In 1997, Rimes released a compilation of previously recorded material under the Nor Va Jak label, Unchained Melody: The Early Years. The album mainly consisted of cover versions, ranging from Country to pop covers, including songs originally recorded by The Beatles, Whitney Houston, Bill Monroe, and Dolly Parton. Rimes's version of the title track became a major country hit in early 1997 and helped increase sales for the album. In June 1997, Rimes would appear on the Disney Channel for television special called LeAnn Rimes in Concert. In September 1997, Rimes released her follow-up studio album to Blue titled You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs. The album covered classic inspirational songs, such as "Clinging to Saving a Hand" and "Amazing Grace". It also featured pop music remakes of songs such as Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" and Bette Midler's "The Rose". The album was a departure from Rimes's previous releases as it contained more Adult Contemporary-styled music than Country. The album sold over four million copies in the United States, certifying 4× Multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album contained an extended version of the single "How Do I Live", which became a major pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number two. "How Do I Live" set a new record for becoming the longest-running single in Billboard Hot 100 history, spending 69 weeks on the chart. On October 13, 1997 she published her first novel, titled Holiday in Your Heart, along with Tim Carter.

Rimes released her third album for Curb in May 1998, Sittin' on Top of the World. The album leaned more progressively towards Adult Contemporary and mid-tempo pop music. It included pop material written by Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster. It also included a remake of Prince's "Purple Rain" and was produced by her father. The album was given mixed reviews. Allmusic gave the album two out of five stars. Rolling Stone said Rimes vocal style "holds her own in the more popular style of Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, wherein a spectacular voice upstages a song, grins and goes on about her business." Upon its release, Sittin' on Top of the World debuted at number two on the Top Country Albums chart, and number three on the Billboard 200, and sold over a million copies in the United States, certifying "Platinum" in sales by the RIAA. The album spawned the number four Country hit "Commitment", the Top 20 Pop hit "Looking Through Your Eyes", and the number ten country hit "Nothin' New Under the Moon".

Rimes released her fourth studio album for Curb, LeAnn Rimes, in October 1999, a collection of country standards. The album covered songs mainly by Patsy Cline – which included "Crazy", "I Fall to Pieces", and "She's Got You" – that were primarily taken from her 12 Greatest Hits album. The album also covered Marty Robbins's "Don't Worry" and Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee". The album included one new song, "Big Deal". The song gained many positive reviews. Allmusic called the song, "a return to her roots" and "a salute to one of her idols, Patsy Cline." The album in general received much praise. Allmusic called the album one of her "better" efforts, since they had disliked her previous releases. Entertainment Weekly gave the album a positive review and said that Rimes's voice, "dares listeners to take note of what is missing in her interpretations -- the gutsiness and gut-wrenching urgency of performers who felt what they sang." The album was a major success like her previous releases, debuting at number one on the Top Country Albums chart, topping the country albums chart for two weeks. In addition, it also peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The album also sold over one million copies in the United States, and was certified "Platinum" in sales by the RIAA. The album's new song, "Big Deal", was the lead single off the album, and became a Top 10 country hit that year, peaking at number six. Also in 1999, Rimes recorded a duet with Elton John for the stage musical Aida, titled "Written in the Stars". The song became a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The album would spawn a second single, a cover of Cline's "Crazy" that was released outside of the United States.

In 2000, Rimes would make her full crossover into pop music. On March 8, 2000, Rimes contributed to the soundtrack from the 1999 TV movie Jesus, called Jesus: Music From & Inspired by the Epic Mini Series. The song, "I Need You", would be released as a single from the soundtrack on July 18, 2000. "I Need You" was characterized by Allmusic as having similarities to that of Adult Contemporary and Pop music. The song became a Top 10 country hit and also a major pop hit, reaching number eleven on the Hot 100. Rimes would make a cameo in the 2000 film Coyote Ugly. She would also contribute four songs for the film's soundtrack on August 1, 2000. Two singles were released from the Coyote Ugly soundtrack. "Can't Fight the Moonlight" was released as a single for the soundtrack on August 22, 2000 with the second single from the soundtrack, "But I Do Love You", as the B-side track. By February 2002 "Can't Fight the Moonlight" became a crossover Pop hit, reaching number 11 in United States and becoming the highest selling single of 2001 in Australia. "Can't Fight the Moonlight" won Rimes a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Song from a Movie."

