1989–1998: early years In November 1989, Urban self-released a promotional extended play seeking a record deal, featuring "Honky Tonk Rock" and "There's a Light On" on the A-side and "Angry Words" and "Future Plans" on the B-side, dubbed
Looking for a deal !!. In 1990, Urban signed with
EMI in Australia and released his
self-titled debut album. He toured as a backup act to
Slim Dusty between 1993 and 1994. In the mid-1990s, both people recorded a re-worked duet of Dusty's classic "
Lights on the Hill". Urban appeared for the first time at the
Grand Ole Opry backing Dusty. He also sang backing vocals on
INXS's 1991 single "
Shining Star". Urban moved to
Nashville in 1992. The next year, he appeared in the
music video for
Alan Jackson's rendition of "
Mercury Blues". He and Vernon Rust co-wrote "Jesus Gets Jealous of Santa Claus" on
Toby Keith's 1995 album
Christmas to Christmas,
4 Runner's 1996 single "That Was Him (This Is Now)", he played guitar on
Garth Brooks' album
Double Live (Garth Brooks album) and "Tangled Up in Love" on the
Raybon Brothers' 1997
self-titled album. In 1995, he formed a band known as
The Ranch, which included drummer Peter Clarke and bassist Jerry Flowers. The Ranch released a
self-titled album for
Capitol Records Nashville in 1997 and charted two singles on the
Hot Country Songs charts that year: "Walkin' the Country" and "Just Some Love". Throughout the late 1990s, Urban also played guitar on several other artists' albums, such as
Paul Jefferson,
Tim Wilson, and
Charlie Daniels.
1999–2006: Keith Urban, Golden Road and Be Here Urban released his
self-titled American debut album in 1999 under the production of session pianist
Matt Rollings. It was led by the number 18 single "
It's a Love Thing", followed by the number 4 single "
Your Everything", which made him the first male New Zealand performer to reach the Top 10 on the US country charts. Its follow-up, "
But for the Grace of God", written by
Charlotte Caffey and
Jane Wiedlin of
The Go-Gos, became his first number 1 hit on the charts. The last single, "
Where the Blacktop Ends", written by
Steve Wariner and
Allen Shamblin, went to number three. He won the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001
Academy of Country Music Awards and the 2001
Country Music Association's Horizon Award.
Allmusic's Thom Jurek described the first and third singles favorably, and praised the instrumental track "Rollercoaster", saying that Urban was "flat picking his Stratocaster like it was another extremity he was born with." He thought that those songs "balance the slick and sometimes too-soft production on the record". Urban released a second American album,
Golden Road, in 2002. Of the 13 songs included on this album, Urban produced seven himself and co-produced the other six with
Dann Huff. The album's lead-off single, "
Somebody Like You", was released in July 2002 and spent six weeks at number one. The second single was the number three hit "
Raining on Sunday" which
Radney Foster had previously released as a single from his 1998 album
See What You Want to See. The third and fourth singles from the album, "
Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me" and "
You'll Think of Me", went to number one, with the latter winning him the
Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 2005. In 2002, Urban posed
nude for
Playgirl. On
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he said that he regretted posing nude despite not showing any full frontal nudity. In 2004, Urban performed "
Lights on the Hill" at the
Tamworth tribute concert following the death of Australian country singer
Slim Dusty, an artist whom he had both written for and covered. In 2005, Urban performed in front of European audiences for the first time. In May, he supported
Bryan Adams on his UK and Ireland tour, which included dates at
Earls Court, London,
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, and
The Point, Dublin. On 6 June a UK-only album,
Days Go By, was released. The album contained songs from both
Be Here and
Golden Road. On 22 September 2005, Urban's third studio album,
Golden Road, was certified triple platinum, for sales of three million copies. "
You Look Good in My Shirt" was originally intended to be the fifth single from this album. Instead, Capitol chose to release "
Days Go By", the lead-off to his third American album
