-at-acm-awards\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[RELATED: Lainey Wilson Pens Message to Country Music Community After Big Night at ACM Awards]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s ceremony will air\u00a0exclusively on Prime Video at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, May 17. The Academy of Country Music has not yet announced a host, nominees, presenters, or any other details outside of these three performers.<\/p>\n<p>Riley Green Will Lead a Special Concert That Same Week<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his 2026 ACM Awards performance, Riley Green will headline the charity event <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-country\/riley-green-hosting-acm-lifting-lives-golf-game-1235521053\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green: Riley Green &amp; Friends<\/a> at Topgolf Las Vegas on Friday, May 15. Other performers have yet to be announced.<\/p>\n<p>The show\u2019s producers will also hold ACM Next Wave: Country\u2019s Beach Bash, described as a \u201creimagined fan-favorite outdoor concert experience,\u201d at Mandalay Bay Beach on May 16. They have not yet announced performers.<\/p>\n<p>The show is produced by Dick Clark Productions.<\/p>\n<p>Featured image by John Shearer\/Getty Images for ACM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After three years in the Lone Star State, the Academy of Country Music Awards will officially return to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[28679,156281,12013,88,96181,216,156280],"class_list":["post-534557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-acm-awards","tag-cody-johnson","tag-country-music","tag-entertainment","tag-lainey-wilson","tag-music","tag-riley-green"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}