Editing American Idol (section)

==Selection process==
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2019}}
In a series of steps, the show selected the eventual winner out of many tens of thousands of contestants.

===Contestant eligibility===
The eligible age-range for contestants is fifteen to twenty-eight years old. The initial age limit was sixteen to twenty-four in the first three seasons, but the upper limit was raised to twenty-eight in the fourth season, and the lower limit was reduced to fifteen in the tenth season. The contestants have to be legal U.S. residents, can not have advanced to particular stages of the competition in previous seasons, and must not have held a current recording or talent representation contract by the semi-final stage<ref>{{cite web |title=American Idol 10 Audition Rules |url=http://media.americanidol.com/auditions/season_10/forms/ai10_auditions_rules.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707133435/http://media.americanidol.com/auditions/season_10/forms/ai10_auditions_rules.pdf |archive-date=July 7, 2011 |access-date=February 24, 2011}}</ref> (in previous years by the audition stage).<ref name="season 4 rules" />
{{wide image|American Idol Denver auditions panorama.jpg|700px|Season nine's Denver audition, at [[Invesco Field at Mile High]].}}

===Initial auditions===
For the first eighteen seasons, contestants went through at least three sets of cuts. The first was a brief audition with a few other contestants in front of selectors which may include one of the show's producers. Although auditions can exceed 10,000 in each city, only a few hundred of these made it past the preliminary round of auditions. Successful contestants then sing in front of producers, where more may be cut. Only then can they proceed to audition in front of the judges, which is the only audition stage shown on television.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 19, 2010 |title=Secret Rituals of ''American Idol'' Auditions Exposed |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-19/secret-rituals-of-american-idol-auditions-exposed/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213064512/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/01/19/secret-rituals-of-american-idol-auditions-exposed.html |archive-date=December 13, 2014 |access-date=February 24, 2011 |publisher=Thedailybeast.com}}</ref> Those selected by the judges are sent to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]. Between 10 and 60 people in each city may make it to Hollywood (the average total is between 150 and 200){{citation needed|date=March 2015}}.

From the nineteenth season onwards, contestants request a [[Zoom (software)|Zoom]] interview and audition remotely for the show's producers. If the audition goes well, they will then invite the contestants to audition in front of the judges, in one of the audition cities.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |date=February 12, 2021 |title='American Idol' Was the First Show to React to COVID. Can They Be the First to 'Pivot Back' to Normal? |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/american-idol-covid-new-season-interview-9524390/ |access-date=November 14, 2022 |publisher=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref>

===Hollywood week===
Once in Hollywood, the contestants perform individually or in groups in a series of rounds. Until the tenth season, there were usually three rounds of eliminations in Hollywood.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barber |first=Greg |date=February 16, 2010 |title=American Idol: Kodak Moments |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2010/02/17/american-idol-hollywood-eliminations/ |website=The Washington Times}}</ref> In the first round the contestants emerged in groups but performed individually. For the next round, the contestants put themselves in small groups and performed a song together.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Slezak |first=Michael |date=February 5, 2010 |title='American Idol': 15 Greatest 'Hollywood Week' Moments |url=https://ew.com/gallery/american-idol-15-greatest-hollywood-week-moments/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}</ref> In the final round, the contestants performed solo with a song of their choice [[a cappella]] or accompanied by a band{{nsmdns}}depending on the season. In the second and third seasons, contestants were also asked to write original lyrics or melody in an additional round after the first round. In the [[American Idol season 7|seventh season]], the group round was eliminated and contestants may, after a first solo performance and on judges approval, skip a second solo round and move directly to the final Hollywood round.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kickler Kelber |first=Sarah |date=February 12, 2008 |title='American Idol': Hooray for Hollywood |work=Baltimore Sun |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2008-02-american_idol_hooray_for_hollywood-story.html |access-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108123756/https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-mtblog-2008-02-american_idol_hooray_for_hollywood-story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the twelfth season, the executive producers split up the females and males and chose the members to form the groups in the group round.

