Carrie Underwood wins Female Vocalist of the Year at "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photographer: Jim Hagans / Provided by Country Music Association.

Carrie Underwood might have tripped on her way to the stage at Wednesday’s People’s Choice Awards, but she succeeded in taking home the trophy once she got to the podium.

“That just shows you,” she said after stumbling, “how excited I am!”

Carrie was one of three country stars to join the winner’s circle during the show, aired live on CBS from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Keith Urban walked off with Favorite Male Artist, and Taylor Swift collected Favorite Female.

“It was obviously a very great 2009 for me, and of course that was because of the fans,” Carrie observed. “So thank you guys so muchfor voting. It’s gonna be an even better 2010.”

As she did at the MTV Awards, Taylor beat Beyonce to claim her victory, though Kanye West was not on hand to protest. Pink, Britney Spears and Carrie likewise took a back seat to Taylor as she took her first People’s Choice Award.

“What a beautiful, beautiful way to start out a new decade,” said Taylor, who is a finalist for eight different trophies in the Grammy Awards Jan. 31. “Thank you so much.”

Unlike most awards shows, the People’s Choice is determined by a vote of consumers, and they were understandably a major part of most acceptance speeches.

“I wanna thank the fans,” Taylor gushed. “You’re the ones who choose which songs on the radio you wanna turn up and blast from your car speakers, and you’re the ones who choose which concerts you wanna see.”

In addition to choosing Taylor, fans also tabbed Keith ahead of four males from several genres: John Mayer, Eminem, Jason Mraz and Tim McGraw. Keith kissed wife Nicole Kidman on his way to the stage and recognized her and daughter Sunday Rose Urban in his acceptance speech. He likewise thanked fans for coming out to his 2009 tour and for finding his songs in stores and online.

“I don’t care,” he insisted, “if you downloaded it illegally.”

Rascal Flatts also appeared as presenters on the show, which also saw awards go to Ellen DeGeneres, Ashton Kutcher, Steve Carell, Taylor Lautner and Sandra Bullock, among others.

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