Image Group LA/ABC2015 was the year Carrie Underwood proved she can have it all– a baby, a record-breaking album and her best twelve months at country radio in half a decade.
She and husband Mike Fisher started the year by welcoming their firstborn, Isaiah Michael, on February 27. The proud mom introduced her son to the world by posting a picture of his hand on Instagram with the caption, “Tiny hands and tiny feet…God has blessed us with an amazing gift!… Welcome to the world, sweet angel!”
“Little Toy Guns” climbed the charts while the American Idol winner worked on studio album number five, being careful to make sure it didn’t become a journal of her newfound motherhood. By June, she was back in the public eye, making her first major appearance on the CMT Awards, performing and taking home three belt-buckle trophies. Later in the week, she made a triumphant return to CMA Music Festival, doing her first set of the year onstage at LP Field.
While baby Isaiah was busy teething, his mom gave the world its first taste of her new album. “Smoke Break” was an instant hit upon its release in August, as was the record from which it comes. Storyteller debuted at number one on Billboard’s country album chart in October, making Carrie the first artist in history to have her first six projects go straight to the top.
In November, she simply couldn’t have been any busier. Amid a flood of TV appearances and magazine interviews, the Cosmopolitan cover girl co-hosted the 49th Annual CMA Awards for the eight year with Brad Paisley, judged the finale of Project Runway on Lifetime and both debuted her new single “Heartbeat” and took home the Female Country Artist trophy at the American Music Awards.
By December, all of Carrie’s hard work had paid off– Storyteller went gold, and she was nominated for a Grammy. By year’s end, Country Aircheck/Mediabase said she’d reclaimed the title she’d held five years earlier– most-played female artist of the year. All the while, she continued to juggle career with taking care of Isaiah, continually updating the world on the progress of her soon-to-be one-year-old on Instagram.
From the looks of things, there’s no slowing down in 2016. Carrie will say goodbye to the old year and ring in the new headlining the Times Square portion of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, starting at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Then it’s right to work on her in-the-round Storyteller tour, which kicks of January 30 in Jacksonville, Florida.
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