By CHRIS TALBOTT
FILE – This April 6, 2009 file photo shows musician Garth Brooks, left, presenting George Strait with the Artist of the Decade award at the ACM Artist of the Decade All Star Concert in Las Vegas. Brooks and Strait will perform together for a tribute to the late Dick Clark at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 7, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Everything went to script Sunday night at the Academy of Country Music Awards until the end — when Luke Bryan pulled off an amazing upset and won entertainer of the year.
Bryan beat out some of country music’s top winners, including two-time winner Taylor Swift, in an upset that few would have predicted. The 36-year-old Georgia native recently began headlining his first arena tour and was the co-host of this year’s show.
After an emotional speech, co-host Blake Shelton held Bryan up and joked that he won in his “first and last year as co-host” of the awards.
Bryan is the first male winner of the award since 2007 when Kenny Chesney won the first fan-voted award. Swift and Underwood have won two apiece since then.
