With new music due from American Idol Season 8’s holy trinity of Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta, UrbanWire takes stock of previous winners as we head for the fiercest chart battle from the show’s contestants yet.

This is American Idol.

Season 1: Kelly Clarkson

Debut: Back when American Idol was still a cheap-looking 90s talent show with 3 unknown judges and countless unrecognisable faces, all eyes were on a particular small-town Texas girl. With her extraordinary vocal abilities, she serenaded the crowds with her infectious personality and burst into the music scene with such force that convinced the producers of the show that Season 2 was definitely happening. Kelly Clarkson’s debut album Thankful, sold almost 3 million copies worldwide, making the music charts sit up and notice tracks like “A Moment Like This” and “Miss Independent”.

After: Since her sophomore album Breakaway in 2004, which produced monster hits like “Since U Been Gone” and “Because of You”, the wide-eyed pop singer has been transformed into a world-class pop/rock superstar – one that’s truly deserving of her Idol win and serves as an important reminder of why American Idol is still the best talent competition on this planet. She released 2 more CDs thereafter, bringing her total album sales to over 20 million copies according to Sony Music. These days, she can be seen promoting her newest power ballad “Already Gone”, which she co-wrote with OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.

Best performance on Idol: “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin

Season 2: Ruben Studdard

Debut: For the newer Idol converts, here’s something you probably never knew about the Velvet teddy bear: He has the second highest first week sales in Idol history of more than 400, 000 copies of his debut album sold in the United States. Fueled largely by the success of its singles (“Flying Without Wings”, “Sorry 2004”), Soulful unexpectedly turned in sales of over a million copies, although we know all too well who (Clay Aiken) had the last laugh.

After: When his next 3 studio offerings (I Need an Angel, The Return, Love Is) struck out at the charts and their singles failed to make any impact on radio at all, it became too obvious that Ruben Studdard couldn’t survive apart from the American Idol brand. We pity the guy, who was once such a crowd pleaser with his soulful vocals, and full cheeks that everyone felt like pinching.

Best performance on Idol: Superstar by The Carpenters

https://youtu.be/EHi0uInKM9w

Season 3: Fantasia Barrino

Debut: There was, and still is, no question that Fantasia Barrino is one of the most versatile and explosive performer to grace the titanic stage of American Idol. Her pop/gospel-influenced sound brings a young Aretha Franklin to mind, while her rags-to-riches story only boosted her popularity on the show. Her performance of “Summertime” from the operatic Broadway musical Porgy and Bess is simply mind blowing-ly superior to anything else seen on Idol, and made it to the 2004 Emmy Awards’ list of Greatest Television moments. After she won the competition, the quirky single mom raced up the music charts with her coronation single “I Believe”, making her the first recording star to hit No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 with a debut single.

After: Not surprising, her innate talent for performing and singing caught the eye of the world’s most influential woman Oprah Winfrey, who cast her in the lead role of the wildly successful Broadway musical The Colour Purple. On the recording front, the R&B singer released her second album in 2006, pushing her Grammy nominations to a total of 7. Her third is due next year.

Also interesting to note is that besides Fantasia, Season 3 also discovered future Academy Award-winner and President Barack Obama’s good friend, Jennifer Hudson.

Best performance: “Summertime” from the musical Porgy & Bess

Season 4: Carrie Underwood

Debut: Woe to those who actually thought that runner-up Bo Bice stood any chance against the future country megastar of the season. When Carrie Underwood performed “Alone” (originally sang by Heart) on the show, her transformation to greatness was complete. No longer was she just the countryside girl who tended to animals and sang to them, here was the new American sweetheart whose powerful voice formed the base of multi-platinum selling records and countless industry awards that followed thereafter. With sales of more than 9 million copies, her first CD Some Hearts is still the best-selling debut album in the Idol catalogue and country music history.

After: Underwood followed up her massive success with another stellar record in 2007, Carnival Ride, which cemented her superstar status in the business by producing 5 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Country charts (“So Small”, “All-American Girl”, “Last Name”, “Just A Dream”, “I Told You So”). Be sure to check out her recent release, Play On, where the singer takes more control of her music and co-authors 7 of its 13 tracks.

