The countdown is on for country music fans who couldn’t attend this year’s CMA Fest or just want to re-live some of the amazing performances.
The nation’s largest and longest-running country music festival brought an estimated 95,000 fans to Nashville June 5-8 according to the Country Music Association.
And those fans got to see more than 300 performances by some of the biggest names in country music right now.
And for the 22nd year in a row, ABC is bringing the best of the Fest to network television Thursday night, June 26.
The special highlights headline performances that filled Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for four nights. But it also features singers on other stages and downtown honky tonks that were part of CMA Fest.
For the uninitiated, Music City fills the streets with stages that offer free concerts for fans. Only Nissan stadium performances are ticketed. And top name headliners who play Nissan often also grace the free stages as a way to give back to loyal fans.
CMA Fest 2025 Special Is Hosted By CMA Fest Performers
Country singers Ashley McBryde and Cody Johnson will co-host the recap of CMA Fest that will air on ABC June 26.
Both McBryde and Johnson performed at the fest.
In a post on her Instagram account, McBryde wrote, “CMA Fest is like the best summer camp ever every single day!”
On his Instagram account, Cody Johnson wrote, “@cma Fest in the books! Had a blast co-hosting with the one and only @ashleymcbryde. Big thank you to my friend @carinleonoficial for joining me on stage for our song “She Hurts Like Tequila.”
CMA Fest Playlist Features 30 Performances
While the four-day CMA Fest featured more than 300 performances, those four days have been whittled down to three hours for Thursday night’s special. That means the television audience will get to see 30 songs curated out of literally hundreds performed for fans in Nashville.
Those are:
Trace Adkins singing “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”
Jason Aldean performing “Whiskey Drink”
Jason Aldean and Travis Tritt singing “It’s A Great Day to Be Alive”
Kelsea Ballerini performing “Baggage”
Dierks Bentley singing “She Hates Me”
Dierks Bentley and Zach Top performing both “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)” and “Mountain Music”
Brooks & Dunn and Lainey Wilson singing “Play Something Country”
Brooks & Dunn and Marcus King performing “Rock My World (Little Country Girl)”
Luke Bryan closing out the Fest with “A Country Song Came On”
Jordan Davis singing “Bar None”
Riley Green performing “Worst Way”
Cody Johnson, one of the hosts of the special, singing “The Fall”
Cody Johnson and Carín León performing “She Hurts Like Tequila”
Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll (in a surprise performance) singing “Hard Fought Hallelujah”
Ella Langley performing “Weren’t for the Wind”
Ashley McBryde, who hosts the ABC special, singing “Rattlesnake Preacher”
Parker McCollum performing “What Kinda Man”
Scotty McCreery singing “Five More Minutes”
Megan Moroney performing “Am I Okay?”
Rascal Flatts singing “Life Is a Highway”
Rascal Flatts and Carly Pearce performing “My Wish”
The Red Clay Strays singing “No One Else Like Me”
Darius Rucker performing “Wagon Wheel”
Dylan Scott singing “Country Till I Die”
Shaboozey and Jelly Roll (in another surprise performance) singing “Amen”
Blake Shelton performing “Stay Country or Die Tryin’”
Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins (in a surprise performance) singing “Hillbilly Bone”
Zach Top performing “I Never Lie”
Keith Urban singing “Straight Line”
Bailey Zimmerman and BigXthaPlug performing “All the Way”
How to Watch the CMA Fest 2025 Special
You can catch the CMA Fest 2025 special on ABC on Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 8:00p.m. ET and streaming on Hulu the next day.
