Country Music Hall Of Fame® And Museum Celebrates 25 Years Downtown

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – May 14, 2026 – On Sunday, May 17, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will mark the nonprofit cultural institution’s 25th anniversary since moving downtown in 2001.

First located on Music Row, the original museum opened in 1967. Nearly 60 years later, it continues preserving and interpreting the evolving history and traditions of country music. Functioning as a national history museum and a cultural arts organization, the museum is recognized for its unrivaled collection of historically important artifacts, changing exhibits and educational programs.

By the Numbers

Since opening downtown on May 17, 2001:

• Over 20 million people have visited the museum.
• 225 exhibitions have been curated and presented by the museum.
• More than 2 million people have participated in over 18,000 educational programs.

To expand its service, the museum completed a 210,000-square-foot expansion of its 2001 building in 2014 — more than doubling its size with new archival, exhibit, education, retail and event spaces.

Today, the museum is among the most-visited history museums in the U.S., welcoming nearly 1.4 million visitors in 2025. In the past two years, the museum received the National Medal of Arts — the highest award given to artists and arts institutions by the United States government — and achieved accreditation for the fourth time by the American Alliance of Museums.