American Idol (season 7) American Idol (season 7) The seventh season of "American Idol", the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges. David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total ever recorded in the show's history. The split was 56% to 44%. The seventh
Pop Idol the world, including original "Pop Idol" winner Will Young, "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson and "Australian Idol" winner Guy Sebastian, competed in a one-off competition, complete with a large judging panel featuring one judge from each country (Simon Cowell officially representing "American Idol", with Pete Waterman the "official" UK judge). The surprise winner was Norway's Kurt Nilsen, who proceeded to minor UK chart success. Cowell was strongly critical of "World Idol", and it is highly unlikely to be staged again. After the second series of "Pop Idol", ITV put the show on indefinite hiatus when in April 2004 judge and