Louis at 6 a.m. They had to be at the stadium by 8 a.m. to receive wristbands to be eligible for the auditions. Then she waited eight hours before singing Martina McBride's "Phones Are Ringing All Over Town" for American Idol supervising producer James Breen.

Underwood didn't think she sang it well although she was invited to come back the next day and sing for executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. She sang another McBride song for Lythgoe, "Independence Day." On the next round, Underwood sang Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" for the show's judges, who sent her to Hollywood on her first-ever airline flight. As the weeks went by, the other contestants were voted off the show one by one, until the finale on May 25, 2005, when it was Underwood vs. Bo Bice. When Ryan Seacrest announced the winner, Underwood became America's new idol.

She signed to 19 Recordings/Arista Records and released the single "Inside Your Heaven," which debuted as the best selling song in the nation with sales of 170,000. She broke Billboard chart history as the first country music artist ever to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Underwood's "Inside Your Heaven" also became the first song from a country artist to go to No. 1 on the Hot 100 since Lonestar's "Amazed" did so in 2000. However, the single was scarcely played on country radio.

Following her win, she performed on the American Idol tour and signed advertising deals for Hershey's chocolate and Skechers shoes. She released the single "Jesus, Take the Wheel" to country radio later that year; her debut album Some Hearts followed in November, less than six months following her Idol win.

Some Hearts proved to be a huge hit, leading to the No. 1 hits "Jesus, Take the Wheel," "Don't Forget to Remember Me" and "Before He Cheats." She toured with Kenny Chesney as well as Brad Paisley in 2006. She also won her first CMA Awards in 2006, in the Horizon and female vocalist categories.

Underwood released her third album, Play On, on November 3, 2009. Her first single off the album, "Cowboy Casanova", was released to country radio on September 14, 2009. The single peaked at number one on the country charts, which made Underwood the artist with the most top 10s on the country chart among solo women of the decade, followed by Faith Hill and Martina McBride each with 9. "Cowboy Casanova" has now sold over 1 million copies, thus becoming the fifth single of Underwood's to go Platinum. In November 2009, Underwood attained total domestic album sales of 11 million and became the highest-selling American Idol artist in the United States, surpassing Kelly Clarkson by approximately 1,000,000 units. On March 30, 2010, Underwood's second single from "Play On", "Temporary Home", reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Charts for the week of April 10, 2010, thus becoming Underwood's 9th non-consecutive #1 single on this chart in her career. Carrie is the winner for Video of the Year - Cowboy Casanova at the CMT 2010 .