American Idol, Reality Show | 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.

Coming in second on "American Idol" may still be a path to superstardom, but it no longer offers guaranteed paychecks worthy of the next pop idol or rock star....

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.

The "American Idol" judges are under Joshua Ledet's spell, and they aren't afraid to show it. For the second week in a row, the panel on Wednesday lavished the 20-year-old from Westlake, La., with praise, especially for his performance of "It's a Man's World." Ledet earned a standing ovation from the judges for the James Brown song and also won them over with a version of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up."

Thursday was a big day at Fox. In the morning, the network got word from Nielsen that — after Wednesday night’s Top 5 performance show — “American Idol” had regained its throne as the No. 1-rated entertainment series among younger viewers, who are the currency of broadcast TV ad sales. To accomplish that, “Idol” had to edge past NBC’s singing competition, “The Voice.”

"American Idol" Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks is getting his own short-term show on the Las Vegas Strip.

"American Idol" viewers apparently weren't caught in a romance with Colton Dixon. The 20-year-old alt-rocker was revealed Thursday to have received the fewest viewer votes on the Fox talent competition. Dixon was surprisingly eliminated from "Idol" after delivering lukewarm renditions of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and Earth Wind and Fire's "September" on Wednesday's evening of old and new tunes. It was his first time in the show's bottom three.

The panel may not be great at this whole criticism thing, but at least they’ve shown the ability to learn from previous mistakes.