American Idol the winner determined by American viewers using phones, Internet, and SMS text voting. The winners of the first sixteen seasons, as chosen by viewers, are Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Candice Glover, Caleb Johnson, Nick Fradiani, Trent Harmon, and Maddie Poppe, respectively. "American Idol" employs a panel of vocal judges who critique the contestants' performances. The original judges, for the first through eighth seasons, were record producer and music manager Randy Jackson, singer and choreographer Paula Abdul, and music executive and manager Simon
Asian Idol Idol" performance show. The Idols performed two songs each—one in English and another in their native language. In addition to the coverage of "Asian Idol", RCTI ran a series of features called "Asian Idol Extra" between late November to mid-December 2007. Every competing country sent a judge to serve as the contestants' critics, but comments from only three judges on each performer were shown due to time constraints. Special guests in the Results Show included "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks, "Australian Idol" winner Guy Sebastian, "Indian Idol" judge Alisha Chinai, and "Vietnam Idol" judge Siu Black. It also featured performances