Be Here. By late 2004, this song became Urban's fifth number one hit on the country chart. Although it was not officially released, "You Look Good in My Shirt" spent one week at number 60 on the country charts in July 2004 and remained a fan favourite. and Crowell's side project
The Notorious Cherry Bombs. The next singles from this album were "
Better Life" and "
Tonight I Wanna Cry". The former, which Urban wrote with
Richard Marx, spent six weeks at number 1 and the latter spent three weeks at number 2. After this song, "Live to Love Another Day" spent 14 weeks on the country chart, reaching a peak of number 48, although it was never officially released as a single. Despite the high debut, the song peaked at number 6. was released in March 2009. Urban performed this song on
American Idol, during the
season 8 finale, as a duet with eventual winner
Kris Allen. "
Only You Can Love Me This Way", the third single, went to number one. The fourth single, "
'Til Summer Comes Around", went to number three. The fifth and final single "
I'm In" is a cover of a song by Radney Foster, taken from the same album as "Raining on Sunday" was. This song was also recorded by
The Kinleys, The recording process was documented in a blog on his official website. At the beginning of September, it was announced that the album would be titled
Get Closer and would be released on 16 November. "
Put You in a Song" was released as its first single on 13 September. It went to number 2, followed by "
Without You", "
Long Hot Summer", and "
You Gonna Fly", all of which went to number one. Urban wrote, "Put You in a Song" with
Sarah Buxton and
Jedd Hughes, and "Long Hot Summer" with
Richard Marx. Preston Brust and Chris Lucas, who are the
LoCash Cowboys, co-wrote "You Gonna Fly" with
Jaren Johnston, then-member of the group
American Bang. After "You Gonna Fly" fell from the charts, Urban released "
For You", which was featured as the theme song of the 2012 action film
Act of Valor and appeared on the film's
soundtrack. The song peaked at number six on the country charts. On 10 April 2012, Urban was invited to be a member of the
Grand Ole Opry by
Vince Gill at the third annual
We're All for the Hall benefit concert which Urban organised. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on 21 April 2012. Urban plays guitar on
Tim McGraw's early-2013 single "
Highway Don't Care", which also features a guest vocal from
Taylor Swift. This song is the third single from McGraw's album
Two Lanes of Freedom. , on 25 July 2014 On 13 May 2013, Urban released the single "
Little Bit of Everything", produced by
Nathan Chapman. It was the first single from his eighth studio album,
Fuse, which was released on 10 September 2013. The official music video for "Little Bit Of Everything" debuted on VEVO on 25 July 2013. Unlike his previous albums, Urban co-produced with 10 other producers on this album. The album's second single, "
We Were Us", is a duet with
Miranda Lambert. It reached number one on the
Country Airplay chart in December 2013. The third single, "
Cop Car", was released in January 2014. A fourth single, "
Somewhere in My Car" was released in June 2014. A fifth single, a duet with
Eric Church, "
Raise 'Em Up," was released to country radio on 26 January 2015. It reached number 1 on Country Airplay in May 2015. In June 2015, Urban released "
John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16", as the lead single to his eighth American studio album,
Ripcord. In October 2015, Urban teased a new song called "
Break on Me"; it was released to the public on 23 October. It reached number one on the Country Airplay chart. On 22 September 2015, Urban celebrated the tenth anniversary of his third studio album
Golden Road being certified triple platinum, for sales of three million copies of his record. "
Wasted Time" was released as the album's third single and it went on to reach the number one spot on the Country Airplay chart. "
Blue Ain't Your Color" was released as the album's fourth single and became a huge hit for Urban. It topped the Hot Country Songs chart as well as the Country Airplay Chart, spending 12 weeks at number one on the former chart. "
The Fighter", a duet with
Carrie Underwood, was released as the fifth single from the album. In 2016, Urban was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "
Forever Country," a medley of "
Take Me Home, Country Roads", "
On the Road Again", and "
I Will Always Love You" which celebrates 50 years of the
CMA Awards.
