In order to honor the ultimate 2012 American Country Awards artist, Jewel and her husband, bull rider Ty Murray, took to the stage to announce the Artist of the Year winner. It's been such a great year for country music that it was kind of difficult to guess which artist would snag the coveted guitar award.

ln the end, Luke Bryan beat out Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band, Taylor Swift and Jason Aldean for the night's big prize.

Not only did Bryan manage to win the most coveted prize of the night, he took home eight other awards, too, which the announcer spit into the mic at rapid speed. In addition to Male Artist of the Year, Bryan's hit song 'Don't Want This Night to End' took home prizes for Single of the Year: Male, Single of the Year, Music Video of the Year, Music Video: Male, Most Played Radio Track and Most Played Radio Track: Male.

Aside from thanking his fans and his wife for their support, Bryan had a hart time calming down enough to figure out what he wanted to say as he held the guitar-shaped award for Artist of the Year.

He remembered his band for all of their hard work on the road, as well as his management company and his loving parents.

It's hard to imagine not feeling overwhelmed after cleaning up the ACAs with nine major awards, but Bryan got his bearings and managed to make a gracious speech. Looks like he's definitely the big winner for 2012!

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