When American Idol first came on the air in 2002, it was an immediate hit. People loved the idea that they could have a chance at superstardom by performing in front of judges. It was the “search for a superstar,” and everyone wanted a piece of the action. We loved the show because we got to see the whole process of the auditions, and the backstories of the contestants that did make it on the show. The original judges on the show were the “mean” Simon Cowell, the loopy but endearing Paula Abdul, and of course the big “dawg” Randy Jackson.

The show ended but then was rebooted again to bring us new superstars. These days, American Idol has had a new breath of life on NBC with judges like Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan.

It was definitely a great place for small-town kids to get a chance at their dream. Not that it was an easy win, not even close. There were many people that auditioned that went home with their dreams crushed. But there were many winners on the show that made it huge and are still rocking it in Hollywood. Not all the winners have gone far, though, some disappear and are never heard from again. If you have ever wondered what happened to the winners, then you have come to the right place. Check out these 15 past American Idol winners and discover where they are now.

Kelly Clarkson Was The Very First Winner

Kelly Clarkson was the very first winner on the TV show American Idol. She was up against runner-up Justin Guarini in 2002, but she became victorious in the end. She was only 20 years old at the time and her life was about to change overnight. Her finale performance was the single A Moment Like This. She was one star that made it big, there was no worry that she would disappear and since her win, she has released eight albums. It wasn’t long before she received multi-platinum status.

She won her first Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Since U Been Gone.

The only thing that’s changed about Clarkson over the years was her weight. It ballooned after she started having kids and she’s been criticized publicly for it. Does she care? Not one bit.

Taylor Hicks Was The Oldest Winner At The Time

Well if you consider 29 years old to be “old.” He beat out Katherine McPhee in 2006 because he had a huge fan base on the show that he called Soul Patrol. Unfortunately, all the fans that he had on the show seemed to disappear after he released his first album.

He sold the least amount of any winner of American Idol.

The record label Arista dropped him in 2008 because he wasn’t selling enough albums. That didn’t stop him and he started his own label called Modern Whomp and released two albums in two years. That scored him a Vegas residency for a year in 2012. His music career doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, but he did open Saw’s Juke Joint a BBQ restaurant and blues bar in Alabama. He is also hosting Slate Plate on the INSP network.

Jordin Sparks Went Platinum

Jordin Sparks was another singer that did well after her time on American Idol. Two of her singles Tattoo and No Air went platinum. She released Battlefield which went No. 7 on the Billboard album charts. After that though she decided to try her hand at acting. She starred in Suite Life on Deck and Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush. She even acted on Broadway in the play Heights.

She also had the opportunity to be in the movie Sparkle with Whitney Houston.

As if that wasn’t enough, she’s also released three perfumes. She started a relationship with Jason Derulo, but it didn’t end well in 2014 when he broke up with her without telling her. She went back into music and released two albums in 2014 and 2015. Overall, she’s had a great career.

David Cook Didn’t Intend On Auditioning

David Cook had no intention of auditioning for American Idol. He had only gone to the auditions to support his brother. So, it must have been a kick in the teeth when he went on the show and his brother didn’t. He showed his singing chops with Livin’ On a Prayer and in the end, he won that season.

He had 11 songs in his career that hit the Billboard Hot 100 list. His first album sold more than 1 million copies and reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

His second album didn’t do as well. In 2012 he parted ways with his record label and started turning out music independently. He was also recording with his band Midwest Kings. He continues to release music independently and also appeared on Broadway in Kinky Boots.

Kris Allen Beat Out Adam Lambert

In 2009, Kris Allen was the one that beat out Adam Lambert and four months after the show, he released his first album. He sold more than 1.5 million digital downloads in the United States which isn’t half bad. He released his second album that peaked No. 26, not doing as well as the first one. In 2013, however, Allen was involved in a head-on collision that left his wrist shattered and in bad condition.

It took three surgeries over the following years to reconstruct it and he had to learn how to play guitar all over again.

It wasn’t all bad news though, he did marry his high school sweetheart Katy in 2008. The two now have two children together. He continued to release music over the years as a solo artist as well as with his band The Dames.

Lee DeWyze Had A Slow Start

We’re not sure why Lee DeWyze decided to cover someone else’s song as his first single after winning season nine of American Idol. That’s what he did though when he covered U2’s Beautiful Day. He put out his own music for the next single and it completely flopped. Not exactly a great start. The single didn’t even make it on the list of Billboard 200.

He pretty much disappeared for the next four years until the insanely popular TV show The Walking Dead featured Blackbird Song. That’s pretty much all you need to get 12 million views on YouTube and 5.8 million Spotify streams.

He decided to make a career out of featuring on hit shows. He married actress Jonna Walsh in 2012, and continued to secure placements on shows such as Elementary, Nashville, and Suits. He released an album in 2016 called Oil & Water that finally debuted on the Top 10 on Billboard Folk Music chart.

Scotty McCreery Was A Handsome Star

After he won American Idol in 2011, he went on to drop tunes The Trouble with Girls and I Love You This Big and they both went to the top of the charts. Since those songs came out, he has sold nearly 2.5 million albums and has toured with amazing bands and artists such as The Band Perry, Brad Paisley, and Rascal Flatts which must have been pretty amazing. During the same year that he was dropped from his label in 2016, he decided to write a memoir called Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream.

He made a comeback this year, however, with his first No. 1 single on Billboard's Country Airplay chart with the song Five More Minutes.

