ACM Awards Add Ella Langley, Zach Top to Performer Lineup

The ACM Awards tightened their grip on country music’s attention Friday by adding a new wave of performers to the upcoming Las Vegas telecast.

The Academy of Country Music announced 11 performers in its latest rollout, led by two of the show’s top nominees, Ella Langley and Zach Top. The list also reaches across different corners of the format, with Jordan Davis and the Red Clay Strays joining the lineup. Reports also indicate Thomas Rhett and Kane Brown are part of the newly announced group, broadening the show’s appeal as the telecast approaches.

This matters because awards-show lineups do more than fill airtime. They signal who has momentum, who the industry wants to showcase, and what kind of night viewers should expect. By putting Langley and Top front and center, the ACMs tie performance slots to the year’s most closely watched contenders, while still making room for acts with established followings and crossover energy.

The latest ACM booking wave suggests a telecast built to balance buzzy nominees with proven crowd-pullers.

The strategy feels straightforward: stack the stage with artists who can keep both hardcore country fans and casual viewers engaged. Las Vegas gives the broadcast a high-gloss backdrop, but the real draw rests in how the show mixes rising names with durable hitmakers. Sources suggest more details could follow as producers shape the final flow of the night, including how prominently each act will feature in the broadcast.

What comes next matters for both the artists and the show itself. Additional announcements, collaborations, or surprise appearances could still shift the conversation before airtime. For now, the ACM Awards have made one thing clear: they want a telecast that reflects country music’s current pecking order while pushing its next wave further into the spotlight.