In the tenth and eleventh seasons, a further round was added in Las Vegas, where the contestants performed in groups based on a theme, followed by one final solo round to determine the semi-finalists.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |date=February 17, 2011 |title='American Idol' Hollywood Week Ends With A Ticket To Vegas |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/1658276/american-idol-hollywood-week/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211021557/http://www.mtv.com/news/1658276/american-idol-hollywood-week/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 11, 2014 |website=MTV}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Slezak |first=Michael |date=February 17, 2012 |title=American Idol Recap: What Happened in Vegas |work=TVLine |url=https://tvline.com/2012/02/17/american-idol-recap-season-11-episode-11-vegas-group-rounds-top-42/}}</ref> At the end of this stage of the competition, 24 to 36 contestants were selected to move on to the semi-final stage. In the twelfth season the Las Vegas round became a Sudden Death round, where the judges had to choose five guys and five girls each night (four nights) to make the top twenty.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Barrett |first=Annie |date=February 21, 2013 |title='American Idol' sudden death: Five guys get cut |url=https://ew.com/article/2013/02/21/american-idol-sudden-death-five-guys-cut/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}</ref> In the thirteenth season, the Las Vegas round was eliminated and a new round called "Hollywood or Home" was added, where if the judges were uncertain about some contestants, those contestants were required to perform soon after landing in Los Angeles, and those who failed to impress were sent back home before they reached Hollywood.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mansfield |first=Brian |date=February 5, 2014 |title=American Idol: Hollywood or Home |work=USA Today |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/idolchatter/2014/02/05/american-idol-hollywood-or-home-recap/5240565/}}</ref> In the fourteenth season, the "Hollywood or Home" round was dropped, and a Showcase round was added, where the contestants performed at the [[House of Blues]] or auditorium for the judges and a live audience, and these performances determine who makes into the Top 24.<ref>{{cite web |last=Carr |first=Tom |date=February 19, 2015 |title="American Idol" Recap: Showcase Round Performances Include a Sing-Off |url=http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2015/2/19/american-idol-recap-showcase-round-performances-include-a-si.html |website=ABC News Radio |access-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108134639/http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2015/2/19/american-idol-recap-showcase-round-performances-include-a-si.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the seventeenth and eighteenth seasons, the showcase round took place in Hawaii. From the nineteenth season onward, a showstopper round was used.

===Audience voting===
From the semi-finals onward, the fate of the contestants is decided by public vote. During the contestant's performance as well as the recap at the end, a [[toll-free telephone number]] for each contestant was displayed on the screen. For a two-hour period after the episode ends (up to four hours for the finale) in each US time zone, viewers may call or send a text message to their preferred contestant's telephone number, and each call or text message was registered as a vote for that contestant. Viewers were allowed to vote as many times as they can within the two-hour voting window. However, the show reserves the right to discard votes by power dialers.<ref>{{cite web |title=American Idol FAQS |url=http://www.americanidol.com/faq/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222034734/http://www.americanidol.com/faq/ |archive-date=February 22, 2011 |access-date=February 24, 2011 |publisher=Americanidol.com}}</ref> One or more of the least popular contestants may be eliminated in successive weeks until a winner emerges. Over 110&nbsp;million votes were cast in the first season, and by the tenth season the seasonal total had increased to nearly 750 million. Voting via [[text message|text messaging]] was made available in the second season when [[AT&T Wireless Services|AT&T Wireless]] joined as a sponsor of the show, and 7.5&nbsp;million text messages were sent to ''American Idol'' that season.<ref name="ATT 2003">{{cite web |date=June 4, 2003 |title=AT&T Wireless and American Idol Set Global Records in Text Messaging; AT&T Wireless |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20030604005186/en/ATT-Wireless-American-Idol-Set-Global-Records |publisher=Business Wire}}</ref> The number of text messages rapidly increased, reaching 178&nbsp;million texts by the eighth season.<ref name="ATT 2009">{{cite web |date=May 22, 2009 |title=AT&T Announces the Eighth Season of 'American Idol' Smashes All-Time Record for Fan Engagement through Text Messaging |url=http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26832 |access-date=February 24, 2011 |publisher=Att.com}}</ref> Online voting was offered for the first time in the tenth season. The votes are counted and verified by Telescope Inc.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 15, 2010 |title=Harvesting cash from American Idol TV votes |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23856430-harvesting-cash-from-american-idol-tv-votes.do |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303234743/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23856430-harvesting-cash-from-american-idol-tv-votes.do |archive-date=March 3, 2011 |access-date=February 24, 2011 |website=Evening Standard |location=London}}</ref>

===Semi-finals===
In the first three seasons, the semi-finalists were split into different groups to perform individually in their respective night. In the first season, there were three groups of ten, with the top three contestants from each group making the finals. In the second and third seasons, there were four groups of eight, and the top two of each selected. These seasons also featured a wildcard round, where contestants who failed to qualify were given another chance. In the first season, only one wildcard contestant was chosen by the judges, giving a total of ten finalists. In the second and third seasons, each of the three judges championed one contestant with the public advancing a fourth into the finals, making 12 finalists in all.

From the fourth through seventh and ninth seasons, the twenty-four semi-finalists were divided by gender in order to ensure an equal gender division in the top twelve. 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.

