CareerSome Hearts (2005–2007):
Underwood's debut album, entitled Some Hearts, was released to store shelves on November 15, 2005, entering the Billboard 200 chart with 315,000 copies sold. The large first week sales of Some Hearts made it number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the biggest debut of any country artist since the advent of the SoundScan system in 1991. Some Hearts has since been certified septuple Platinum by the RIAA, and is the fastest-selling debut country album in the history of the SoundScan era.
The album's second single, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was released to radio on October 18, 2005. It received so much airplay that it debuted at number thirty-nine on the Billboard Country Chart in its first week. It eventually reached number one for six consecutive weeks. The songwriters, Gordie Sampson, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey, were awarded the 2006 Grammy award for Country Song of the Year.
Underwood's third single, "Some Hearts", was only released to Pop, Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary stations in October 2005 and peaked in the top 25 on the Hot AC format, while it made the top 15 on the AC Charts. "Don't Forget to Remember Me", the second of Underwood's singles to be released to country radio, her fourth single overall, also proved successful, reaching number one on the Radio & Records Country Chart, number two on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and number forty-nine on the Hot 100. "Don't Forget To Remember Me" is her second number one country single and third number one single overall. Both "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Don't Forget to Remember Me" have earned number one spots in Christian radio countdowns. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" won the Gospel Music Association's award for best country single of the year. Underwood performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" on May 23, 2006, and received a standing ovation at the ACM Awards. She ended up winning Best New Female Vocalist and Single of the year for the song. She was also nominated for Song of the Year and Female Vocalist of the year, but did not win.
Later that autumn, Underwood's third country single, "Before He Cheats", hit number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, staying there for 5 consecutive weeks, marking Underwood's third country number one hit and her fourth number one hit all together. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, achieving the slowest climb ever to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record that was previously held by Creed from July 2000. After a year of release, the single still remains in the Billboard charts. To promote "Before He Cheats", Underwood performed it at the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 6, 2006, and later won both the Horizon Award for new country artists and Female Vocalist. Underwood's double win is the first time since 1995 that an artist won both the female vocalist and Horizon award.
On November 21, 2006, Underwood won the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at the American Music Awards, and was also nominated for Best Female Country Artist. She then won 5 awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards on December 4, 2006, including the coveted Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country Album of the Year. At the Academy of Country Music awards in 2007, Underwood won Album of the Year, Video of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year, and was also nominated for Song of the Year and Single Record of the year. On March 24, 2007, Underwood was featured as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing her hit singles "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted".On April 11, 2007, Underwood continued her streak of top Country singles with the release of "Wasted". The song peaked at number one on the Hot Country Songs Chart, and number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for Wasted debuted at number 2 on the GACTV Top 20 Countdown. At the 2007 CMT Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on April 16, Underwood was nominated for three awards, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year, all for "Before He Cheats." She won in all of the three categories. She also performed there, singing "Before He Cheats".
In early April, Underwood took a break from working on her second album to take a trip to South Africa for American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" charity special. A music video package from her trip aired on the show April 25. Underwood recorded an acoustic version of The Pretenders' classic "I'll Stand By You," which served as the music bed for this American Idol video package. Underwood also appeared in Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on a song entitled "Oh Love" (co-written by Gordie Sampson, Hillary Lindsey and Aimee Mayo). Aside from those activities, she also performed "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted" at the CMA Music Festival.
On August 2008, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was reported to have been sold more than one million ringtones and was certified Platinum, making Underwood the first country artist ever to have two songs hit Platinum Mastertone status together with "Before He Cheats", which has been certified earlier in 2007.
Underwood also had her film soundtrack debut song "Some Hearts" which was played during the ending credits of Aquamarine.
Carnival Ride (2007–2009):Carrie's second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. "So Small", the first single from the album, was released on July 31, 2007. On Carnival Ride, Underwood was more involved in the songwriting process than on the debut; she set up a writers retreat at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium to collaborate with such Music Row tunesmiths as Hillary Lindsey, Craig Wiseman, Rivers Rutherford, and Gordie Sampson. Carnival Ride was certified double platinum as of December 14, 2007.
