There were many surprises at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards (CMA), and the big one was Chris Stapleton. The mostly unknown singer took home three CMAs and performed with pop superstar Justin Timberlake.

Stapleton has been writing songs for big time artists like George Strait, Luke Bryan and Adele since 2001, but his songs have been mostly missing from the radio, The Boot reports. The Country Music Association rewarded him with three CMAs Wednesday night in Nashville.

Stapleton won male vocalist of the year, an award won by Blake Shelton for the last five years. He also won new artist of the year and album of the year. 

The highlight of the night for Stapleton was probably the hit performance he did with Timberlake. The two rocked out the Bridgestone Arena with Stapleton's hit song "Tennessee Whiskey" he wrote for George Jones in 1983.

The biggest night in country music was hosted again by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Both Paisley and Underwood traded off jokes about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Shelton and Miranda Lambert's recent divorce.

Paisley and Underwood avoided mentioning Lambert by name, but it was officially confirmed early on Wednesday Shelton had moved on to his "Voice" co-star Gwen Stefani, Fox News reported.

As expected, Florida Georgia Line took home the vocal duo award of the year and Little Big Town won the vocal group of the year award for the fourth time.

Little Big Town's hit "Girl Crush" won both the song of the year and single of the year awards. The band also performed the song at the awards show.

Lambert won the female vocalist of the year award for the sixth straight year. Lambert kept her speech short and praised Stapleton for his performance, saying she had to "go home and practice." She added that she "needed a bright spot this year," referencing her divorce with Shelton. 

Newcomers Maddie & Tae were awarded with the best music video of the year before the show began.

The biggest award of the night, saved for the end of the three hour show was entertainer of the year. Luke Bryan won the award for the second straight year. He won the award over Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church and Miranda Lambert. He also gave a shout out to Stapleton in his acceptance speech.