Swift wins big at CMA awards

Taylor Swift says the Country Music Association Awards are her favourite night of the year.

The 23-year-old star - who is nominated for six accolades at the 47th annual ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, and picked up three early trophies, including Video of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for her 'Highway Don't Care' collaboration with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban - has been looking forward to the star-studded event for ages.

The 'Everything Has Changed' hitmaker, who stunned in a haute couture Elie Saab red gown, said: "It's a big deal, a huge deal to have six nominations, it's one of the biggest nights of the year, it's so exciting and you get to see some of your friends."

She added: "I'm performing with some of my favourite musicians, Alison Krauss and Vince Gill... It's something I've been looking forward to for a very long time."

The blonde beauty, who was also informed before the bash that she would be taking home the Pinnacle Award, which recognises an artist who has achieved worldwide prominence through concert performances and record sales, insisted she wasn't stressed about her outfit before Tuesday night's event.

She previously told the UK's BBC Radio 2: "The dress is very sorted, I picked it a couple of days ago, tried it on today... it's a dress. A long dress."

Taylor, who led the nominations with Kacey Musgraves, is also up for her third Entertainer of the Year title.

Blake Shelton - who took home Entertainer of the Year in 2012 - is up for five awards, while Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, who is presenting the awards with Brad Paisley for the sixth time, and Little Big Town all scored three nominations each.