Carrie Underwood becomes the highest-certified female country artist in RIAA history — and fans still point to one duet as her career’s most emotional timestamp
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Carrie Underwood’s certification numbers now sit at a level no other female country artist has reached in the United States: more than 95 million RIAA-certified units. The Recording Industry Association of America confirmed the milestone with newly updated totals — 22.5 million in albums, 72.5 million in singles — placing her above the previous all-time U.S. benchmark set by Shania Twain.
It is a moment 20 years in the making. Underwood’s rapid emergence after American Idol in 2005 turned into sustained, measurable commercial success — eight Grammys, multiple No.1 country singles, crossover moments, arena tours and, most recently, a Platinum plaque for her Cody Johnson collaboration “I’m Gonna Love You.”
And yet — among fans — there is one performance that continues to surface every time her career milestones are celebrated: her 2009 duet with Dolly Parton on “I Will Always Love You” during Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special.
why that duet endures
Parton wrote the song in 1974 as she prepared to leave Porter Wagoner’s TV show — a turning-of-the-page statement disguised as a ballad. Underwood joined the Country Music Hall of Famer onstage decades later, sitting side-by-side, trading verses and sharing harmony lines that joined two country generations in one frame.
The clip has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and still circulates on social platforms whenever the conversation shifts to timeless country vocal performances.
a symbolic moment, not just a televised one
Parton represents the songwriter-as-architect era — an artist who translated lived experience into narrative shape.
Underwood represents the competition-era superstar — an artist who entered through a TV format and then built a long-haul catalog through vocal power, consistency and an ear for story songs.
Their 2009 performance has come to embody the passing-of-the-torch idea — not a literal handoff, but a bridging of two industry periods.
success measured in numbers — and in memory
Underwood’s new RIAA status will sit in the record books. But the continued resurfacing of that quiet, seated duet suggests that fans do not define her career solely through certifications or tallies.
The 2009 performance remains one of those country moments viewers replay because it conveys something that cannot be tallied — two voices acknowledging the depth of a song that has outlasted trends, charts, formats and generations.