Underwood made her second vocal performance in a film with a song entitled "Ever Ever After" for the Disney movie Enchanted. In the music video for the song, she appears as both animated and live action, much like the characters in the movie. Underwood's name was also mentioned in the Disney Channel series, "Hannah Montana." She appeared on Christmas at Rockefeller Center on November 28, 2007. She also appeared on the holiday CD Hear Something Country Christmas 2007 that featured many other country artists, with a rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?". Since then, the song has reached #2 on the AC Chart, and held it for 3 consecutive weeks, making her best AC hit to date.
Underwood was named as Billboard's best country artist of the Billboard year 2007, and in December 2007 over 1,000,000 People magazine readers named "Before He Cheats" as the song of the year. Underwood performed "Flat on the Floor", "All-American Girl", and "Before He Cheats" on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008. "All-American Girl", her second single, also reached number 1 on the Billboard country charts.
In January 2008, Underwood embarked on a joint tour with Keith Urban named the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour, with dates fixed nationwide that continued through April. She appeared on SNL once again on February 23, 2008, where she sang "All-American Girl" and "Flat on the Floor". She became only the eleventh country music star to perform on the show.
On March 15, 2008, during a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House, Underwood was invited by her idol, Randy Travis, who sneaked up on her as she was finishing her version of Travis' song "I Told You So", to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. She was inducted by Garth Brooks during the May 10, 2008 edition of the Opry at the Grand Ole Opry House. At the age of 26, she is currently the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry.
On April 9, 2008, Underwood went on to perform a rendition of George Michael's "Praying for Time" on the second Idol Gives Back.
On May 19, 2008, Underwood opened the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards with her new single that topped the charts "Last Name" and later went on to win top Female Vocalist for the second consecutive year. On May 21, she performed "Last Name" again on the season finale of American Idol. The single later reached number one on the Hot Country Song chart, making the third single to reach #1 from Carnival Ride, her sixth consecutive number one on the Hot Country Chart and her seventh straight country single number one, and her eighth number one single overall. This made Underwood the first female artist to have two consecutive albums each release three number-ones on this chart since 1998. Shania Twain was the last to accomplish the feat, with The Woman in Me and Come on Over.
Her single, "Just a Dream" was released on July 21, 2008. For the chart week of November 8, 2008, the song became her ninth number one, her seventh consecutive number one on the Hot Country Chart, and her eighth straight number one country single overall. With that, Underwood became the third female artist in country music history to have released four consecutive Number Ones from the same album with Rosanne Cash's King's Record Shop and Shania Twain's "The Woman in Me" being the other two that have done so.
On September 5, 2008, Underwood joined Ciara, Fergie, Rihanna, Beyonce Knowles, Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis and other country/pop/rock singers in performing a single for the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer. The single, called "Just Stand Up", was performed live during the one-hour telethon that aired on all major U.S. television networks. The song was made available on iTunes on September 2. The song eventually peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Underwood received two Country Music Association nominations for the 2008 CMA Awards, Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year: Carnival Ride. The award show was aired on ABC on November 12, 2008, and was hosted by Underwood along with fellow country star Brad Paisley. She performed her single "Just a Dream", introduced by Leslie Ponder. She walked away with the Female Vocalist of the Year award for the third consecutive time and lost the Album of the Year award to George Strait's Troubadour.She also has co-written a song for Idol alumni Kristy Lee Cook's major-label debut album Why Wait, called "Not Tonight".