In January 2001, Curb Records released another compilation of previously recorded material, I Need You. The album topped the Top Country Albums chart for one week, and also peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200. I Need You did not garner praise from many critics and was mainly given negative reviews. Rolling Stone gave the album two and a half out of five stars and called the album, "synthetic-feeling." Despite very little praise from critics, the album was sold well, and was certified "Gold" in sales by the RIAA. Rimes would later go on to publicly disown the album, which she stated was compiled together from studio outtakes her father had produced and that it was released without her knowledge or input. At the time, during the litigation with her label, Rimes was asking that her label, Curb, give her the rights to all past recordings and videos, give up all publishing interests in her compositions and destroy all currently available recordings."

In mid-October 2001, Curb released a compilation of patriotic and inspirational songs, titled God Bless America, in order to benefit the disaster recovery for the September 11 attacks. It included the title track, which she released as a single, as well as inspirational songs such as "The Lord's Prayer" and "The Sands of Time".

In March 2002, Rimes reissued the I Need You album with nine of the songs originally released on the album, an extended version of the song You Are, the song "Light the Fire Within", which she sang at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and four bonus remixes.

Rimes would later that year release her fifth studio album titled Twisted Angel, which contained more adult material. After battling managerial control over her career the previous year, Twisted Angel became the first album released by Rimes that was not produced by her father. Instead, Rimes executive produced the album. A month following the album's release, Twisted Angel was certified "Gold" by the RIAA, her second Gold-certified album. The album received mainly negative reviews by most music critics and magazines. Allmusic stated that the album could possibly "alieniate her from her original fans" and "the songwriting is a little uneven." Rolling Stone gave the album two out of five stars, stating that the album sounded too "country-pop crossover." The album peaked at number three on the Top Country Albums chart and number 12 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. Two singles were spawned from the album between 2002 and 2003, however none of the singles were Top 40 hits on the country or pop charts. The lead single, "Life Goes On", reached the Top 40 only on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, peaking at number 9. The second single, "Suddenly", only peaked at 43 on the US Country charts, 47 on the UK charts and 53 on the Australian charts.

The following year when Rimes turned 21, she released her first children's book, titled Jag, in July and she also released a Greatest Hits compilation in November. The album recapped Rimes's major hits under Curb records from "Blue" in 1996, to "Life Goes On" in 2002. The album peaked at Number 3 on the Top Country Albums chart and Number 24 on the Billboard 200 in November. Featured on the album was the song, "We Can", which was originally released as a single for the Legally Blonde 2 soundtrack in July 2003. The album would eventually be certified "Platinum" in 2007.

In 2004, Rimes released her second greatest hits album, The Best of LeAnn Rimes, internationally in February. Rimes would also team up with country singer and idol Reba McEntire to contribute to the 2004 Dr. Pepper commercial campaign. She would also release the sequel to Jag, titled Jag's New Friend, in September and in October she also issued her first holiday-themed and sixth studio album titled, What a Wonderful World.

In January 2005, Rimes released her seventh studio album, This Woman, her first album of contemporary country music in many years. Although the album received mixed reviews from magazines and critics, it was Rimes's best-selling album in over five years, reaching number three on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Top Country Albums chart in 2005, selling more than 100,000 copies within its first week. Rimes explained to the Chicago Sun-Times that the album helped mature her as a person, "I have 10 years of experience, so it's tough to get anything past me in this business. I've become a very strong woman because of all I've gone through, good and bad." This Woman would eventually be certified "Gold" later in 2005, after selling more than 500,000 units nationwide. The album's singles were Rimes's first Top 10 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart in five years. The three singles released from the album — "Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense", "Probably Wouldn't Be This Way", and "Something's Gotta Give" — all peaked within the Top 5 on the country charts between 2005 and 2006. From the album, Rimes was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Something's Gotta Give". In addition, she was also nominated for an American Music Award for "Favorite Female Country Artist." In 2006, Rimes recorded a cover version of Barbara Mandrell's "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)", for a tribute album to Mandrell's career titled, She Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool: A Tribute to Barbara Mandrell. Rimes also would record a track for Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration album titled, "Remember When."