Best performance on Idol: “Alone” by Heart
https://youtu.be/nMBSDpB3WB8

Season 5: Taylor Hicks

Debut: For UrbanWire, this is by far the worst of American Idol. Compared with the previous 4 seasons, 5 was painfully frustrating to watch and horribly difficult to listen to. We couldn’t remember anyone who came out from this except the sexy rocker Chris Daughtry. Hicks’ name was thrown up because we googled “Does anyone remember who won American Idol Season 5?” and found him in Wikipedia.

After: After the tears of joy that he beat the beautiful-but-boring Katherine McPhee, Hicks recorded his low-selling self-titled debut and toured on Broadway. Yawn. Like many of you, we maintain that Chris Daughtry should have won. (can we hear an Amen)

Best performance of Idol: You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker
https://youtu.be/e9OFjvzQCKg

Season 6: Jordin Sparks

Debut: Thank the Heavens that Jordin Sparks triumphed that haughty tart nicknamed Melinda Dolittle and what’s-his-name, the beat boxing dude. Although Jordin showed no real sparks during the show’s run, her performance on the finale was a relief for us that she had the potential to grow into her own musicality and niche. Her self-titled CD became the first of those before and after her to contain 4 Top 20 hits. “No Air”, which she recorded with Rihanna-beater and then-R&B superstar Chris Brown, also became the best-selling track by any Idol contestant and enjoyed tremendous worldwide success.

After: Together with fellow Idols Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson, British singing sensations Leona Lewis and Adele, and American pop star Miley Slutty Cyrus, Jordin Sparks headlined the VH1 Divas Concert this year, which apart from its charitable cause, served as the industry’s anointment ceremony of pop music’s future Divas. She performed her latest dance-pop single “S.O.S (Let The Music Play)”, a track off her sophomore album Battlefield.

Best performance on Idol: I (Who Have Nothing) – Shirley Bassey

Season 7: David Cook

Debut: The Internet was abuzz with fans from both camps yelling at each other when it was announced that David Cook would take on David Archuleta for the season’s finale, as though the side with the loudest screams would secure their Idol’s win. Who was going to triumph – the David who rocked the house each night with his own unique music arrangements, or the other David whose teenybopper/pop/soul tunes earned a devout following known as the “Archies”?

After: The rocker eventually took the night by a nose and released his self-titled platinum-selling debut. Cook has since gone on a national tour, playing at various venues across the United States to promote his new CD, and performed occasionally with other Idol alum like Carrie Underwood, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert.

Best performance on Idol: Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey
https://youtu.be/DHccueeDFUM

Season 8: Kris Allen

Debut: It was the biggest, and most closely watched finale in the 8 seasons of American Idol. Show frontrunner and sexually ambiguous Adam Lambert was up against show underdog and boy-next-door Kris Allen. The pundits called it an obvious and decisive win for the flamboyant Lambert, while the fans decided otherwise with their votes. The star-studded night ended after a record 100 million votes was cast, and Allen, with all his heartfelt and endearing delivery every week, finally charmed his way into America’s heart and took the crown home.

After: Featuring collaborations with guitarist Joe King (The Fray), producer Steve Kipner (Christina Aguilera, Natasha Bedingfield, Cheryl Cole) and more, Kris Allen’s highly anticipated debut album will face some serious chart contentions from his chummy friend, Adam Lambert, whose record is set to drop a week after Kris’. Third runner-up from the season, Allison Iraheta, will also have her shot in December, less than a week after Adam’s CD release. Together, “Kradison” (Kris, Adam, Allison) should give us the most intense duel on the Billboard charts yet. And then, perhaps, Kris will finally prove to his critics that he’s able to hold his own and let his star shine brighter than his contemporaries.

Best performance on Idol: Falling Slowly from the movie “Once”

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This article is the first of a 3-part series on American Idol releases. Be sure to check UrbanWire here for our review on reigning Idol champ Kris Allen’s debut CD!