If you tune into the “Puppy Bowl” on Sunday, you’ll likely see a key person’s influence — even if you don’t actually see her.

It was an unexpected musical success story last year, one that has only continued to snowball.

Dan + Shay, Luke Combs, Rascal Flatts and more country artists celebrated alongside prominent songwriters, producers and industry leaders at the Academy of Country Music Honors awards show.

This combination photo shows, from left, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert, who were nominated for Entertainer of the Year for the 54th Annual CMA Awards on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020.

The CMAs announced Tuesday that Lambert earned seven nominations. She's followed by Luke Combs, who continues his streak of success as one of country music’s biggest streaming artists with six nominations, including his first for entertainer of the year. Combs earned his first all-genre No. Carrie Underwood joins Combs and Lambert in the entertainer of the year category, along with Keith Urban and Eric Church. Other top nominees include Maren Morris, who scored five nominations including song and single of the year for her love song, “The Bones."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Grammy-winning duo Dan + Shay lead the 2020 Academy of Country Music Awards with six nominations for Dan Smyers and five for Shay Mooney and helped pop star Justin Bieber earn his first-ever ACM noms. Each member is nominated twice for single of the year as artists and producers of “One Man Band.”Others earning five nominations include Thomas Rhett, producer Dan Huff and Grammy winner Maren Morris. 1 country song of 2019, Morgan Wallen's “Whiskey Glasses," eligible. Wallen did earn a nomination for new male artist, but his hit song isn’t competing for any prizes. __A previous version of this story had the incorrect number of nominations for the group Old Dominion and its individual band members.