Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Underwood has since become one of the most prominent mainstream recording artists in the music industry, setting and breaking several records throughout her career. Her achievements led her to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2008 and into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009. She has won a vast array of awards, including six Grammy Awards, sixteen Billboard Music Awards, eleven Academy of Country Music Awards and seven American Music Awards, along with being nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Her debut album, Some Hearts, was released in 2005. Bolstered by the huge crossover success of the singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats", it went on to become the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history, the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history and the best-selling country album of the last ten years. Underwood won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. Her second album, Carnival Ride, released in 2007, had one of the biggest ever opening weeks by a female artist and earned Underwood two Grammy Awards, for the singles "Last Name" and "I Told You So". Her next two albums, 2009's Play On and 2012's Blown Away, were both their year's second best-selling release by a female artist. The former spawned the successful single "Cowboy Casanova" and the latter's single "Blown Away" won Underwood a Grammy Award. With more than 64 million records sold globally, her tour revenues and a net worth estimated by Forbes at over $100 million, Underwood is the biggest American Idol earner of all time.

Recognized by Rolling Stone as the female vocalist of her generation in any genre and by Billboard as Country Music's reigning Queen, Underwood is the only solo country artist in the 2000s to have a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first and only country artist to ever debut at number one on the Hot 100, as "Inside Your Heaven" topped the chart in 2005. She is also the female country artist with the most No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, from 1991 to present, having 14 number one's and breaking her own Guinness Book record of ten. Some Hearts was named the No. 1 country album of the 2000s by Billboard and she was the top-ranked female artist on Billboard's Best Country Artists of the 2000s list. Time has listed Underwood as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

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