Who sings the Sunday Night Football theme song? A look at the tune's history

Sunday Night Football has taken over TVs yet again.

And whether you're streaming on Peacock or tuning in on NBC, you may feel a bit of nostalgia whenever the theme song hits your speakers. The broadcast channel has curated its own music catalog since it got the rights to the Sunday spot in 2006.

So who sings the Sunday Night Football theme song? And has the song always been sung by the same performer?

Here's everything you need to know about the beloved tune.

Who sings the Sunday Night Football theme song?

"American Idol" season 4 winner and pop/country star Carrie Underwood currently sings the coveted theme song, "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night." The tune is a reworked version of the Joan Jett song "I Hate Myself for Loving You."

Ironically, "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night" was the original theme song choice in 2006 before NBC tried out a few other tunes, finally returning to the Jett remake in 2019 and sticking with that ever since.

When did Carrie Underwood start singing on Sunday Night Football?

Underwood has led the Sunday spot for a decade. She was announced as the theme song vocalist in May 2013.

Who else has sung the Sunday Night Football theme song?

Singer-songwriter Pink performed the theme song in NBC's first year airing Sunday Night Football in 2006. Country singer Faith Hill, who sang a new arrangement of the Jett "I Hate Myself for Loving You" remake, replaced her the following year.

From her first year as the Sunday night vocalist in 2007 up until her final season in 2013, Hill stuck to the widely-beloved "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night" tune, which soon became part of the country's zeitgeist. The song was parodied in a 2010 episode of "Saturday Night Live" and referenced in TV shows "30 Rock" and "South Park."

Has the Sunday Night Football theme song always been the same?

After being "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night" for a decade, Underwood shook things up in 2016 when she premiered the song "Oh, Sunday Night" – which took elements from her 2014 duet hit with Miranda Lambert, "Somethin' Bad."

Two years later, Underwood switched to the tune "Game On," with not-so-positive reactions from NFL audiences. Underwood and NBC landed back at the original tune, "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," in 2019. To celebrate the song's comeback, Underwood's 2019 performance featured Joan Jett herself.

How to watch Sunday Night Football

Sunday Night Football airs on NBC each weekend with the pregame show "Football Night in America" beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The games then kick off at 8:20 p.m. each week. They also stream on Peacock.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Who sings the Sunday Night Football theme song? A look at its history