American Idol | featured news

Simon Cowell believes a woman is likely to win his final season on "American Idol." The acerbic British judge told a teleconference Thursday he thinks one of the 12 women among the ninth season's 24 semifinalists has a good shot to win the Fox singing contest....

Shani Davis, Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White are the true American Idols. In a startling turnaround from the night before, the Olympics clobbered Fox's "American Idol" in the ratings Wednesday night. The Nielsen Co. said that during the one hour the two shows competed against one another, the Olympics were seen by 30.1 million people while 18.4 million watched "American Idol."

Seven "American Idol" contestants can stop worrying, for now: They're in the top 24....

The "American Idol" group auditions proved to be a drama of two dads....

Ellen DeGeneres hit the right notes with "American Idol" viewers. Fans took to the Internet to express their pleasant surprise over the 52-year-old funnylady's debut as the singing competition's fourth judge. DeGeneres assumed her judging panel post for Tuesday's episode chronicling the first round of "Hollywood Week," the cutthroat post-audition phase in which 181 contestants will be narrowed down to 24 semifinalists.

Howard Stern told his satellite radio listeners on Monday that he is considering leaving Sirius — and radio altogether — to become a judge on “American Idol.”

The head of Taylor Swift's record label is fired up and ready to defend his superstar from people who are criticizing her Grammy-night performance. "She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview. "This is not `American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."

It’s a shame that Neil Patrick Harris has a pretty good day job, what with that “How I Met Your Mother” show and all, because he was the best of the guest judges to grace the “Idol” stage so far this season.

Wednesday night's "American Idol" produced typically dominating results for FOX, but the massive drop to "Human Target" at 9 p.m. probably has to concern the network.

Ryan Seacrest reported that 12,000 hopefuls auditioned in Chicago over a two-day period, with only 13 making it to the next round. Those may seem like long odds, and a good reason for parents to get their kids to do homework instead of working on their voices.