The Voice has already been renewed for a second season, with all four celebrity coaches vowing to return, and now we have a high-profile premiere date for the sophomore singing show. The Voice will return Sunday February 5, following NBC’s telecast of Super Bowl XLVI.

“There is no better showcase on television than to follow the Super Bowl, and we believe The Voice is deserving of such high-profile exposure,” said Bob Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, in a statement released Tuesday. “The attention grabbing blind audition phase of The Voice has mass appeal and will fittingly team up with the biggest sporting event of the year.”

NBC’s announcement shouldn’t come as too much of a shock if you’ve been watching The Voice‘s numbers. The three-stage singing competition debuted as NBC’s highest rated series of 2011 so far. It’s averaging 12 million viewers, and is the highest rated 2010-2011 debut for viewers in the key 18-49 demographic.

It’s not too late to get on the Voice train. Tonight, the freshman series airs its final “battle round” before moving on to the live episode stage, when the remaining singers will transition to solo performances, and America will get a chance to weigh in with votes alongside the coaches’ (Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton) feedback.

Here’s a preview of tonight’s duets. The Voice currently airs Tuesdays at 10pm on NBC. Next season’s premiere is reportedly slated as a two-hour lead-in to their new Broadway musical series, Smash

(Image courtesy of NBC)

Meghan Carlson

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Meghan hails from Walla Walla, WA, the proud home of the world’s best sweet onions and Adam West, the original Batman. An avid grammarian and over-analyzer, you can usually find her thinking too hard about plot devices in favorites like The OfficeIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and How I Met Your Mother. In her spare time, Meghan enjoys drawing, shopping, trying to be funny (and often failing), and not understanding the whole Twilight thing. She’s got a BA in English and Studio Art from Whitman College, which makes her a professional arguer, daydreamer, and doodler.