Every ACM Awards Entertainer of the Year Winner Ever [PICTURES]

In 1971, the Academy of Country Music honored Merle Haggard with the first-ever Entertainer of the Year award. Since then, the coveted trophy has been bestowed on some of country music's best and brightest.

Over the years, the ACM Awards have been particularly good to acts such as Alabama, who earned the Entertainer of the Year title five years in a row (1982-1986), and, more recently, Kenny Chesney, who took home the title four times in four years (from 2005 through 2008). Taylor Swift earned two Entertainer of the Year honors before she went pop, and Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and Loretta Lynn all have one EOTY title to their name ... although the case could certainly be made for more!

George Strait won his first Entertainer of the Year honor 1990 and his second a full 24 years later, in 2014. And then there's Garth Brooks, the artist with the most EOTY wins; he's taken home the title six times, including one year that he couldn't make it in person because his daughter was born the very same day!

Scroll through the photo gallery below to learn more about every artist who has ever been crowned ACM Entertainer of the Year: