Carrie Underwood has been the voice of the 'Sunday Night Football' theme song on NBC since 2013, but the country music icon has never been paid $1 million per week for the gig
13:00 ET, 19 Oct 2025
Carrie Underwood
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Carrie Underwood has been a huge hit with NFL fans(Image: (Image: Getty))
Country music icon Carrie Underwood has been the powerhouse voice behind NBC's electrifying Sunday Night Football theme song, and she's now set the record straight on rumors that she earns $1 million every single week for the performance.
Her sensational version of 'Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,' which has been a must-hear for NFL enthusiasts since 2013 and reaches approximately 20 million viewers each episode, never brought in the rumored $18 million annual payday. Athough singer's eye-watering net worth was revealed ahead of her American Idol judge stint.
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The track, originally adapted from Joan Jett's classic 'I Hate Myself for Loving You' and previously sung by Pink and Faith Hill, launches NFL broadcasts with Underwood's signature vocals.
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Despite ongoing speculation, especially a resurfaced tweet from last year, Underwood set things straight during a 2023 appearance on Howard Stern's show, confirming the figures were wildly inaccurate.
Although she maintains she doesn't get a particular paycheck for her work on the Sunday Night Football opening number, the vocalist expressed genuine excitement about being part of the production, reports the Express US.
Carrie Underwood
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Carrie rose to fame on American Idol(Image: (Image: Getty))
During a conversation with Yahoo Entertainment, she revealed: "Growing up we didn't have cable or anything like that, so whatever was on TV was what we watched. Fortunately, that was a lot of football on Sundays."
The Grammy Award-winning performer appeared perfectly happy with the arrangement, despite not directly earning money from providing her vocals to the recording.
She declared: "It worked out exactly how it should have. It is pretty awesome to be a part of the biggest show on TV."
The returning American Idol judge also expressed joy at her young sons hearing her song whenever they watch NFL coverage.
She said: "They love seeing me on TV. But even with younger kids who obviously did not see me on American Idol or early in my career, to some kiddos, [SNF] is what they know me from. So I'll take it. That's really amazing."
Underwood had nothing but praise for Sunday Night Football, stating: "I feel like they do such a great job year after year of reinventing and reinvigorating the open. People know it's very comforting to see the open and kind of have a general idea of what it's gonna feel like. But the way that they go in every year and do what they do to keep it fresh is really cool."
NBC NFL executive producer Fred Gaudelli revealed the backstory of the legendary song, explaining: "I've always been a huge Joan Jett fan. I don't know if it was the first song I went to, but I started listening [to it] and came up with the line, 'Waiting all day for Sunday Night.'".
While Pink was the original artist to perform the track, Gaudelli stressed that Carrie Underwood had been his number one choice all along.
He explained: "We reached out to Carrie, she wasn't really interested," while Underwood later looked back on the circumstances, "At that time in my life there was so much going on. It wasn't the right time."
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