Fans Crown Carrie Underwood the “Undisputed Queen” for Her Electric ‘Sunday Night Football’ Week 3 Performance

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It’s late September. There’s a chill in the air (in some parts of the country, anyway.) And the NFL is back. Fans were thrilled to learn that country megastar Carrie Underwood would return to NBC’s Sunday Night Football to perform “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.” The American Idol champion took the reins from Faith Hill in 2013. NFL diehards have watched the anthem’s evolution over the past 12 seasons. And Underwood once again got fans’ blood pumping on Sunday (Sept. 22), as the Atlanta Falcons prepared to face off against two-time defending Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs.

NFL Fans Go Crazy For Carrie Underwood

The title of Carrie Underwood’s theme song is “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night” and no matter how many times fans hear the jingle, that sentiment remains true.

“Every single time Carrie Underwood sings the Sunday Night Football intro I crank that up,” one X user noted. “Love watching Carrie Underwood open Sunday Night Football is the best! Undisputed Queen,” another fan claimed.

Thanks to Underwood and a number of other primetime, SNF has of their own. “Sunday night football is undefeated. The NBC theme song, superior scorebug, carrie underwood intro, production is awesome. Everything about it makes it the best broadcast,” one fan wrote on X.

Even for the NFL-uninitiated, it’s tough not to feel the hair on your neck stand up when Underwood belts, The NFL’s best have come to play / Coast to coast, there’s just one thing left to say.

A Look Back at the Anthem’s History

Sunday Night Football began airing on NBC in 2006, when the network took over the rights from ESPN. “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” was the original theme song choice before NBC decided to experiment with a few other tunes. The reworked version of Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself For Loving You” returned in 2019 and has remained ever since.

Deciding to change things up a bit, Carrie Underwood kicks off her 2024 performance with the chorus. In the past, the song has begun with the first verse.

In 2016, Underwood shook things up when she premiered “Oh, Sunday Night,” drawing from “Somethin’ Bad,” her 2014 duet with Miranda Lambert.

“Game On” came in 2018, and it wasn’t exactly a hit with audiences. “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night” returned in 2019, and hasn’t left since.