Phillip Phillips | featured news

“American Idol” ratings may be down for the show’s eleventh season, but that has no bearing on the sales figures for this season’s winner, Phillip Phillips. Phillip’s coronation song “Home” earned the highest debut on the Digital Songs chart this week. The song hit number two on the charts with 278,000 downloads.

Less than a week after the season finale, the health of winner Phillip Phillips remains at the center of the American Idol discussion. The 21-year-old singer underwent eight surgeries during his time on the series to treat a buildup of kidney stones. Caused by a congenital condition, the stones have rendered his right kidney largely ineffective, prompting him to temporarily rely on a stint and the need for an operation that would bring about a more permanent solution.

Phillip Phillips, a bluesy Georgia guitar man, was crowned the new "American Idol" on Wednesday after defeating teenager Jessica Sanchez in record viewer voting. He was the fifth male "Idol" winner in a row.

“American Idol” will feature a contrast of styles in its final performance episode Tuesday night as it comes down to contemporary artist Phillip Phillips and timeless teenage prodigy Jessica Sanchez. One option is contemporary artist Phillip Phillips. The affable former pawn shop worker with a sneaky snarky side doesn’t offer the most technically perfect vocals in the world, but he does have the most radio-ready voice, and proves that every week by picking songs and arrangements that are easily imagined on the radio. He gets criticized by some “Idol” fans for being Dave Matthews 2.0, but the show’s brass would jump for joy if he had anything resembling Matthews’ career.

There must be some reason the folks at “American Idol” think that the best way to find tomorrow’s pop star is to have them sing songs that were popular a generation ago as opposed to, you know, actual hit singles from today. We’ve gone from Whitney Houston/Stevie Wonder to Songs from Your Birth Year to ... Billy Joel. When do we get Lawrence Welk week?