On October 21, 2008, Carnival Ride was re-released as a Wal-Mart exclusive 2-pack with a Christmas CD containing 5 songs including her hit, "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
On October 22, 2008, Times Square got a double dose of Carrie Underwood as she unveiled her wax figure at Madame Tussauds New York. The creation of Underwood’s figure began when a team of Madame Tussauds studio artists flew out to meet Carrie on tour for her figure sitting. Underwood was an enthusiastic participant in the figure making process – not only did she spend more than an hour with the studio artists, but she also generously donated a replica of the dress that she wore to the 2006 CMA Awards, when she was first named Female Vocalist of The Year, to Madame Tussauds for her figure to don. “We are thrilled that Carrie was able to join us today to help unveil her figure. Not only is she a bona fide superstar with fans around the world, but she is also an incredibly kind and generous young woman – a true role model for young people today. We know that our guests will love her figure, and we can’t wait for them to see it,” said Janine DiGioacchino, General Manager of Madame Tussauds New York and Madame Tussauds Washington D. C. Underwood's wax likeness is now part of the attraction's "VIP Room" and is posed in a standing position with hands on hips.
She performed "I Know You Won't" at the People's Choice Awards on January 7, 2009, where she won in all her nominated categories — Favorite Female Artist, a special award celebrating People's Choice Awards' 35th anniversary which is Favorite Star 35 and Under, and Favorite Country Song for "Last Name".
The fifth single "I Told You So" was officially released on February 2, 2009. On March 18, she performed the song live with Randy Travis, who originally recorded the song. It peaked at number two on the Billboard country charts.
On February 11, 2009, The nominees for the 44th Academy of Country Music Awards were announced, and Carrie Underwood was nominated for four major awards, including Top Female Vocalist, Video of the Year for "Just a Dream", Album of the Year for "Carnival Ride", and Entertainer of the Year. Carrie Underwood was the only female nominee for this year's Entertainer of the Year, alongside Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and George Strait. On April 5, 2009 Underwood won the Academy Of Country Music Award for Female Vocalist Of the Year. Underwood also won the prestigious trophy for Entertainer of The Year, thus making her only the 7th female to take the award (previous female winners include Loretta Lynn in 1975, Dolly Parton in 1977, Barbara Mandrell in 1980, Reba McEntire in 1994, Shania Twain in 1999, and most recently Dixie Chicks in 2000) in the award show's four decade run.
Underwood recorded a cover of Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home" as the farewell theme song for the eliminated American Idol contestants. It was put up for download on iTunes on March 10, 2009 and was first used on American Idol the following night. A collaboration with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has also recently been confirmed by Sixx himself. On the night before the season finale of American Idol, she performed the song along with Sixx.
Underwood joined Brooks & Dunn, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Rascal Flatts in an opening duet to the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 5, 2009. She performed a snippet of "All-American Girl". Later on in the show she took home her third consecutive "Female Vocalist of the Year" award, and made history by becoming only the seventh female to win the prestigious "Entertainer of the Year" Award.
On April 14, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show along with other country stars, namely Sugarland, Kenny Chesney and Darius Rucker for the Oprah Country Special. Underwood performed her hit single, "Just a Dream".
Underwood was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2009 CMT Awards for "Just a Dream".
Also in 2009, Forbes reported that Underwood is the top earning American Idol alumni from June 2008 – May 17, 2009. She earned more than twice as much as the second place finisher, with estimated earnings of $14 million during this time period.
Play On (2009 to Present):Underwood released her third studio album on November 3, 2009 via Arista Nashville. USA Today revealed on August 30, 2009, that the album would be titled Play On, named after the final song on the album. Three promotional singles were made available to iTunes prior to the release of the album. The album debuted atop both Nielsen SoundScan's country and overall album charts this week, selling nearly 318,000 copies. It also debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and rated as the highest first week sales for a female artist in 2009. Susan Boyle broke that record a few weeks later when her debut album sold 701,000 copies during its debut week., therefore making Underwood grab the third-highest female artist first week sales for 2009.
It was announced in August 2009 that Underwood was currently writing a song with pop/R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo on the album. Underwood later stated that she was not sure if the song fit within the context of the rest of the album, but was confident that "someone, somewhere, will definitely record this song".
