[1] The CMT Music Awards are a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances; Voting takes place on CMT's website.

One of the pioneers for Black acts in country music and the first Black woman to perform solo at the Grand Ole Opry, Linda Martell, was honored at the 2021 CMT Music Awards with the CMT Equal Play Award.

The CMT Equal Play Award is a commitment to feature more diverse voices from historically marginalized artists, like Martell.

The award was presented by Mickey Guyton and featured video messages from Darius Rucker, Rissi Palmer and Rhiannon Giddens.

[8] Maren Morris and Gabby Barrett were previously announced as performers but both backed out; the former was replaced by Ingrid Andress and the latter by Lindsay Ell.