Since 2017: Graffiti U, The Speed of Now Part 1, and High On 8 November 2017, Urban released a new song titled "
Female", which has been described as "an empowerment anthem partially inspired by the
Harvey Weinstein scandal." Urban said that the song, "[a]s a husband and a father of two young girls... It affects me in a lot of ways. And as a son – my mother is alive," he added. "It just speaks to all of the females in my life, particularly. For a guy who grew up with no sisters in a house of boys, it's incredible how now I'm surrounded by girls. But not only in my house; I employ a huge amount of women in my team. The song just hit me for so many reasons." Kidman provided background vocals on the song. The song was the lead single for Urban's tenth studio album. It was announced that Urban's tenth studio album would be titled
Graffiti U and that a
world tour in support of it would begin in summer 2018. On 19 January, the
Ed Sheeran co-written song "
Parallel Line" was released as a single in Australia and the United Kingdom. On 21 March, Urban released the album's second single "
Coming Home", a heavily
pop-influenced, upbeat song featuring a duet with pop singer
Julia Michaels. This song also features a revamped version of the opening riff of
Merle Haggard's hit "
Mama Tried" throughout it and with his family's blessing, Haggard even received a posthumous credit for writing the song. Coming Home reached number one on the Mediabase Country Chart on 5 August 2018. As well as Julia Michaels, the album also features duets with
Lindsay Ell,
Shy Carter, and Kassi Ashton.
Never Comin' Down was released to radio as the fourth single in August 2018. On 16 May 2019, Urban released a new single, "
We Were", a reflective mid-tempo ode to mischievous youth. "I like the idea that life just happens. At some point, whether in the moment or not, you just gotta go with it", he said. The track was co-written by
Eric Church. On 24 November 2019, Urban played the halftime show at the
Canadian Football League's
Grey Cup championship in
Calgary. On 27 February 2020, Urban released the single, "
God Whispered Your Name" to country radio. The track was co-written by
contemporary Christian artist
Chris August. On 24 April, Urban released the single, "
Polaroid" to radio in Australia and the United Kingdom. In May 2020, Urban hosted a concert at the Stardust Drive-In movie theatre, about 60 km east of Nashville, Tennessee, for a crowd of more than 200 medical workers from Vanderbilt Health. Later in May 2020, Urban announced that his eleventh studio album,
The Speed of Now Part 1, would be released on 18 September 2020. In July 2020, Urban released another promotional single, "
Superman", which was released to radio in Australia. "
Change Your Mind" followed in August 2020. In the week prior to the album's release, Urban hosted the rescheduled
55th Academy of Country Music Awards and premiered the third North American single off the album, "
One Too Many" with
Pink, which would become Urban's first Top 10 all-genre song in his homeland of Australia. In December 2020, Urban was listed at number 29 in ''Rolling Stone Australia's "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time"'' issue. He is a featured artist on
Taylor Swift's track "
That's When" from ''
Fearless (Taylor's Version)'', Swift's first re-recorded studio album, which was released on 9 April 2021. "That's When" is one of six "from the Vault" tracks that did not make the 2008 album. That year he also collaborated with
Amy Shark on "Love Songs Ain't For Us", which also came out 2021. In August 2021, Urban released the single "
Wild Hearts", which he followed up with the single "
Nightfalls" in March 2022. In July 2022, Urban released the single "
Brown Eyes Baby," which was co-written by
Morgan Wallen. He embarked on his headlining "
The Speed of Now World Tour" in June 2022, with
Ingrid Andress as his opening act. In October 2022, he released the single "
Street Called Main". In 2024, Urban released the singles "
Straight Line" and "
Messed Up as Me". The songs were later included on Urban's twelfth studio album,
High, which was released on September 20, 2024. The album also included the previously released songs "Wildside", "
Go Home W U" featuring
Lainey Wilson, and "Heart Like a Hometown". In April 2026, he announced his follow-up project and thirteenth studio album, the
yacht rock-inspired
Flow State, which is set for release on 12 June 2026. ==Television and film appearances==