American Idol Winners All Seasons 2002-2012

The first season produced one of the show's most memorable and successful winners ever in the person of Kelly Clarkson.

She beat runner-up Justin Guarini during the final showdown wherein Guarini was also a favorite. During her coronation night in this debut season, she performed the song “A Moment Like This”.

Since then, she has not only become one of the most celebrated winners, but also a well known international recording artist.

Kelly starred with Justin Guarini, the runner-up, in the film “From Justin to Kelly” written by Kim Fuller, the sister of the show's creator Simon Fuller after the show ended.

The critics poorly received the movie and it grossed only half of the film’s reported budget.However, her singing career has become very successful.

Due to the success of the first season, the media attention and popularity of the show grew further. In the finale,it was a showdown between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken with the former winning the competition.

Studdard performed “Flying without Wings” during coronation night but Clay Aiken stole the show with his performance of “This Is The Night” and eventually outdone the winner in album sales.

The Season 3 might be best remembered for William Hung for his performance of Ricky Martin's “She Bangs”. However, there was also a lot of attention between three top-performing ladies namely Latoya London, Jennifer Hudson, and Fantasia Barrino, wherein Barrino eventually went on to join the elite rank of winners after beating Diana DeGarmo in the final vote.

The most successful of all the winners came from this season and that’s none other than Carrie Underwood.

During the finale, she defeated Bo Bice after as much as 500 million votes were tallied.

Both Bice and Underwood performed the song “Inside Your Heaven” but it was Underwood who went on to create a name for herself in the industry, with over 12 million units of her album sold worldwide.

Chris Daughtry, the most successful recording artist to have come out of this season, was oddly not the winner of this season. Instead, it was Taylor Hicks who outdone Katherine McPhee in the final vote at the coronation night.

Despite the winner of this season not being too successful in terms of his singing career post-show, this season produced quite a few recording artists namely Elliot Yamin, Mandisa, Bucky Covington, Katherine McPhee, and of course, Daughtry.

Season 6 was noted for the unique talents and abilities showcased by its contestants probably not witnessed before in the show.

This season eventually produced one of its youngest winners since the debut of the show.

A new record 74 million votes was cast during the coronation night wherein Jordin Sparks took majority of those votes over runner-up Blake Lewis.

Aside from being season 7 winner, David Cook will also be remembered for his sultry rendition of “Always Be My Baby” originally sung by Mariah Carey.

David Cook beat his namesake, David Archuleta for the elite title and to become a member in the winners rank.

In the finale, Cook performed “Time Of My Life” and has since been a successful recording artist. Same goes with David Archuleta.

Kris Allen was a clear fan favorite from the start and it came as no surprise that he eventually went on to win this season.

The arrival of new judge Kara DioGuardi has changed the dynamics of the show a bit, but not the quality of talent brought in to compete.

Despite a solid and consistent performance from Adam Lambert all throughout the season, it was Kris Allen who earned the right to sing the coronation song, “No Boundaries”, which was also co-written by American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.

After Paula Abdul exited the show, Ellen DeGeneres came in and tried her stake at judging for the first time.

Lee DeWyze outperformed Crystal Bowersox during the finale, while making these two finalists among the elite group of contestants that never made it to the bottom two or three at any point of the competition.

After he was announced as the winner, Lee DeWyze serenaded the audience with his rendition of U2's “Beautiful Day”.

The latest season produced the youngest and country-filled final two as Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina made up the final two contestants battling for the title in the end.

With Jennifer Lopez' first stint as an Idol judge, Scotty McCreery became the American Idol 2011 winner who adds to the growing list of American Idol winners.

Phillip Phillips, a bluesy Georgia guitar man, has been crowned the new American Idol after defeating teenager Jessica Sanchez in record viewer voting. He was the fifth male Idol winner in a row. Phillips, 21, a pawnshop worker from Leesburg, Georgia, looked stunned after host Ryan Seacrest announced his name, then wordlessly accepted a hug from Sanchez and congratulations from his fellow finalists. He dissolved into tears as he sang Homem, the song that may be his first single.