The wildcard round returned in the eighth season, wherein there were three groups of twelve, with three contestants moving forward – the highest male, the highest female, and the next highest-placed singer – for each night, and four wildcards were chosen by the judges to produce a final 13. Starting in tenth season, the girls and boys perform on separate nights. In the tenth and eleventh seasons, five of each gender were chosen, and three wildcards were chosen by the judges to form a final 13. In the twelfth season, the top twenty semifinalists were split into gender groups, with five of each gender advancing to form the final 10. In the thirteenth season, there were thirty semifinalists, but only twenty semifinalists (ten for each gender) were chosen by the judges to perform on the live shows, with five in each gender based on the vote and three wildcards chosen by the judges composing the final 13. In the fourteenth season, the top 24 performed at [[The Fillmore Detroit]], starting with the 12 males on one night and then the 12 females on the next night. The following week, the same order went for the top 16, with four males eliminated, followed by four females based on the vote. Then, on the first night of finals, a similar sequence from the thirteenth season was used to determine the final 12, with five of each gender based on the vote and two wildcards chosen by the judges. In the fifteenth season, the top 24 performed at [[Cathedral of Saint Vibiana]] in Los Angeles and were split into two groups of twelve and performed twice, one being a solo performance and one being a duet with a former Idol contestant. In each group, the judges chose 7 contestants to advance to the top 14 where the judges chose 4 to advance to the top 10 and remaining 6 contestants were chosen based on the vote. In the sixteenth season, the top 24 performed at the Academy in the Heart of LA, and the show repeated the process from the previous season. However, instead of Idol alumnus as duet partners, superstar celebrity singers were used as the duet partners. In the seventeenth season, the same process was repeated again. However, instead of a top 24, it's a top 20, the contestants performed at the [[Wiltern Theatre]] in Los Angeles, and performed solos in one episode, and performed the duets in two episodes. In the eighteenth season, due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the top 20 performed at their homes, and based on the vote, half of the top 20 would advance to the top 10, and the other half would be eliminated. However, a wild card was given to one of the bottom 10 to save them from elimination.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |date=April 20, 2020 |title=How Is 'American Idol' Going to Go Live During the Pandemic? The Producers Say They Have a Plan For That |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/idol-worship/9360756/american-idol-producers-explain-live-shows |magazine=Billboard}}</ref><ref name="coronavirus">{{cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Tyler |date=April 21, 2020 |title='American Idol' makes TV history with first remote results show ever due to the coronavirus |work=Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/american-idol-tv-history-first-remote-results-show}}</ref> In the nineteenth season, the show used a combination of the process from the sixteenth and fourteenth seasons. In the twentieth season, the show repeated the process from the previous season, but they used a top 20 instead of a top 16, and there were no all star duets. In the twenty-first season, the same process was repeated, but they started with a top 26 instead of a top 24. In the twenty-second season, the show repeated the process from the twentieth season.

===Finals===
The finals are broadcast in primetime from Los Angeles, in front of a live studio audience (except the [[American Idol season 18|eighteenth season]], due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]). From 2002 to 2019 and from 2021 to 2022, the venue was [[CBS Television City]]. Starting in 2023, it changed to Red Studios. The finals lasted eight weeks in the first season. From the second to ninth and fourteenth seasons, the finals lasted eleven weeks. The tenth and eleventh seasons lasted for twelve weeks, while the twelfth season lasted for ten weeks. In the thirteenth season, the finals lasted thirteen weeks. The finals lasted seven weeks in the fifteenth season, and six weeks in the sixteenth season. Each finalist performs songs based on a weekly theme which may be a musical genre such as [[Motown]], [[disco]], or [[big band]], songs by artists such as [[Michael Jackson]], [[Elvis Presley]] or [[The Beatles]], or more general themes such as ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' number-one hits or songs from the contestant's year of birth. Contestants usually worked with a celebrity mentor related to the theme. From the tenth to twelfth seasons, [[Jimmy Iovine]] was brought in as a mentor for the season. Initially the contestants sang one song each week, but this was increased to two songs from top four or five onwards, then three songs for the top two or three.

The most popular contestants are usually not revealed in the results show. Instead, typically the three contestants (two in later rounds) who received the lowest number of votes was called to the center of the stage. One of these three was usually sent to safety; however the two remaining were not necessarily the bottom two.<ref>{{cite news |last=Maxine Shen |date=May 1, 2009 |title=Adam Really Was in the Bottom 3 |work=New York Post |url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/05012009/tv/adam_really_was_in_the_bottom_3_167038.htm}}</ref> The contestant with the fewest votes was then revealed and eliminated from the competition. A montage of the eliminated contestant's time on the show was played and they gave their final performance (from the fourteenth season onward, the montage and the final performance were dropped). However, in the [[American Idol season 6|sixth season]], during the series' first ever [[Idol Gives Back]] episode, no contestant was eliminated, but on the following week, two were sent home. Moreover, from the [[American Idol season 8|eighth]] to the [[American Idol season 14|fourteenth]] seasons, and the [[American Idol (season 17)|seventeenth season]] onward, the judges may overturn viewers' decision with a "Judges' Save" if they unanimously agreed to. "The save" could only be used once, and only up through the Top 5. In the eighth to tenth and fourteenth seasons, a double elimination then took place in the week following the activation of the save, but in the eleventh and thirteenth seasons, a regular single elimination took place. The save was not activated in the twelfth season and consequently, a non-elimination took place in the week after its expiration with the votes then carrying over into the following week.

