‘American Idol’ Winner Carrie Underwood’s Best Songs, Ranked
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Since winning American Idol Season 4 in 2005, Carrie Underwood has become a country music superstar, releasing nine studio albums and winning eight Grammys. She’s put out a number of amazing hits over the years, but let’s take a closer look at some of our favorites.
Carrie Underwood’s Best Songs, Ranked
8. Ghost Story
This was the lead single for Underwood’s latest album, Denim & Rhinestones. In the song, Underwood tells her ex that she’ll be haunting him even when they’re apart. The song has a sweeping, dramatic quality that shows off Underwood’s powerful voice. “There ain’t enough whiskey for you not to miss me,” she sings during one of the song’s verses.
7. Undo It
This song was featured on Underwood’s third studio album, Play On, and was co-written by former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. It’s a great example of the singer’s strength as a singer, with the ferocity we’ve come to expect from her best break-up songs. The highlight is in the chorus, when Underwood sings that she wants to “un-un-un-un-un-undo it.”
6. Last Name
This is one of Underwood’s most playful songs, off her second studio album, Carnival Ride. She sings about not knowing the last name of the guy she recently hooked up with, eventually figuring out that she married him in Las Vegas. The song features a clever twist on the lyrics by the end, with Underwood singing, “I don’t even know my last name.”
5. Something in the Water
This track was the lead single from Underwood’s 2014 Greatest Hits album. The song reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and the Hot Christian Songs chart, and Underwood won the Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance. The lyrics describe the changing experience of a baptism, with the singer showing off soaring vocals.
4. Good Girl
This song was the lead single from Underwood’s fourth studio album, Blown Away. It’s an up-tempo track in which the singer warns a woman that her boyfriend will break her heart. “He’s no good, girl / No good for you,” she sings on the guitar-backed song’s chorus. “You better get to getting on your goodbye shoes and go, go, go.”
3. Jesus, Take the Wheel
This was the first single from Underwood’s debut album, Some Hearts. It tells the story of a woman and her baby who are nearly in a car accident. The woman prays and promises to change. The song showed off the talent that won Underwood American Idol, and the phrase “Jesus, take the wheel” has worked its way into popular vernacular in the years since.
2. Blown Away
The title track from Underwood’s fourth studio album tells the story of a young woman who takes revenge on her alcoholic father during a tornado. “There’s not enough rain in Oklahoma /
To wash the sins out of that house,” she sings. The song shows off both Underwood’s strong voice and her knack for storytelling. “Blown Away” won two Grammys, for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.
1. Before He Cheats
Is there a more quintessential Carrie Underwood song than this one? The track, off her debut album Some Hearts, describes how the singer got her revenge on a cheating boyfriend by destroying his car. “I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive,” she sings on the iconic chorus. The song topped the Hot Country Songs chart for five consecutive weeks and won two Grammys, for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance.
