Paisley wins three CMT awards

Swift was involved in a pre-taped opening segment, which led into Thug Story, a rap video with T-Pain. Swift, who won female video of the year for Love Story also sang You Belong to Me and closed the night with Def Leppard performing their hit Pour Some Sugar on Me.

Paisley won the male video award for Waitin' on a Woman with an appearance by actor Andy Griffith. Paisley and Urban shared the collaborative video honor for Start a Band. Paisley also shared the CMT performance of the year award with Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson and George Strait for their performance of Country Boy during the TV special, CMT Giants: Alan Jackson.

"Twenty years ago this week, I signed my record deal here in Nashville," Jackson said. "I've made, I think, about 45 country music videos in that time, and CMT and all the fans have been there with me ever since."

Paisley and Urban joked while picking up their trophies for "Start a Band." Paisley thanked the fans "for taking a song all about playing the guitar and making it something that radio made a number one hit."

"And learn guitar, kids," Urban said. "Get the real thing."

"Rock Band never got anybody a date," Paisley joked. "Never."

In her comments, Swift said, "I want to say a little shout-out to some of my other heroes. I want to thank Shania Twain for always making such theatrical videos. And I want to thank Garth Brooks for always putting his fans first. I take my cue from you. Also, I want to thank my little brother, Austin, for being my date tonight. And I want to thank the fans for giving me video of the year when my whole family is here watching."

Sugarland's "All I Want to Do" won a CMT award buckle for duo video of the year. The group performed the B-52's Love Shack with the band coming on stage.

Rascal Flatts won the group video honor for Every Day and sang Summer Nights.

Kid Rock won the Wide Open Country video buckle for All Summer Long.

The Zac Brown Band took the USA Weekend breakthrough artist of the year award for their first national hit, Chicken Fried. Trey Fanjoy, who directed Swift's Love Story video, won video director of the year.