Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, today announced a new worldwide recording agreement with seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner and two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year, Carrie Underwood. Underwood’s label home will be Capitol Records Nashville, one of four labels that form Universal Music Group Nashville and Billboard country label of the year for eight consecutive years.
Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group said, “I’m so thrilled that Carrie has decided to make Capitol Records Nashville and UMG her home globally. As a talented writer, recording artist, performer and actor, Carrie is that exceptionally rare artist who can do it all. I know I speak on behalf of our teams around the world when I say that we look forward to executing her creative vision and bringing her musical career to the next level.”
Mike Dungan, Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman and CEO shares, “Already a top tier force in country music, Carrie’s vast talents and creative bravery show that she is an artist who is prepared to take on a wide range of artistic challenges. We are excited for the future, and honored by her decision to make Universal Music Group her label partner in representing this worldwide superstar in the next phase of her career.”
UMG Nashville President, Cindy Mabe was part of the team who launched Carrie’s first album, the eight times platinum, Some Hearts. “When I decided to take my position with Capitol Records in 2007, personally one of the hardest people for me to leave behind was Carrie Underwood,” explains Mabe. “We were a team and I had the opportunity to watch her leave American Idol as a kid and mature into one of the most important artists with the most powerful voice in music. It was amazing to be a small part of that ride. I am so proud and humbled that she has chosen to sign with Universal Music Group Nashville and that we will once again join forces as she writes the next chapter of her soaring career as a global superstar of enormous integrity and talent.”
Underwood states, “It’s so inspiring to me as an artist to feel this excited about the future. The incredible team at UMG shares the heart and passion I have for music as well as the drive, and their innovative spirit has shown that together the possibilities are endless.”
“I also want to be sure to thank every single person who has played a part in my recording career so far. I will be forever grateful to them for all we achieved together,” adds Underwood.
Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film. A seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner, she has amassed over 100 major honors, sold 64 million records worldwide, and recorded 25 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote, with a catalog of songs that have been streamed more than 2.6 billion times worldwide. The first female artist to be twice named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, Underwood was recognized by Pollstar as the top female country touring artist for each of her headlining tours in 2008, 2010, 2012, and for 2016’s “The Storyteller Tour – Stories in the Round.” Carrie also topped Billboard’s Top 25 Tours of 2016 as the leading female country artist and was the leading female artist on Country Aircheck’s top country radio performers list for her success in both 2015 and 2016. All five studio albums, Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, Blown Away and Storyteller – are certified Platinum or multi-Platinum, and each an American Music Awards winner as Favorite Country Album – and tallied an incredible 40 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The RIAA’s highest certified country album artist to debut this century, Underwood also holds the distinction of the highest album certification of any country artist to emerge since 2000 with the 8x Multi-Platinum success of her 2005 debut, Some Hearts. She is the all-time Top Country Artist (male or female) on RIAA’s Digital Single Ranking, also placing her among the Top 5 females in the history of RIAA’s Digital Single Program across all genres. In December of 2014, she released her Platinum-certified Greatest Hits: Decade #1, which produced two new #1 hits co-written by Underwood, including the RIAA-Platinum, GRAMMY-winning “Something in the Water.” 2016 marked Underwood’s fourth season as the voice of primetime television’s #1 program, Sunday Night Football, and in November, she returned for a ninth consecutive year as co-host of the CMA Awards. The Grand Ole Opry member also demonstrated her diversity in 2013, starring as Maria von Trapp in NBC’s three-hour holiday blockbuster, the Emmy®-winning The Sound of Music Live!, whose airings attracted 44 million viewers. The reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Underwood recently claimed her fourth win in the category amid the ongoing success of her chart-topping fifth studio album, Storyteller – the only country album to launch to Platinum certification since the time of its release in October of 2015.