Carrie Underwood is returning to American Idol for its new season, and her run on the show is reportedly going to cost producers a pretty penny this time around.

Underwood is returning to the show as a judge, exactly 20 years after winning American Idol launched her superstar career in 2005. But while she probably only got her expenses paid as a contestant, she’ll be earning a massive salary this season.
According to Life & Style, Underwood is earning somewhere around $12.5 million for the season as a judge.

While that’s a whopping sum of money by nearly any standard, it’s actually only about half of what Underwood’s predecessor, Katy Perry, earned during her run on the show.
Perry’s $25 million annual salary made her the second-highest-paid judge in American Idol history, second only to its most famous judge, Simon Cowell.

“Katy’s enormous salary was an outlier and it was that high because ABC was asking for a lot of her time away from making music and performing, more time than she had ever given something other than her own pop career,” an unnamed source tells Life & Style.
Underwood, on the other hand, has “been part of the Idol family since its early days and she has a vested interest in the franchise continuing,” the source says. “And culturally she’s a better fit with the show, the producers and ABC thanks to her middle-America appeal.”

Who Are the Other Judges on American Idol in 2025?
Underwood is joining Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie on the judging panel in 2025. Ryan Seacrest also returns to host.

When Does the New Season of American Idol begin?
American Idol is set to premiere on ABC on Sunday evening (March 9) at 8PM ET.