Carrie Underwood has performed the opening theme for NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ since 2013, with the show reaching an estimated 20 million viewers per week.

Carrie Underwood being interviewed on NFL field
Carrie Underwood revealed how much money she makes from her Waiting All Day for Sunday Night hit

Carrie Underwood, the singer known for her famous anthem synonymous with NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”, has previously debunked rumors that she earns $1 million per week for the song. Her rendition of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” has been the opening theme for NBC’s NFL coverage since 2013.

The song, originally based on Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, was previously performed by Pink and Faith Hill. It kicks off the broadcast each week, with Underwood’s vocals reaching an estimated 20 million viewers per show.

Despite the popularity of the track, a report resurfaced on X last year claiming that Underwood earns a staggering $18 million annually from the song’s use on NBC. However, in a previous interview with Howard Stern, Underwood – who recently broke her silence after Donald Trump inauguration fan backlash – firmly denied these claims.

In 2023, Stern asked: “And the money ain’t bad. Is it true that you make $18 million a year ($1m per week),” to which Underwood responded: “For me? No! No! It’s pretty pro-bono. I wish I got that, that’d be great!”

Underwood with Dallas Cowboys merch
Carrie Underwood supports the NFL team the Dallas Cowboys

Despite not receiving a direct income for her contribution to the “Sunday Night Football” theme song, the singer spoke with pride about her involvement in the track. Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, she said: “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.”, reports the Express US.

The Grammy Award winner also seemed ontent with the fact that she doesn’t earn any money from lending her vocals to the recording. She stated: “It worked out exactly how it should have,” and added: “pretty awesome to be a part of the biggest show on TV.”

The mother of two also expressed her joy at her young sons hearing her song whenever they watch NFL coverage. She shared: “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.”

In praise of “Sunday Night Football”, Underwood said: “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 spilled the beans on the origins of the iconic ‘Sunday Night Football’ theme song, revealing: “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.’”

Although Pink was the first superstar to belt out the tune, Gaudelli admitted that Carrie Underwood was his top pick from the start, saying: “We reached out to Carrie, she wasn’t really interested,” while Underwood later mused: “At that time in my life there was so much going on. It wasn’t the right time.”