In 1971, the Academy of Country Music Awards honored Merle Haggard with the first-ever Entertainer of the Year award. Since then, the coveted trophy has been bestowed on some of country music's best and brightest.
The seasoned vet provided audiences with no shortage of great entertainment during her previous years as host; from side-splitting comedy to moving duets, McEntire knows how to cover the spectrum of human emotion onstage.