ACM week is off to a great start for Zach Bryan: He's an early ACM Awards winner. The singer was named the New Male Artist of the Year ahead of this year's show.

The show revealed the winners in the New Artist categories late on Tuesday night (May 9) on social media. Bryan's win was announced in a tweet from the Academy of Country Music.

The singer replied with a tweet of his own, writing, "Thank you guys!"

2022 was a banner year for rising country artists, and the New Male Artist category was packed with heavy-hitting contenders. Jackson Dean, Ernest, Dylan Scott, Nate Smith and Bailey Zimmerman were all also in the running.

Bryan's viral "Something in the Orange" and American Heartbreak, the triple album that it belongs to, garnered the singer massive critical acclaim and grassroots fan love in 2022. With sharp songwriting skills and reedy, folk-leaning sonic stylings, Bryan's brand of country delivered a breath of fresh air in 2022, in comparison to the more polished fare that commonly finds a home on country radio.

Almost as buzzy as his music was Bryan's distaste for the ticketing giant Ticketmaster, and he strove to create fair ticket prices for fans attending his concerts, as well as dropping a live album called All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster at the end of the year.

Bryan earned his first major awards nomination in early 2023 at the Grammy Awards, and his ACM win marks his first major country music industry trophy.

The 2022 ACM Awards are set for May 11. They'll take place at Frisco, Texas' Ford Center, and stream on Amazon Prime Video. Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks are set to co-host, marking the first time that Brooks has ever hosted a major awards show.

2023 ACM Awards Nominations: Biggest Snubs + Surprises

The biggest change going into the 2023 ACM Awards is that there are seven Entertainer of the Year nominees instead of five. Still, we found five artists who have every right to feel surprised by Thursday morning's (April 13) nominee announcement. See our full list of ACM snubs and surprises below.