General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Carpool Karaoke: The Series

Carpool Karaoke: The Series is an American music-variety television series in which celebrity pairs share a car, sing along to their personal playlists, and go on adventures together. It is a spin-off of the Carpool Karaoke segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden, was announced on July 26, 2016 as an exclusive for Apple Music, and debuted on August 8, 2017.¹^•² The series is produced by CBS Television Studios and Ben Winston's production company Fulwell 73, with James Corden and Winston as creators and executive producers, later joined by executive producer Eric Pankowski.¹^•³

Key fact	Detail
Origin	Spin-off of the Carpool Karaoke segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS¹
Announced	July 26, 2016, through an exclusive first-window licensing agreement with Apple Music¹
Debut	August 8, 2017, with new episodes every Tuesday for Apple Music subscribers in more than 100 countries²
Format	Each episode features a different celebrity host riding and singing with a guest; Corden does not host the series⁴
Output	Five seasons, over 60 episodes produced; season counts of 21, 19, 9, 4, and 22 episodes⁵^•⁶
Awards	Five Emmy wins from seven nominations, including Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2018, 2019, and 2020⁷
Rating	TV-14 (comedy, music)⁸

Spoilers

Format and episodes

In every episode, two celebrities who would not ordinarily team up ride together in one vehicle, singing songs from their own playlists while taking part in various escapades.³ Episodes run roughly 17 to 20 minutes.⁶ Guests have ranged from singers and actors to reality celebrities and athletes; season five episodes include the casts of The Afterparty, Girls5eva, and Ghosts, Avril Lavigne with YUNGBLUD, Lea Michele with Darren Criss, Cedric The Entertainer with Sheryl Lee Ralph, Alanis Morissette with Cara Delevingne, and Alison Brie with Danny Pudi.³^•¹²

The series has run for five seasons. Season 1 premiered in August 2017 with 21 episodes, season 2 arrived in October 2018 with 19, season 3 in January 2020 with 9, season 4 in May 2021 with 4, and season 5 in May 2022 with 22, for more than 60 episodes in total.⁶^•⁸^•⁵ A holiday special, A Carpool Karaoke Christmas, was released on December 16, 2024, in which Corden passes the keys to an interviewer who drives festive installments featuring Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, and Chappell Roan.¹³^•³

The format has also been licensed abroad. Paramount Global Formats lists local versions alongside the worldwide Apple version in Russia, the Middle East, Israel, France, Slovakia, and Slovenia.⁵

Origin of the segment

The series grew out of a segment that itself had humble beginnings. Corden has said the idea came from a sketch he wrote for the BBC's televised charity event Comic Relief in 2011, in which his character shared a car with the singer George Michael and the two sang Wham! songs; he and Late Late Show executive producer Ben Winston thought there was something joyful about a very famous person singing in an ordinary situation.⁹ When Corden took over The Late Late Show in 2015, he revived the format, and the first episode, featuring Mariah Carey, aired in March 2015 and has drawn more than 36 million views on YouTube.¹⁰

The segment became a major online draw. Within roughly a year of its inception, CBS described Carpool Karaoke as the most social hit ever on U.S. late night television, with almost 600 million views on YouTube, and its clips with Adele and Justin Bieber ranked among the most-watched late night clips on the platform.¹¹^•⁵ In May 2016, CBS Studios International and Fulwell 73 made the format available to international broadcasters.¹¹

Development and the Apple deal

On July 26, 2016, CBS announced that Apple Music would be the global home of the new Carpool Karaoke series through an exclusive first-window licensing agreement. The series was to consist of 16 episodes, produced by CBS Television Studios and Fulwell 73, with Corden and Winston as creators and executive producers. In each episode, celebrities would ride along and sing along with a host, visit places meaningful to the celebrity, sing from personal playlists, and surprise fans. The Late Late Show segment would continue separately on CBS.¹

Corden does not host the series. Executive producer Ben Winston explained at the January 2017 Television Critics Association press tour that the show would differ from the Late Late segment: it is a half-hour format in which two people are put together in an interview setting, ask each other questions, learn about each other's lives, and sing in a car, often featuring people who are not necessarily musicians.⁴

Apple announced in May 2017 that the series would debut on August 8, with new episodes available every Tuesday exclusively to Apple Music subscribers in more than 100 countries. The first season's pairings included Will Smith with James Corden; the Cyrus family; Shakira with Trevor Noah; Game of Thrones stars Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams; Queen Latifah with Jada Pinkett Smith; John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Taraji P. Henson; and LeBron James with Corden.²

Reception and awards

The series has been an awards standout in the short-form category. The Television Academy records five Emmy wins from seven nominations, with wins for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and a win for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series accepted at the 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards; the series was nominated again in 2023 and 2024.⁷ Fulwell Entertainment describes it as a five-time Emmy-winning series that ran from 2017 to 2023.¹⁴

Critical reception was more reserved for the first season. Variety's review scored 50 on Metacritic, arguing that for a segment built on spontaneity and intimacy, the Apple Music version felt distancing, highlighting how dissimilar the guests were from the audience rather than the reverse.¹⁵ Audience aggregates have been middling: JustWatch lists an IMDb rating of 5.5 and a 21% JustWatch rating.⁶

The series streams on Apple TV, where it is rated TV-14 and carries content advisories for language, suggestive dialogue, and violence.¹⁶

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026