Jason Aldean to Receive Artist of the Decade Award at 2019 ACM Awards
Jason Aldean has been chosen to receive the ACM Dick Clark Artist of the Decade award at the upcoming 2019 ACM Awards.
Billboard reports that Aldean will become just the sixth artist ever to receive the award, along with Marty Robbins in 1969, Loretta Lynn in 1979, Alabama in 1988, Garth Brooks in 1998 and George Strait, who received the honor in 2008. He's slated to receive the award on April 7 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas during the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards, where he is also set to perform.
"This is probably one of the coolest awards I’ve ever been given," Aldean says. "My heroes are on this list, something I can’t really even wrap my head around being part of. But, man, I’m proud to be getting it -- it’s for everyone who stuck with us and supported us through the years.”
Aldean is the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year, and according to Billboard, he joins Rascal Flatts as the only two country artists to have four consecutive No. 1 albums on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart. He's scored 16 No. 1 hits on Billboard's Country Airplay chart and sold more than 18 million albums. The Artist of the Decade award honors an artist who has had a tremendous impact in country music over a ten-year period, and it was renamed in honor of Clark after he died in 2012 to recognize his contributions to the ACM Awards over the years.
Managers, labels and artists were allowed to submit the names of potential nominees for the first time in 2019, and Aldean was selected by a special awards committee.
"On behalf of our special awards committee, our board of directors and Academy staff, we extend our congratulations to Jason and his entire team on this landmark career achievement," Academy of Country Music CEO Pete Fisher says. "We look forward to celebrating Jason’s remarkable career at our 54th annual awards in Las Vegas."
Aldean turned to Facebook to thank his fans and peers for their support on Wednesday morning (March 6), writing:
"Truly honored to be receiving the Academy of Country Music Dick Clark Artist of the Decade Award this year. Just wanna thank Country Radio and the Country Music fan base for all the support over the years! It has been a crazy and unbelievable ride to get here and it has changed my life. This is the proudest moment of my professional career and I hope we are just getting started!"
He's Country: See Jason Aldean Through the Years: