Entertainment Awards Shows and Events Thomas Rhett Is Crowned Male Artist of the Year at 2021 ACM Awards: 'This Is Absolutely Incredible' While accepting his ACM award, Thomas Rhett gave a special shout-out to his wife, Lauren Akins, and their three daughters By Tomás Mier Tomás Mier Tomás Mier is a former digital music writer at PEOPLE. He left PEOPLE in 2021. People Editorial Guidelines and Brianne Tracy Brianne Tracy Brianne Tracy is a Staff Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2016. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 18, 2021 10:46PM EDT He "Want It Again?" He got it again! Thomas Rhett is the 2021 ACM Awards' male artist of the year. He previously took home the prize back in 2017. "This is absolutely unbelievable," Thomas Rhett, 31, said while accepting the award. "I just want to say thank you so much to the ACMs, this is absolutely incredible." Thomas Rhett then gave a special shout-out to his wife, Lauren Akins, also 31, and their three daughters Willa, 5, Ada, 3, and Lennon, 1, saying, "I love y'all so much." "It just feels incredible to be in this category, to be honest with you," he continued. "It's literally my heroes, sitting right here in these seats. So thank you Lord, we love you." Also nominated in the male artist of the year category were Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton. ACM Awards 2021: See the Complete List of Winners for the History-Making Awards Show Thomas Rhett. Mark Humphrey/AP/Shutterstock Along with the male artist of the year nod, Thomas Rhett is up for entertainer of the year and was also nominated for song of the year for writing Old Dominion's "Some People Do." Earlier in the night, he also hit the stage to perform "Country Again" and "What's Your Country Song." Recently, Thomas Rhett spoke about his changing musical style. "This shift in me has been happening since the beginning of 2019. There were just certain things in my life that I cared about so heavily for the last decade that I just didn't… I don't want to say I didn't care about anymore, but I cared way less about them," said Thomas Rhett, on Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country specifically mentioning "ways that I measured success that just didn't matter anymore." Check out PEOPLE's full ACM Awards coverage to get the latest news on one of country music's biggest nights. The 2021 ACM Awards are airing live from Nashville Sunday from 8-11 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.