Kenny Chesney is among five artists that will be honored as CMT Artists of the Year during a December special. Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, and Lady Antebellum are the other four.

Criteria for choosing the five acts included music sales, country radio airplay, concert grosses as a headliner or co-headliner and video streams, searches and page views on CMT.com. During the past 12 months, the five artists have collectively sold more than 9 million copies of their albums and more than 20 million individual downloads of their current singles.

Scheduled to be taped in Nashville, the celebration will feature star-studded performances from the honorees as well as celebrity peers from across the entertainment spectrum. The evening’s cuisine will be inspired by the artists of the year and prepared by celebrity chef Stephanie Izard, winner of TV’s Top Chef competition and chef/partner of Girl and the Goat restaurant in Chicago.

The 90-minute special will premier Dec. 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.

Kenny Chesney has been added to an already-impressive bill for the “Decade of Difference: A Concert Celebrating 10 Years of the William J. Clinton Foundation.”

Musical acts Kenny Chesney, Juanes and K’naan have been added to a Hollywood Bowl concert Oct. 15 that also includes Lady Gaga, Usher and U2′s Bono and the Edge, according to Yahoo, which will stream the event live.

Clinton, who turned 65 on Aug. 19, celebrates the occasion Oct. 14 at a gala at the Hollywood Palladium with a featured performer yet to be announced, and the Bowl concert the next night is a fundraiser for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

“I am deeply grateful that the artists associated with the concert are giving their time and talent to raise awareness of the work of the Clinton Foundation,” said President Clinton. “In the past decade, commitments to my Clinton Global Initiative have improved the lives of more than 300 million people around the world. We’ve lowered the cost of AIDS and HIV treatment, combated climate change, strengthened economies, increased access to education and healthcare, provided financing and mentoring for small businesses. This celebration marks ten years of these efforts and demonstrates of how much we can do to make a difference in the years ahead.”

The concert will stream live at clintonconcert.yahoo.com.

For more information, visit clintonconcert.com.

Despite selling over a million copies of his latest album, and over a million tickets to his shows this year, Kenny Chesney was not among the nominees for CMA Entertainer of the Year this year. Peter Cooper at The Tennessean breaks it down:

“We’re talking about Kenny (expletive) Chesney,” says Louis Messina, who promotes Chesney’s stadium and arena shows. (And who also promotes the wildly successful Ms. Swift, the only other contemporary country artist who can sell out stadiums with regularity.) “I know I’m biased, but for him to get totally dissed is a crime and a joke. Not even in the top five? What’s the criteria for entertainer of the year?”

According to the Country Music Association, the entertainer award goes to an artist who displays the greatest competence in all aspects of the entertainment field, with consideration given to recorded performance, in-person performance, staging, public acceptance, attitude, leadership and overall contribution to “the Country Music image.”

So, clearly, Chesney does not qualify.

Theories abound as to why Chesney has joined the ranks of Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith, recording artists who often can be found near the top of sales charts and ticket tallies but are regularly snubbed in the entertainer race.

Some say Chesney should have played a Nashville show to impress industry voters. (Because he’s an unfamiliar commodity?) Some say he lost his place when he took off the summer of 2010 to recharge. (Because this year’s awards should be dependent on last year’s productivity?) Some say he lost out because of inner-industry vote-trading and “block voting,” wherein company bosses instruct all employees to vote for a particular artist. CMA officials have repeatedly said precautions are in place to deter block voting and that precautions are evaluated every year to make sure they’re effective.

Read the full article here.