The first single from the album, "Cowboy Casanova", co-written by Underwood, Brett James and hip hop producer Mike Elizondo, was released on September 14, but after a demo of the song was leaked to and played by a Seattle radio station on September 2, Underwood decided to release the song late that night. The song's official release was September 14. The song was digitally released on iTunes on September 22, 2009. The song has been established as the fastest-selling song in the past year of country music, as well as Underwood's fastest-selling song to date. According to a news release, “Cowboy Casanova” has become Underwood’s 11th No. 1 single and the first hit from Play On.
On September 18, Underwood was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. During the show that followed her induction, Underwood performed "Cowboy Casanova". The song was also performed during the CMT Invitation Only episode featuring Underwood. While there, she also debuted three other songs included in the album, Temporary Home, Undo It and Mama's Song. The episode aired on Dish network on November 3 and on CMT in December.
Underwood made a promotional stop in Singapore to promote her upcoming album, Play On, to the Asian media. The album was released on Nov. 2 in Singapore and various parts of Asia, followed by a November 3 release in the US.
Carrie Underwood headed to New York City to celebrate and promote Play On. She performed "Cowboy Casanova" on The Late Show with David Letterman on November 2, performed a special outdoor concert at Lincoln Center on Good Morning America on album release day, and she visited with Live with Regis and Kelly on November 5.
On November 10, Underwood and Brad Paisley played a free mini-concert in downtown Nashville for ABC's Good Morning America, one day before the CMA Awards. She performed "All-American Girl" (from her album Carnival Ride) and "Temporary Home" (from Play On). The show was open to the public. The pair co-hosted the 2009 CMA Awards on November 11 for a second time. She received two nominations: for Female Vocalist Of The Year and Musical Event Of The Year for I Told You So featuring the original artist Randy Travis. She performed "Cowboy Casanova" at the awards show.Underwood once again emerged victorious at the 2009 American Music Awards where she won Favorite Country Artist; other nominees included Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, and Keith Urban. Underwood performed "Cowboy Casanova" onstage; it aired live November 22 on ABC.
It was announced on November 17, 2009, that Underwood's second single would be "Temporary Home". The single will be released to country radio starting the week of December 14, 2009. On November 16, she performed "Temporary Home" on The Tonight Show, hosted by Conan O'Brien. On February 4, 2010, the video for Temporary Home made its premiere.
On November 26, Carrie performed "Change" from Play On on CNN on Thanksgiving night for CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. Other performers included Maxwell and Leona Lewis.
Underwood hosted a Christmas special, Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special, a two-hour variety show on FOX. Also featured were seventh-season American Idol champion David Cook, Dolly Parton, Kristin Chenoweth, Brad Paisley and others. The show was broadcast on December 7, 2009.
On December 10, 2009, Underwood's 2010 tour was announced. The tour starts March 11, 2010 in Reading, Pennsylvania and ends May 30, 2010 in Spokane, Washington.
On December 16, Underwood received the 2009 Harmony Award at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
Underwood sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLIV held in Miami, Florida, on February 7, 2010.
Underwood performed a duet with Canadian singer Bryan Adams at the February 2010 CRS Radio Event in Nashville. She also performed a duet with country star Miranda Lambert at this same event, singing a Clearance Clearwater Revival song, "Travelin Band."
Underwood will appear on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". This will be her acting debut. Her character, Tiffany, is a pharmaceutical sales representative who becomes the love interest for another main character on the show. The episode, entitled "Hooked", was aired at 8pm on March 1, 2010.
Underwood is confirmed to perform at the 2010 CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee from June 10-13, 2010. Underwood confirmed her appearance at the event herself to a fan of hers over a phone call.
On March 2, 2010, Underwood was nominated for 6 Academy of Country Music Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for Play On, Female Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year for Cowboy Casanova(writer and artist), and Vocal Event for her duet with Randy Travis on "I Told You So." The ACMS will take place in Las Vegas on April 18, 2010.
