The concept of the series involves discovering recording stars from unsigned singing talents, with the winner determined by American viewers using phones, Internet platforms, and SMS text voting.

The winners of the first twenty-two seasons, as chosen by viewers, are Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Candice Glover, Caleb Johnson, Nick Fradiani, Trent Harmon, Maddie Poppe, Laine Hardy, Just Sam, Chayce Beckham, Noah Thompson, Iam Tongi, and Abi Carter.

[8] In 2001, Fuller, Cowell, and TV producer Simon Jones attempted to sell the Pop Idol format to the United States, but the idea was initially met with poor responses from all the television networks including UPN and Fox.

[13] The show grew into a phenomenon largely due to its personal engagement with the contestants by prompting the viewers to vote, and the presence of the acid-tongued Cowell as a judge.

"[22] In the second season, New York radio personality Angie Martinez had been hired as a fourth judge but withdrew after only a few days of auditions, due to being uncomfortable with giving out criticism.

[34][35] When the show was revived by ABC in 2018, Katy Perry,[36] Luke Bryan,[37] and Lionel Richie[38] were selected as judges, marking the sixteenth season of Idol.

[39] On July 31, 2024, published reports announced former Idol winner Carrie Underwood as Perry's replacement, joining Bryan and Richie for the twenty-third season.

The men and women sang separately on consecutive nights, and the bottom two in each groups were eliminated each week until only six of each remained to form the top twelve.

Prominent music mogul Clive Davis also produced some of the selected contestants' albums, such as Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo.

[74] Two semi-finalists were also disqualified that year – Jaered Andrews for an arrest on an assault charge, and Frenchie Davis for having previously modeled for an adult website.

[76] In an interview prior to the fifth season, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe indicated that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wildcard week onward until the finale.

One of the most talked-about contestants during the audition process was William Hung whose off-key rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" received widespread attention.

[79] Much media attention on the season had been focused on the three black singers, Fantasia Barrino, LaToya London, and Jennifer Hudson, dubbed the Three Divas.

[82] The performance of "Summertime" by Barrino, later known simply as "Fantasia", at Top 8 was widely praised, and Simon Cowell considered it as his favorite Idol moment in the nine seasons he was on the show.

The media focused on the professional status of the seventh season contestants, the so-called 'ringers',[98] many of whom, including Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White, Michael Johns, and in particular Carly Smithson, had prior recording contracts.

Both Cook and Archuleta had some success as recording artists with both selling over a million albums in the U.S.[92] The American Idol Songwriter contest was also held this season.

The pre-season buzz and the early episodes of the show were dominated by the feud between the judges Minaj and Carey after a video of their dispute was leaked to TMZ.

[146][147] In July 2017, it was announced that Ryan Seacrest would return as host,[148] and by September 2017 it was revealed that Katy Perry,[36] Luke Bryan[37] and Lionel Richie would serve as judges.

The product placement in the show in particular was noted,[274] and some critics were harsh about what they perceived as its blatant commercial calculations – Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune charged that American Idol is "a conniving multimedia monster" that has "absorbed the sin of our debauched culture and spit them out in a lump of reconstituted evil".

"[276] Some of the later writers about the show were more positive, Michael Slezak, again of Entertainment Weekly, thought that "for all its bloated, synthetic, product-shilling, money-making trappings, Idol provides a once-a-year chance for the average American to combat the evils of today's music business.

[294] A large number of other finalists during the series' run have also hailed from the American South, including Clay Aiken, Kellie Pickler, and Chris Daughtry,[294] who are all from North Carolina.

[299] Just hours before the eleventh-season finale, where Phillip Phillips was named the winner, Richard Rushfield, author of the book American Idol: The Untold Story, said, "You have this alliance between young girls and grandmas and they see it, not necessarily as a contest to create a pop star competing on the contemporary radio, but as .... who's the nicest guy in a popularity contest", he says, "And that has led to this dynasty of four, and possibly now five, consecutive, affable, very nice, good-looking white boys.

"[299] Some fans call the final performance of the night the "pimp spot" because it usually receives a big boost in votes, due to the recency effect.

[307] The show pushed Fox to become the number one U.S. TV network in overall viewers in 2008 and among adults aged 18–49,[308] the key demographic coveted by advertisers, for an unprecedented eight consecutive years from 2005 to 2012.

[315][316] It helped create a number of highly successful recording artists, such as Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry and Carrie Underwood, as well as others of varying notability.

[319] According to Fred Bronson, author of books on the Billboard charts, no other entity has ever created as many hit-making artists and bestselling albums and singles.

Other alumni have gone on to work in television and films, the most notable being Jennifer Hudson who, on the recommendation of the Idol vocal coach Debra Byrd,[327] won a role in Dreamgirls and eventually went on to win an Academy Award for her performance.

[347] The branded entertainment integration proved beneficial to its advertisers – promotion of AT&T text-messaging as a means to vote successfully introduced the technology into the wider culture,[57][348] and Coca-Cola has seen its equity increased during the show.

All five of these albums reached the top ten in Billboard 200 which made American Idol the most successful soundtrack franchise of any motion picture or television program.

In this live production, co-produced by 19 Entertainment, park guests chose from a list of songs and auditioned privately for Disney cast members.