Which American Idol runners-up should have won?

[trustypepper]

Pretty simple concept. Vote for the ones you think should have won their respective season instead of the actual winner. Please note that you can vote for more than just one. If you think the actual winner was correct, leave that season alone. If you think they've all been correct so far, choose the last option.

[Caviar]

McPhee. I can't think of any other runner up worthy of such a title. I mean Taylor?!?

[trustypepper]

I haven't seen some of the orginal seasons but I went with Adam Lambert and Jena Irene.

[SoMuchToSay]

I guess Katherine McPhee is the only one I saw. But really, Chris Daughtry should have won that season... Or I would have loved Kellie Pickler winning.

[Deleted]

Katharine.

Then again, Hicks' career hasn't been much better than Kat's, and he never seemed to be able to shake the Idol stigma, in order for anyone to take him seriously as a recording artist.
I preferred Diana to Fantasia and Lauren to Scotty, but I wouldn't say they were undeserving, either.

Adam, Jessica and Clay were vastly superior to the winners in their respective seasons, though.

[Gabe]

1. Katharine
2. Adam
3. Clay
4. Kree

[.indulgecountry]

Crystal, Jessica, Jena, and Kree. Kree wasn't too bad though because Candice was just as deserving and great, too, but my personal preference went towards Kree.

[Air Jordin]

Clay, Diana, Katherine, Lauren, Kree and Jena.

But, I think Jena is the only runner-up who is significantly better than the winner.

[Focus]

Lauren over Scotty
Crystal over Lee

I think both ladies are better singers than the winners, plus Lauren's tone is amazing.

[jdanton2]

Justin over Kelly. actually preferred Tamyra to win and thought Kelly was boring and forgettable at the time.
Diana over Fantasia . thought Fantasia's voice was quite annoying with Diana sounding much better.
Katharine over Taylor . Katharine was a better singer though Taylor was ok and a good performer.
David A over David C. though Archuleta was the better singer and thought Cook's whole grunge sound was boring.
Adam over Kris . preferred Adam to Kris though really was not a fan of either. Adam's voice was too shrieky but was a good performer and Kris was very pitchy and bland.
Crystal over Lee. Crystal was the better singer but boring and Lee was as well but could not sing.
Lauren over Scotty. hated Scotty's voice and thought Lauren's was better . not a fan of Country though or either overall.
Jessica over Phillip. thought Jessica was one of the best singers ever on the show vs Phillip one of the worst.
Jena over Calab . did not really watch this season much but saw enough to prefer Jena.

[Revelry]

Adam, Katharine, and Clay.

[Joey]

Clay over Ruben although I think both really deserved to win.
Season 10, Haley over the top 2. Haley was as good as Kelly and Carrie, people just didn't appreciate her as much as they did with Lauren & Scotty. I think if she had won the season she could be as big as Kelly or Carrie now. (Still not over her elimination.)

[Gabe]

Looking back at Season 5 though, it feels like Chris Daughtry was the winner and Kellie Pickler the runner-up.

[toomuchboy]

5 - Any of Katharine, Elliot, and Daughtry should've won. I love Kellie Pickler, but she's not the greatest live singer in comparison.
7 - I rooted for Carly and Archuleta and I'd rather one of them won still, but Cook wasn't awful.
8 - Adam was the most deserving that year, but I do like Kris Allen. He's not as good of a singer, but he has a nice tone and was one of the strongest contestants when it came to arrangements.
9 - Casey was the only one I liked that season, but Crystal was heads above everyone else even if she was boring to me.
10 - Pia or Haley should have won. But even Lauren was miles above Scotty McCreery--worst winner, imo.
11 - I didn't care for anyone this year, but it should've gone to Jessica or Joshua, if anyone deserved it. Phillip only had one good performance that whole year from what I can remember ("Volcano").

2, 3, 4, and 12--I was rooting for someone else, but the winners were deserving. 13--Jena definitely deserved it the most.

[nightshade]

Katharine for sure.

[14887fan]

Katharine McPhee, Crystal Bowersox, Lauren Alaina, and Jene Irene

[Linnethia Monique]

The Blake Lewis/ Jordin Sparks season was the last one that I watched all the way through, so I can only make this decision based off of that. All-in-all I would have to say Katherine deserved to win over Taylor hands-down. To this day I am still perplexed on how he managed to pull that off.

[¤ Matthea ¤]

Season 5: Katharine McPhee (ideally Chris Daughtry, but between Hicks and Kat, Kat should be the winner)

Season 8: Adam Lambert

Season 9: Crystal Bowersox

Season 10: Lauren Alaina, thought Scotty isn't too bad either

Season 11: Jessica Sanchez (or Joshua Ledet, basically anyone but PP)

Season 13: Jena Irene

[Deleted]

I can't at Justin Guarini having any votes over Kelly.

