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
American Idol (season 4) numbers for the contestants. The result show was moved to Thursday." The compilation album for this season was performed by the top twelve finalists. "Source: Idolsmusic.com" American Idol (season 4) The fourth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 18, 2005 and continued until May 25, 2005. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell also returned to judge. Carrie Underwood won the season with approximately 500 million votes cast in the season and 37 million for the finale. Underwood has since gone on to become a seven-time Grammy-winning country megastar. While in the past