How to watch the 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards online from anywhere

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Grab your cowboy hat and boots because the Academy of Country Music is heading back to Nashville, Tennessee for this year's awards show and we have all the details on how you can watch the 56th annual ACM Awards on TV or online.

This year's awards show will once again be hosted by 15-time ACM Award winner Keith Urban but this time around he'll have a co-host as he'll be joined on stage by New Female Artist of the Year nominee Mickey Guyton. Just like last year, the show will be broadcast not from one but from three famous Nashville stages and there will be performances at the Grand Ole Opry House, the historic Ryman Auditorium, and The Bluebird Cafe.

When it comes to the nominees, Chris Stapleton and Maren Morris lead the pack with six nominations each. Coming in second is the most-nominated female artist in ACM history Miranda Lambert with five nominations. Additionally, Gwen Stefani and John Legend were both nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award for the first time.

At this year's ACM Awards, more than 25 country music artists will perform over 30 songs at the three iconic venues across Nashville. Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Elle King and more will be performing while Blake Shelton, Chris Stapelton, Little Big Town, Carly Pearce, John Randal and Kenny Chesney will also take the stage.

Whether you're a big country music fan or are just looking for some new artists to follow, we'll show you how to watch the 56th annual ACM Awards from anywhere in the world.

2021 ACM Awards: When and where?

The 56th ACM Awards will take place on Sunday, April 18 at 8pm ET/PT and coverage of the event will be shown on both CBS and Paramount Plus. This year's ACM Awards will be held in Nashville, Tennessee at the Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium, and The Bluebird Cafe.

How to watch the Academy of Country Music Awards in the U.S.

If you live in the U.S. and have a cable subscription or even a digital antenna, you'll be able to watch the 2021 ACM Awards at 8pm ET/PT on Sunday, April 18 on CBS. However, you can also stream the awards show online on Paramount Plus which costs either $4.99 per month with limited commercials or $9.99 per month with no commercials whatsoever.

Paramount+

You can easily watch the Academy of Country Music Awards via Paramount+. Sign up now and enjoy a 7-day free trial.

Not interested in signing up for cable or Paramount Plus to watch this year's ACM Awards? Don't worry as there are now a number of streaming services, all at different price points, that will give you access to CBS so you can watch the awards show online. We've listed a few of our favorites below to make things easier for you.

Hulu with Live TV - $64.99 per month - As well as giving you access to CBS, the service also includes its own Hulu Originals and supports a wide variety of streaming devices.
YouTube TV - $65 per month - YouTube TV gives you access to CBS as well as over 70 other TV channels and a free 7-day trial is available.
FuboTV - starting at $59.99 per month - FuboTV gives you access to CBS as well as over 80 other channels. The service also includes a 7-day free trial so you can test it out for yourself.
AT&T TV Now - $55 per month - AT&T TV Now will give you access to CBS and the service allows you to watch over 45 live TV channels. You can also record up to 20 hours of content using its cloud DVR.

Get an Academy of Country Music Awards live stream in Canada

Country music fan in Canada with a cable subscription will be able to watch the 56th ACM Awards on Global at 8pm ET/PT as the network will show the event at the same time that it airs in the U.S. You'll also be able to stream this year's ACM Awards on Global's website the following day if you happen to be busy on Sunday, April 18.

Watch the Academy of Country Music Awards from anywhere

We have all the details on how you can watch the 56th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in the U.S. and Canada above in this guide. However, if you want to watch this year's awards show when you're away from home, then you'll run into problems as your domestic coverage online from abroad will likely be geo-blocked.

That's where a VPN (Virtual Private Network) can really come in handy. They allow you to virtually change the location address of your laptop, tablet or mobile to one that's back in your home country which will let you watch as if you were back there.

VPNs are incredibly easy to use and have the added benefit of providing you with an additional layer of security when surfing the web. There are also a lot of options but we recommend ExpressVPN as our top pick due to its speed, security, and ease of use. The service can even be used on a wide array of operating systems and devices (e.g. iOS, Android, Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, Roku, game consoles, etc). Sign up for ExpressVPN now and enjoy a 49% discount and 3 months FREE with an annual subscription. You can even test it out for yourself thanks to the service's 30-day money-back guarantee. Looking for more options?

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2021 ACM Awards Nominees

While you can see the full list of nominees for this year's ACM Awards on the official Academy of Country Music website, we've listed a few of the nominees from our favorite categories below:

Entertainer of the year