[outback]

Season 2 - Clay over Ruben
Season 3 - Diana over Fantasia
Season 4 - Katherine over Taylor
Season 9 - Crystal over Lee
Season 10 - Lauren over Scotty

Haven't watched since season 10

[mamaloveme]

obviously

1. Katharine should be the winner over Taylor (He won, like really? hes too old school)

2. Adams is second behind Kat, Kris is not a bad singer or performer, he did put up decent work

3. pretty much Clay/Crystal(actually who care that season, thats the worse season)


i do prefer Kree over Candice
Lauren never meet my expectation, never improve through the competition, smiling through each songs (whatever kind of songs it is), she has no much intensity or little lack of focus), she never stand a chance to beat Scotty

Season 7 is my favourite season, every one is so good and different, David C is improving and impressing people theought out the live show, thats why he win


season 13 is the second worse season, none of them gonna make it anywhere(i meant mainstream)

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2015 11:06:59 GMT -5 mamaloveme said:

obviously

1. Katharine should be the winner over Taylor (He won, like really? hes too old school)

2. Adams is second behind Kat, Kris is not a bad singer or performer, he did put up decent work

3. pretty much Clay/Crystal(actually who care that season, thats the worse season)


i do prefer Kree over Candice
Lauren never meet my expectation, never improve through the competition, smiling through each songs (whatever kind of songs it is), she has no much intensity or little lack of focus), she never stand a chance to beat Scotty

Season 7 is my favourite season, every one is so good and different, David C is improving and impressing people theought out the live show, thats why he win


season 13 is the second worse season, none of them gonna make it anywhere(i meant mainstream)

I thought Lauren had the potential to be very successful, but she received no guidance, and trying to reboot her as "Carrie 2.0" only made things worse for her.

She's got a great voice and a cute personality. She needed some tweaking, but it's a shame she never got that.

[horchata]

-Clay over Ruben. I mean they were pretty even for the most part, but ngl I liked Clay a bit more.
-Bo over Carrie, but in retrospect the cards fell the right way though. If it's solely based on actual performances though on the show during that season though? I thought Bo was superior.
-Adam over Kris, but never was all that invested in either guys that season.
-Crystal over Lee because lol duh. Lee was every bit of awful with the exception like two performances at best.
-Jessica Sanchez over Phillip Phillips. She was tremendous and without question is one of my favorite contestants of all time from the show. How is this not amazing?

Anyway, the rest are correct though in regards to the who won when it came down to the final two. Taylor gets unnecessary hate to this day, but I've always thought Kat was overrated a lot of the time.

[ILLUSION]

DeGarmo over Barrino
McPhee over Hicks
Archuleta over Cook

[kanimal]

Very interesting question.

You'd obviously be inclined to prefer Katharine McPhee over Taylor Hicks retroactively, but he "won" that finale. She had an off night, and while he didn't have a GREAT one, he was leagues better than she was. He was also more consistent throughout the season (she deserved to get eliminated the week Daughtry left).

Carrie is the #1 (or at least a close #2) winner of all time, and she did "win" her finale (even though she cracked vocally on Angels, the emotion was crazy). But Bo Bice was much stronger throughout that season. He had "In a Dream," which was the season's best performance by a mile and one of the best Idol performances of all time. She had "Alone," but she also had one of the season's worst performances in "Love is a Battlefield" and got outsung by Anthony on Top 4 night (when they did the same song).

I do remember thinking David A "won" the season 7 finale, but David Cook was so much better throughout the season that I'm fine with the outcome.

Jena came on really strong late in the competition, but Caleb was on a different level for the first half - so that had to count for something.

Phillip vs. Jessica can go either way based on taste, so that's harder to call. But you can definitely make the case that Jessica had more Idol "moments." Lauren vs. Scotty is very similar to that.

The less refutable ones to me:

Kelly clearly deserved to beat Justin
Fantasia clearly deserved to beat Diana
Jordin clearly deserved to beat Blake
Candice clearly deserved to beat Kree

Clay clearly should have beaten Ruben
Adam clearly should have beaten Kris

[Ginger Spice]

Clay, Katharine, and Adam

[Gabe]

I just can't take anyone of the people who voted for Justin over Kelly and Bo over Carrie seriously. Have you seen their careers? Do you think Justin and Bo would have even come remotely close to the success they've had? Lol!

[trustypepper]

Somewhat related to this poll, I was extremely happy to hear that Jena Irene was finally signed to a record deal today!!

[carrieidol1]

I just went back and watched Carrie's full package of performances on Youtube. Her voice was unreal, even then. Bo had the experience, but Carrie had the voice. Anyone who choses Bo over Carrie is out of their mind! He had some strong performances, but Carrie was far and away the best vocalist of that season. At no point was she ever "out-sung"... lmao, by anyone. Same with Kelly and Justin... anyone who choses Justin over Kelly, please just go home. I'm not sure about season 1, but for season 4 I believe Carrie led the vote count almost every week. I think Simon Fuller came out with this fact a few years after Carrie's season... I think he said something to the affect that Carrie was far and away the clear winner from early on. Not that this has anything to do with this poll, just an interesting tidbit.

But to answer the poll, Katherine over Taylor, Lauren over Scotty, Clay over Ruben, and Crystal over Lee.