The "Fan Save" was introduced in the [[American Idol season 14|fourteenth season]]. During the finals, viewers were given a five-minute window to vote for the contestants in danger of elimination by using their Twitter account to decide which contestant will move on to the next show, starting with the Top 8.

===Season finale===
During the original run of ''American Idol'' on Fox, the finale week consisted of a one-hour long final performance night and a two-hour last episode of the season that culminates in revealing the winner, both of which are broadcast live in the U.S. [[Eastern time zone|Eastern]] and [[Central time zone|Central]] time zones. For the first, third through sixth and fourteenth through fifteenth seasons it was broadcast from the [[Dolby Theatre]], which has an audience capacity of approximately 3,400. The second-season finale took place at the [[Gibson Amphitheatre]], which had an audience capacity of over 6,000. In the seventh through thirteenth seasons, the venue was at the [[Peacock Theater|Nokia Theatre L.A. Live]], which holds an audience of over 7,000. Since the show's reboot on ABC, the venue remains the same throughout the entire show (excluding auditions), but was still two episodes in the sixteenth season, and then stretched to a single three-hour season finale that is annually [[Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting|aired live simultaneously in all U.S. territories]], starting with the seventeenth season. The eighteenth-season finale was conducted virtually due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United States|COVID-19 pandemic]].

===Rewards for winner and finalists===
The winner usually receives a record deal with a major label, which may be for up to six albums,<ref>{{cite web |date=May 13, 2010 |title='Idol' Contestants – No Shtupping the Judges |url=https://www.tmz.com/2010/05/12/american-idol-contract-sex-judges-simon-cowell/ |access-date=February 24, 2011 |publisher=Tmz.com}}</ref><ref name="NYT 02-24-2010">{{cite news |last=Wyatt |first=Edward |date=February 23, 2010 |title=Idol' Winners: Not Just Fame but Big Bucks |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/arts/television/24idol.html}}</ref> and secures a management contract with ''American Idol''-affiliated [[19 Management]] (which has the [[right of first refusal]] to sign all contestants), as well as various lucrative contracts. All winners prior to the ninth season reportedly earned at least $1&nbsp;million in their first year as winner.<ref name="NYT 02-24-2010" /> At first the contract came with a $250,000-plus advance, but dropped to about $62,500 over the Fox years.<ref name="vty">{{cite news |last=Halperin |first=Shirley |date=May 17, 2018 |title='American Idol': How Disney's Approach to the Winner's Music Breaks From the Past |language=en |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2018/music/news/american-idol-disney-1202811694/ |access-date=May 8, 2019}}</ref> All the runners-up of the first ten seasons, as well as some of other finalists, had also received record deals with major labels. However, starting in the eleventh season, the runner-up may only be guaranteed a single-only deal.<ref>{{cite news |last=Anthony McCartney |date=May 25, 2012 |title=New 'American Idol' contract allows for lower payouts, no album guarantees for runners-up |newspaper=The Washington Post |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/new-american-idol-contract-allows-for-lower-payouts-no-album-guarantees-for-runners-up/2012/05/25/gJQAwiPzpU_story.html |url-status=dead |access-date=May 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208143442/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/new-american-idol-contract-allows-for-lower-payouts-no-album-guarantees-for-runners-up/2012/05/25/gJQAwiPzpU_story.html |archive-date=December 8, 2018}}</ref> [[Bertelsmann Music Group|BMG]]/[[Sony Music Entertainment|Sony]] (first through ninth seasons), [[Universal Music Group|UMG]] (tenth through fifteenth seasons), and [[Disney Music Group]]'s [[Hollywood Records]] (sixteenth through eighteenth seasons) had the right of first refusal to sign contestants for three months after the season's finale. In the fourteenth and fifteenth seasons, the winner was signed with [[Big Machine Records]]. Prominent music mogul [[Clive Davis]] also produced some of the selected contestants' albums, such as Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo. All top 10 (11 in the tenth and twelfth seasons, 5 in the fourteenth season, and 7 in the sixteenth season) finalists earn the privilege of going on a tour, where the participants may each earn a six-figure sum.<ref>{{cite web |title=The cost of being on 'American Idol' |url=http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/the-cost-of-being-on-american-idol-6.aspx |access-date=August 6, 2011 |publisher=Bankrate.com}}</ref>