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
Randy Jackson was later decided that he would remain as a judge for season 12. On May 9, 2013, Jackson announced that he would be leaving "American Idol" after twelve seasons due to him wanting to focus on other business ventures. On September 3, 2013, it was announced that Jackson would replace Jimmy Iovine as the in-house mentor on "American Idol". He departed the series for good in November 2014. Jackson produces "America's Best Dance Crew", an American group dance competition and reality television show, which premiered on February 7, 2008 on MTV and was cancelled in 2010 due to declining ratings.