Carrie Underwood Officially Joining ‘American Idol’

It's official: Carrie Underwood is going to be a judge on American Idol next season.

ABC made the official announcement on Thursday (Aug. 1) after 18 hours of speculation and confirmation through various media outlets. Underwood will replace Katy Perry, who stepped away at the end of Season 22.

• Carrie Underwood won Season 4 of American Idol in 2005.
• Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie have been judges since Season 16 (seven seasons).
• Underwood has sold over 85 million records and is widely considered to be the first or second most successful artist to have started a career on the show.

Deadline all but confirmed the news on Wednesday afternoon (July 31). At about the same time, TMZ had reported that the two sides were close to an agreement.

Underwood has yet to comment directly about her new gig but in a new social video shared by her team and American Idol, she's seen reflecting on the 20-year journey.

Also confirmed in Thursday's announcement is that Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Ryan Seacrest will all be returning as judges. This gives the judging panel two country music judges for the first time ever.

Dan + Shay and Reba McEntire just finished as coaches on The Voice on NBC, with McEntire set to return in the fall. Kelsea Ballerini is going to join the show in the spring.

American Idol's premiere date for Season 23 (Season 8 on ABC) has not yet been revealed, but fans can typically expect a January or February launch. The news comes as Underwood announced an extension of her Las Vegas residency and a new song with rockers Papa Roach.

*This story was updated to reflect that Underwood's participation is now official. 

Billy Dukes is a Senior Editor and Executive Producer of Video Content at Taste of Country. He specializes in country music interviews, trend analysis and the Secret History of Country Music. Additionally, Billy covers Yellowstone, 1923 and related television shows through the Dutton Rules podcast. To date, he's written more than 13,000 articles for Taste of Country and produced over 3,000 videos for the Taste of Country YouTube channel.