CMA Fest 2026: Unforgettable Moments with Florida Georgia Line, Brandon Lake, and Ella Langley

Tens of thousands of country music fans descended on Nashville this past week for the annual CMA Fest, which ran from June 4-7 in downtown Nashville, with hundreds of artists performing across multiple stages. The fest included not only superstars headlining the nightly Nissan Stadium shows but also rising and established artists playing many daytime sets, bringing in sounds including rap-infused country, swirls of bluegrass, classic country, Americana-tilted sounds and more. Over at Fan Fair X, fans also watched as the careers of artists including Ashley McBryde, Randy Travis, Shaboozey and more were celebrated.

CMA Fest began in 1972 (then known as Fan Fair) and has grown from an estimated 5,000 attendees in its first year to approximately 95,000 daily attendees in recent years. Along the way, the fest has moved from Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium to the Nashville fairgrounds to now dominating Nissan Stadium and spreading across the city. Each year, the celebration connects artists and fans, bringing performances and surprise collaborations, highlighting an array of sounds and performers.

As the sun set Sunday night on the final CMA Fest that will be held at the current open-air Nissan Stadium (a new, enclosed Nissan Stadium is under construction), fans and the industry alike started to turn their sights toward CMA Fest 2027.

The Country Music Association and ABC will also highlight top moments from CMA Fest Presented by SoFi when it airs June 25 on ABC and streams the following day on Hulu. Riley Green and Good Morning America ‘s Lara Spencer will host the three-hour concert, which was filmed during this year’s 53rd CMA Fest.

Some of the artists on the CMA Fest bill were also featured during Billboard’s Country Live event, which overlapped with CMA Fest for much of Thursday and Friday.

Below, we highlight some of the top moments we saw across CMA Fest this year.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/lists/cma-fest-ella-langley-florida-georgia-line-best-moments/)._