In summer 2006, Rimes released the studio album Whatever We Wanna, which was released exclusively outside of the United States and Canada. It was originally planned on being released in North America, however due to the success of This Woman, it was never released. The album spawned three singles, "And It Feels Like", a duet with Brian McFadden titled, "Everybody's Someone" and "Strong". The album leaned more towards Pop Rock and R&B music instead of country.

Rimes would release one final single in the US from her album This Woman in August 2006 called "Some People" which would peak at 34 on the US country charts.

In October 2007, Rimes released her ninth studio album, Family. The album was a mix of country, pop, and rock music, and included the duet with Bon Jovi, "Til We Ain't Strangers Anymore". Family was the first album released by Rimes in which every track was co-written by Rimes herself. Rolling Stone said the songs on the album are "uneven" and rated it three and half out of five stars. Allmusic gave Family four out of five stars and said that the album, "illustrates her range as a singer along with some true strength as a writer." The album helped nominate Rimes for the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award in 2008. The album's lead single, "Nothin' Better to Do" was released in mid-2007, and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Country Chart before the end of the year. Two more singles were released from the album, "Good Friend and a Glass of Wine" and "What I Cannot Change." Before releasing Family, Rimes would once again collaborate with singer, Reba McEntire for her album Reba: Duets, which was released on September 18, 2007. Both artist would later go on to perform the duet from the album, "When You Love Someone Like That", at the 41st CMA Music Awards. The duet would also be included on the album.

In 2008, Rimes toured with Kenny Chesney where she opened every show on his 2008 Poets and Pirates Tour, along with other artists on select dates such as Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, Gary Allan, Big & Rich, and Luke Bryan. In late 2008, Rimes was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "What I Cannot Change", the third single from the album.

In 2008, she recorded For Good with Delta Goodrem for the Wicked 5th Anniversary album. LeAnn teamed up with Joss Stone for a CMT Crossroads special aired in fall 2007.

In 2009, Rimes published What I Cannot Change along with song co-writer, Darrell Brown. It was released on April 14, 2009 and contains a bonus CD with an exclusive live performance of the song and both Brown and Rimes reading excerpts from the book.

Despite singing new material at several live shows earlier in the year, it was announced, on May 24, 2010 by Rimes via her Twitter account, that her new studio album would be a cover album of country songs, titled Lady & Gentlemen. The first single from the album was a cover of John Anderson's 1983 single, "Swingin'". Rimes debuted the song at the 2010 CMT Music Awards. The single was released on June 8, 2010. On December 10, 2010, Rimes released her second single titled "Crazy Women" to radio. "Crazy Women," A re-recording of "Blue" and "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" were announced, in the same post, as the three extra tracks that Rimes went back in the studio to add to the album. A third single, "Give", debuted at No. 60 in July 2011. Rimes announced via her Twitter account on July 17, 2011 that the new release date for her Lady & Gentlemen album would be September 27, 2011. She also stated that her next studio album is already done and will be released next year. Rimes went back into the studio in March to record fifteen more songs for her new album, Spitfire. On April 4, 2012, Rimes was featured on the song, "The Choice", which was released by Soles4Souls as a charity single to help the foundation put 500,000 pairs of shoes on children who live without. The official first single to be released from Spitfire, "What Have I Done", was released to digital download to on November 20, 2012, but was replaced by the second single, "Borrowed", released on December 18, 2012, for radio release. The album was released to digital download in the UK and Australia on April 15, 2013, with the physical CD copy of the album released on April 22, 2013 in the UK, and on April 26, 2013 in Australia. The album was released in the US on June 4, 2013. Spitfire is Rimes' last album under her contract with Curb Records. Spitfire sold 10,798 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 36 on the Billboard 200 chart. On May 25, 2014, Rimes sang the national anthem at the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500. In July of 2014, she announced she would release three Christmas EPs, one per year for 2014, 2015 and 2016. The first One Christmas was released on October 27, 2014. It includes six songs, ‘Silent Night Holy Night, ‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,’ ‘Blue Christmas,’ ‘Someday at Christmas,’ ‘Hard Candy Christmas’ and ‘White Christmas.’