Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson were the night's top winners, with two awards each.

　　Swift joins Carrie Underwood as the only performers to win the coveted award two years running.

　　"I want to say to my fellow nominees in this category, I respect you so much, and I love you," Swift said when accepting the award. "We work hard, and we try to give back."

　　In a side note to the night, 22-year-old Swift invited Kevin McGuire, a cancer-sticken 18-year-old high school footballer from New Jersey, to the awards show, promising to give him a "shout-out."

　　The youth had asked Swift to be his prom date, but Swift asked him to be hers for the ACM event. McGuire was forced to cancel his trip to Las Vegas when he was admitted back into the hospital due to complications last week.

　　"Just talked to Kevin McGuire," Swift said in her Twitter account. "He' s not well enough to join me at the ACMs. Please keep him in your thoughts. I'll make it up to you, Kevin!"

　　Lambert won top female vocalist trophy and the album of the year honor for her fourth album, "Four the Record", her third win in both categories. Her husband Blake Shelton, who hosted the show alongside Reba McEntire for the second year in a row, won best male vocalist, making the event a family affair.

　　Aldean and Clarkson scored wins in the single record of the year and vocal event categories for their collaboration on "Don't You Wanna Stay."

　　Lady Antebellum, which led in group nominations with five, won the vocal group of the year award. American Idol alum Scotty McCreery won for new artist. One of the first awards of the night, Song of the Year, went to The Eli Young Band, their first ACM award, for their hit, "Crazy Girl", co-written by Lee Brice and Liz Rose.

　　Underwood, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and Sara Evans performed during the three-hour show, broadcast live by CBS. The event also featured a bona fide onstage wedding for New Jersey couple Christina Davidson and Frank Tucci, a surreal meeting of cartoonish hard rock band KISS and country trio Lady Antebellum, as well as Keith singing a loopy love song to a plastic beverage container.

　　The ACM is the West Coast counterpart to the Nashville-based Country Music Association.