Editing American Idol (section)

====Season 6 (2007)====
{{Main|American Idol season 6{{!}}''American Idol'' season 6}}
[[File:Jordin Sparks by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jordin Sparks]], the [[American Idol season 6|sixth season]] winner]]
The sixth season began on Tuesday, January 16, 2007. Ryan Seacrest returned as host, and Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell returned as judges. The premiere drew a massive audience of 37.3&nbsp;million viewers, peaking in the last half hour with more than 41&nbsp;million viewers.<ref name="death star">{{cite web |date=January 17, 2007 |title='Idol' Death Star Returns – Premiere ratings build on last year's ginormous numbers |url=http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-ratings011607,0,811654.story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103081014/http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-ratings011607,0,811654.story |archive-date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=January 17, 2007 |publisher=Zap2it}}</ref>

Teenager [[Sanjaya Malakar]] was the season's most talked-about contestant for his unusual hairdo,<ref>{{cite web |date=March 28, 2007 |title=Sanjaya on 'Idol' rocks a faux-hawk |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna17822498 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905025644/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17822498 |archive-date=September 5, 2011 |access-date=February 24, 2011 |publisher=[[MSNBC]]}}</ref> and for managing to survive elimination for many weeks due in part to the weblog [[Vote for the Worst]] and satellite radio personality [[Howard Stern]], who both encouraged fans to vote for him. However, on the Top 7 results, Sanjaya was voted off.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 19, 2007 |title=Buh-Bye-Ya, Sanjaya! |url=http://www.usmagazine.com/sanjaya_out |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070525221943/http://www.usmagazine.com/sanjaya_out |archive-date=May 25, 2007 |access-date=May 16, 2013 |website=Us Weekly}}</ref>

This season saw the first ''Idol Gives Back'' telethon-inspired event, which raised more than $76&nbsp;million in corporate and viewer donations.<ref name="idol gives back" /> No contestant was eliminated that week, but two ([[Phil Stacey]] and [[Chris Richardson]]) were eliminated the next.

In the May 23 season finale, [[Jordin Sparks]] was declared the winner with the runner-up being [[Blake Lewis]]. Sparks has had some success as a recording artist post-''Idol''.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

This season also saw the launch of the ''American Idol'' Songwriter contest which allows fans to vote for the "coronation song". Thousands of recordings of original songs were submitted by songwriters, and 20 entries selected for the public vote. The winning song, "[[This Is My Now]]", was performed by both finalists during the finale and released by Sparks on May 24, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |last=Natalie Finn |date=May 23, 2007 |title=Jordin Sparks Idol Finale |url=http://eonline.com/news/55228/jordin-sparks-idol-finale |website=E Online}}</ref>