At the age of ten, he won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition, leading to other television singing appearances.

[5][7][8][9] The album, released three months later, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart; it has sold over 750,000 copies in the United States and over 900,000 worldwide.

[28] He started performing publicly at the age of 10 when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition, singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he won the Child Division.

"[38] Archuleta's competing on Star Search was preceded by an appearance on The Jenny Jones Show, meeting the finalists from American Idol's first season, for whom he performed a spontaneous a cappella rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.

The year after Star Search, he found out he had partial vocal paralysis but declined risky surgery and has said he feels he is almost fully recovered.

[38] Archuleta made initial attempts at songwriting and arranging music after his Star Search experience and has written at least three songs.

[6] Archuleta took advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments when he accompanied himself on piano for his performances of "Crazy", "Another Day in Paradise", and "Angels".

During the 1970s themed week Archuleta sang the John Lennon song "Imagine", omitting the earlier verses in favor of the last one.

Los Angeles Times columnist Ann Powers speculated that he wanted to avoid singing "no religion too" because of his faith.

[45][46] A May 2008 Associated Press article reported that Jeff Archuleta had his son add a lyric from the Sean Kingston song "Beautiful Girls" into an interpretation of "Stand by Me" (from which "Beautiful Girls" samples its bass line), increasing the costs for licensing, and that this had resulted in Jeff Archuleta being banned from American Idol backstage rehearsals.

[65] On April 22, 2009, Archuleta returned to the American Idol stage in its eighth season and performed the third single from his debut album, "Touch My Hand".

On April 30, 2009, he made his first UK television appearance, on The Paul O'Grady Show, performing "Crush" and chatting about his album, which was released there in May.

[67] In August 2009, Archuleta won three Teen Choice Awards for Breakout Artist, Love Song, and the Music Tour category with Demi Lovato.

He made a special guest appearance in Season 3 of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana[69] in the episode "Promma Mia" as himself, and he sang a duet ("I Wanna Know You") with Miley Cyrus, who played the title character.

[72] Archuleta sang live at the Tejano Music Awards, covering Selena's songs, Como La Flor and No Me Queda Más at the event as a tribute on July 11, 2010.

[74] On October 7, 2010, it was announced that David Archuleta would be the guest star at the annual Christmas concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

[78] From July 16 to 26, 2011, Archuleta toured Asia, performing in Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh), and Malaysia.

[79] At the conclusion of the December 19, 2011, show of the My Kind of Christmas Tour, Archuleta announced his intention to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years.

[13] In early 2012, Archuleta signed a contract with TV5 to shoot a prime-time mini series in the Philippines, Nandito Ako (I'm Here), which was broadcast from February to March 2012.

[81] This album contains covers of classic Filipino songs, including "Nandito Ako" by Ogie Alcasid, "Forevermore" by Side A, "Rainbow" by South Border and Nexxus's "I'll Never Go".

The song and its video were to debut on February 12–15, 2015, to be performed at RootsTech 2015 with comedy sketch group Studio C.[88][89][90] On September 28, he released a new single "Glorious" as a free download.

[100] He released a music video for "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays", with special appearances by Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick.

[109] In 2024, Archuleta went viral on TikTok for performing a cover version of Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" in a concert held in New York City.

Along with Do Something and the Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation,[111] Archuleta is involved with helping willing teenagers make a difference in others' lives with disaster relief.

[114] Archuleta partnered with ChildFund International for his My Kind of Christmas Tour in an effort to increase awareness and recruit new sponsors for children in need worldwide.

[116] He has also been one of the most consistent artist supporters of Invisible Children, rallying fans to donate to protection initiatives in Central Africa, and performing at events held by the organization.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Archuleta participated in Billboard's Live At-Home sessions, where he performed piano versions of "OK, All Right", "Crush", and "What a Wonderful World", and released a music video for "Just Breathe" dedicated to the frontline workers; both were fundraisers for Direct Relief.

[103] Archuleta's mother is from Honduras, and much of the music he listened to as a child was Latin-influenced, including watching his mom sing at events with her sisters.

[123] On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, Archuleta cited his musical influences as Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams.

[29] Like Elliott Yamin and another singer he admires, John Mayer, Archuleta tries to infuse his pop selections with a soulful vibe.