The results are in! YOU voted and Luke Bryan, Gloriana and Joey + Rory are the Academy's newest Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo, respectively.

Luke Bryan released his sophomore album, Doin' My Thing, on Capitol Records Nashville in October 2009, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. The CD includes his #1 gold single "Do I" and new smash hit "Rain Is A Good Thing." Bryan is currently headlining his own dates as well as opening for Jason Aldean on the "Wide Open Tour" and will be a featured act on Miranda Lambert's upcoming spring tour. This is Bryan's first win for an Academy of Country Music Award.

Gloriana's self-titled album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Country Album Chart and #3 on Billboard's Top 200 and was the best selling debut by a country group in 2009. It includes hit singles "Wild At Heart," "How Far Do You Wanna Go?" and their current single "The World Is Ours Tonight". The group, who won the fan-voted Breakthrough Artist Award at the American Music Awards, is currently on tour with Taylor Swift. Gloriana is a four-member vocal group featuring brothers Tom and Mike Gossin along with Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball. This is Gloriana's first nomination and first win for an Academy of Country Music Award.

Winner of Top New Vocal Duo, Joey + Rory, have a huge year ahead of them. They already have started on a U.S. arena tour and will release their sophomore album simply titled Album #2 in the summer. Husband and wife duo Joey + Rory started performing as a duo for the audition of the CMT series, "Can You Duet," in early 2008. This is their first win for an Academy of Country Music Award.

Each winner will perform and receive their trophy on the Trace Adkins-hosted GAC special "ACM Top New Artists," premiering Thursday, April 1 at 10:00 PM ET and airing multiple times before the Academy of Country Music Awards. For the first time ever, the special will be taped during the regularly-scheduled Tuesday Night Opry at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Opry performances are held every weekend of the year and on Tuesdays through December 14. To plan an Opry visit or to buy tickets to the March 23rd special Grand Ole Opry and GAC Special TV taping, call (800) SEE-OPRY or log on to opry.com.

Voting for Top New Artist will take place at www.VoteACM.com powered by CBS.com beginning Thursday, April 1st and will end at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 18th.

The winner of the new Top New Artist category will be awarded on the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

Hot country trio Lady Antebellum leads the nominations for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which were announced live in New York City by ACM nominees Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton on March 2nd. The group received 7 total nods in the categories for Top Vocal Group, Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year.

Check out the full ballot HERE and don't forget to vote now for the Academy's Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo at voteACM.com!

Fan voting for Top New Artist and Entertainer of the Year will begin Thursday, April 1st - stay tuned!

For the second year in a row, YOU, the fans, can vote for your favorite new artists at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards!

The Academy of Country Music and Great American Country have partnered to open up the three newcomer categories — Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo and Top New Vocal Group -- to interactive fan voting through VoteACM.com. (As previously announced, the Top New Solo Vocalist category will take the place of the Top New Male Vocalist and Top New Female Vocalist categories.)

Fan voting begins at www.VoteACM.com on Friday, February 26th, and will close on Friday, March 12. The winner in each category will be announced in mid-March and will move on to compete for Top New Artist.  Voting for the Top New Artist category will begin at VoteACM.com on Thursday, April 1, and will close on April 18, with the winner being announced live during the 45^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast on CBS.

Following is the list of final nominees in the Top New categories:

 

Top New Solo vocalist

·         Luke Bryan

·         Jamey Johnson

·         Chris Young

 

Top New vocal duo

·         Bomshel

·         Joey + Rory

·         Steel Magnolia

 

Top New Vocal Group

·         Eli Young Band

·         Gloriana

·         The Lost Trailers

 

Professional members of the Academy of Country Music select the final nominees in the Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo and Top New Vocal Group categories. Professional member votes will be combined with fan votes to obtain the winners of the Top New categories of the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS.

 

As part of this partnership, GAC will air several stand-alone specials, including a show featuring all the nominees from each of the three categories, as well as a show featuring the three winners who will compete for overall Top New Artist.

 

“GAC provides many new country music artists their first television exposure, and this special programming gives fans the opportunity to get to know the ACM new artist nominees even better,” said Sarah Trahern, Senior Vice President of Programming for GAC.

 

 “The Academy’s partnership with GAC last year brought a lot of new faces to the forefront of country fans minds, and we hope to build on that success, exposing a brand new slate of newcomers to GAC viewers,” said Bob Romeo, Executive Director of the Academy of Country Music.

 

The first GAC special, hosted by reigning ACM Top New Male Vocalist Jake Owen, will feature the nine nominees, three from each newcomer category, and will premiere Thursday, February 25 at 10:00 PM ET. This special will re-air through March 12, when voting closes.

 

On March 23, GAC will tape a second special wherein the winner in each category will be named and presented with the award for Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo, and Top New Vocal Group.  Each winning act will perform on this special, which will air multiple times before the Academy of Country Music Awards. The premiere airdate of the special is Thursday, April 1 at 10:00 PM ET.

 

VOTE NOW!

DOWNLOAD LIVE PERFORMANCES FROM KEITH URBAN AND TAYLOR SWIFT TO BENEFIT 'HOPE FOR HAITI' NOW

The Hope for Haiti Now global telethon featured some amazing one-night-only performances. You can now download those songs and help raise money for the people of Haiti.

The album Hope for Haiti Now is available online for 90 days, and all proceeds will go to charity. The collection features all 20 telethon performances as well as a bonus studio track. The two-hour live broadcast is also available separately.

To find out more or to buy the album, CLICK HERE.

DATES ANNOUNCED!

THE ACM AWARDS AND ACM PRESENTS: BROOKS & DUNN - THE LAST RODEO!

TICKET UPDATE: Thank you, A-Listers. for making our pre-sale one of the most successful ever!  Currently, tickets and packages for the 45^th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS are not available through Ticketmaster or MGM.  Tickets for ACM PRESENTS: BROOKS & DUNN - THE LAST RODEO are available at www.ticketmaster.com.

A-Listers will be the first notified of any other ticket on-sales. 

PLEASE BE AWARE: We've received complaints that there are ticket brokers and scalpers currently selling tickets to our shows.  The ACM is not affiliated with these outlets and cannot assist you with any purchases made through them.         

The 45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 5 PM Pacific Time, (airing live at 8 p.m. ET on CBS) hosted once again by the ACM's leading lady, REBA McENTIRE.

And don't miss the taping of our new TV special, ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn - The Last Rodeo where we'll honor country music legends BROOKS & DUNN for being the all-time leading ACM award winners! The taping is scheduled for Monday, April 19, 2010 at 7:30 PM Pacific Time at MGM Grand Garden Arena. It'll be an amazing line-up of some of country music's finest including Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, with many others to be announced soon. Tickets are $200, $150 and $100 with proceeds benefiting ACM Lifting Lives, the charitable arm of the Academy that is committed to improving lives through the power of music.

NOTE: If you are not a current A-Lister, or if you have not opted in to receive the Academy's eblasts you can sign up here today and still receive the pre-sale code!

If you have general questions regarding the awards show or tickets, please email tickets@acmcountry.com. Stay tuned here for breaking awards show news and exclusive on-site interviews and coverage from Country Music's Party of the Year®!