He is touring this year, but he will also be getting married to his childhood sweetheart Gabi Dugal.

Phillip Phillips Had Big Sales

Phillip Phillips performed the song Home and it sealed the deal for him. It gave him the biggest digital sales of any American Idol coronation song. It also sold 5 million copies in the United States which was huge for a new star. His first album The World from the Side of the Moon reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. He dropped his next album in 2014 which also did well, but when 2015 his career hit a snag.

There was a legal battle regarding his contract with American Idol’s production company 19 Entertainment which prevented any further releases of his albums.

It wasn’t until 2017 that the case was settled and he was able to release new songs. He also opened up for the Goo Goo Dolls and guest-starred on Hawaii Five-O as a diamond smuggler.

Candice Glover Auditioned Three Times

It’s crazy to think that Candice Glover auditioned for American Idol three times before she finally got on the show. She must have had a strong belief in herself. When she won, she didn’t release an album right away, in fact, she waited a whole year before she did. She may have waited too long however because her reviews were lackluster.

Glover claimed that she wasn’t ready to release the album, but her objections were ignored by her label.

She soon split with her label and avoided the spotlight entirely. She was releasing some tracks on Soundcloud, but nothing major. In 2017, she hit Broadway for a production of Home For The Holidays. We may see more of her this year since she posted this caption on Instagram, “2017 was the year of enlightenment. 2018 is the year of manifestation.”

Caleb Johnson Didn’t Get Far

Apparently, auditioning more than once is the way to get you on American Idol. Caleb Johnson was also another winner that had auditioned more than once on the show before getting on for the win. Even though he won the show, he didn’t do very well after. He didn’t even make it close to hitting the charts.

He threw out his first album only two months after the show, but Testify only sold 28,000 copies which is shockingly low for a winner.

It makes you wonder if he should have really been on the show in the first place. Maybe he should have been turned down during 2014 auditions as well. He got booted from Interscope Records and went to a crowd-funding website called PledgeMusic to get financing for his next album. He released the album Southern Ground and sometimes he performs for fans on his Facebook page.

Nick Fradiani Didn’t Sell Many Albums

American Idol wasn’t the first chance for Nick Fradiani. He and his band Beach Avenue competed on NBC’s America’s Got Talent but didn’t make it. He then went on American Idol as a solo act and he won season 14. He won the show but he was another artist that didn’t do well after the show. There only seems to be a couple of stars that made it as big as Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood.

His single did make the Hot 100 charts, but it only hit No. 93.

His first album only sold 5,000 copies in its first week which is almost tragic. He said he left label Big Machine records in 2017 on “good terms and “it just wasn’t a good fit,” but we are betting he got the boot. He recently released an independent album called Where We Left Off.

Trent Harmon Gave The Send-Off For American Idol

Trent Harmon was to be the winner of the farewell season of American Idol. We now know that it was rebooted under the care of Katy Perry. He hit the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 2016 as a “hot shot debut” when he released his track Falling. He wasn’t ready to release his first album yet, so instead, he released a self-titled five-song EP which included the song There’s a Girl which hit the Top 30 country list.

It took him two years to decide to release his debut album this year with the single You Got 'Em All.

The single was inspired by a recent breakup and it was just put out last month. It sounds like he has a stronger career than most of the American Idol stars.

The Big Teddy Bear Ruben Studdard

For season two it was the lovable velvet teddy bear Ruben Studdard that went home with the win. Studdard beat out Clay Aiken in 2003 and seemed to be on his way to a big career. Six months later he dropped his first album Soulful which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 which also earned him a Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Grammy nod. It was huge for someone with their first album. In 2004, he switched and sent out a gospel album, but then switched back to R&B in 2006.

Neither of the albums went as big as the first one and his label J Records ended up dropping him in 2007.

He certainly hasn’t had the same career that Clarkston has had. The next time we saw him was on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser as he fought against his weight.

Fantasia Barrino Just Goes By Her First Name

She goes by her first name now since she won the third season of American Idol. In the past ten years, she released five studio albums. She was an inspirational story because she was a single mother at the time. Her first album won her a Grammy nod and over the years she received 12 more Grammy nominations. In 2011 she finally won a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. She wasn’t just doing music either; she also wrote a memoir called Fantasia: Life Is Not a Fairytale.

There was also a Lifetime movie made about her in which Fantasia played herself.

She seemed to have a pretty awesome career in the works, but it didn’t stop her from falling into a depression, so she tried to kill herself in 2010 by taking an overdose of aspirin. She was hospitalized and survived. She seems to be doing better these days and in 2017, she released a holiday album.

Carrie Underwood Went Country

Carrie Underwood was the winner of season four and she is another singer that went huge. Her first album was Jesus Take the Wheel and it went platinum seven times. Her career went all the way up like a rocket; she is still to this day a pretty big deal in country music. In the United States alone she has sold more than 16 million albums which is a pretty big deal.

She has won seven Grammys over the years and she hit the Forbes list of top-earning musicians.

She’s made a hell of a career for herself and she even scored a 2010 Guinness World Record for “most country no. 1’s for a female artist in the U.S.” She married pro hockey player Mike Fisher and the two had a son. Apparently, it was Fisher’s mother that suggested he ask Carrie Underwood out when she saw her on TV. She was impressed with the girl’s values.

Sources: www.ew.com, www.biography.com