The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967. (The Entertainer of the Year award that night went to Eddy Arnold.) The second annual CMA awards were presented in October 1968; NBC broadcast the presentation a few weeks later). Beginning in 1969, the awards were televised live, usually during October or November of each year. They continued to be broadcast on NBC until switching to CBS in 1972, where they remained until 2005. Starting in November 2006, the Annual CMA Awards are televised on ABC. The CMA Awards ceremonies have almost always taken place at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry (initially at the Ryman Auditorium, and from 1974 on, at the Opry's new location in Opryland), with three exceptions: The 1967 awards were presented at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium, the 2005 ceremonies took place in New York at Madison Square Garden and the 2007 awards were presented at the Sommet Center in downtown Nashville.

Annual awards are given in the following twelve categories: Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist, Horizon Award, Vocal Group, Vocal Duo, Single, Album, Song, Music Event, Music Video, and Musician.

The show featured performances from top country music stars as well as up-and-coming new artists who perform snippets of their hit songs before going to a commercial (the new artist bumpers were discontinued in 2002).