So far it has to be Kelly Clarkson. I mean she had tons of hit singles, and her albums made platinum I believe. I would have to go with Jordin Sparks as a 2nd. I mean what the hell happen to Ruben Studdard or Carrie Underwood. But yeah.

I feel bad for Kelly Clarkson... almost every single one of her songs is about a broke up. Poor thing has never had a healthy relationship. =(
And sure, Kelly Clarkson's successful in terms of numbers of albums/singles... but she's not exactly cool. Nobody 'cool' kid would be caught dead listening to a Kelly Clarkson song. Of course, I'm not cool... so I can listen to all the KC stuff I want. =D

Carrie Underwood's pretty successful! She's won a ton of awards already, hasn't she?

Here is how I will rank them: Kelly Clarkson, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Fantasia Barrino, Ruben Studdard. It's too soon to see where David Cook will land... but I'm predicting he'll be somewhere between Jordin Sparks and Carrie Underwood.

What do you mean what happened to Carrie Underwood, lol? Two platinum albums and a handful of Grammys is what happened to Carrie Underwood! She's pretty much one of the biggest country artists in the wolrd right now. She's actually outsold Kelly Clarkson.

Love me some Carrie. She'll always be my idol.

On pure voice alone, I would have to say Carrie Underwood. I think that Kelly Clarkson has landed herself some catchy toons (the video about her mom's relationship with her dad actually hits home for me) but I think that she really abuses her chest voice.

Carrie Underwood, hands down. That girl really is on fire. Kelly has been doing a whole lot of assy work lately.

Did you guys forget about Chris Daughtry? He didn't win, of course. According to Wikipedia (sorry too lazy to look elsewhere):

But honestly, I f**king hate Clay Aiken. How could anyone like a gross specimen of a man(?) like him? Ew.

i mean, OMGWTF?

He looks UNCANNILY like Lindsay Lohan here.

i said almost this exact argument to my mom a few months ago and she jumped all on me about how carrie underwood is the most successful. i was like damn calm down. i didn't know really how well carrie underwood was doing because i don't keep up with country music much.

Clay Aiken scares me. He's only still being talked about because of things other than music.

Kelly Clarkson is the original American Idol winner, so I'd have to say her. I've only heard one of Carrie Underwood's song (mainly because I don't like Country music), but she has been really success.

Yay, ladiesssss!

Anyone remember that performance by Fantasia last season? xD

Haha, I guess base on sales she probably is most successful. But not many people listen to Country like myself, and I don't even know ONE song of hers at all lol. I guess Kelly Clarkson wins on popularity and she's more well known. I know like 2-3 of her songs by heart.


Yeah same here. That's how I feel. Kelly Clarkson will always be the best even if Carrie Underwood might be more successful. But in terms of overall, I have to give it to Kelly.

I don't know, Tung... I don't listen to country music either, but I've heard quite a lot by Carrie Underwood. Her genre's kind of close to pop too, so yeah.

Wait... you actually ranked Taylor ABOVE Fantasia? No freakin' way. My own ranking:

Kelly Clarkson - The original. Massively successful until the trainwreck that was her last album. She paved the way for...
Carrie Underwood - Several Grammys, several CMTs, multiplatinum albums.
Fantasia Barrino - Her albums sell decently well, AND she headlined the Broadway production of The Color Purple.
Jordin Sparks - I'll admit it, I like "No Air." She hasn't sold nearly as many albums as Kelly, Carrie, and Fantasia. though. I think the worst opening of any Idol winner, right?
Ruben Studdard - He had a hit, even though it was sorry. He's also fairly popular on urban adult contemporary stations, and he put out a decent gospel album.
Taylor Hicks - Did he even put out a single (you know, not counting the lame ass Idol winner's song)?

In the big scheme of things though, I'll say it's a tie between Kelly and Carrie. Can't wait to see what David Cook does. His album should be fantastic.

OMG YES. Do you remember Simon's face? He literally was like

^ To be completely honest, I didn't keep up with anything Taylor Hicks or Fantasia Barrino. I just kind of placed them in that order randomly xD

And Simon's face was priceless.

Oh man. David Cook has the potential to be big on a massive scale, up there with Carrie and Kelly. It all depends on how he's marketed and if his own music can live up to his American Idol covers. I think it mainly comes down to creative control. If they let him be who he wants to be as an artist (not in a Taylor Hicks way because that motherf**ker was RETARDED, but in a Daughtry way) he should do fantastically.

Correctomundo!

I beleive that while Jordin had the lowest opening for an idol album, overall, it's now sold fairly well, better than Taylor and Ruben, at least.

out of all of them, I have to say ruben is like not getting any attention at all and probably the most successful people were kelly and carrie :]

You guys should see the Canadian Idol winners... NOT ONE has been remotely successful. Mind you, the show itself was pretty pathetic - four crappy ass judges (one of which tries too hard to be the next Simon Cowell) and a very bad host (son of a former Prime Minister).

Jacob Hoggard, who came in third in the second season and is now the lead singer of Hedley, got a lot of attention though. I think he's probably the only person who benefited from the Canadian one. xD

^ I liked Eva Avila...

Kelly Clarksom
Carrie Underwood
Jordin Sparks
Fantasia Barrino

David Cook will get up there.. hopefully

Kelly Clarkson, hands down

Kelly Clarkson
Carrie Underwood

Forget winner.

I want her!
Top 12, ftw.

^ Who is that? she's pretty but uhhhhh those shoes dont work haha