American Idol
Season 6
Hosted by	Ryan Seacrest
Judges	Paula Abdul Simon Cowell Randy Jackson
Winner	Jordin Sparks
Runner-up	Blake Lewis
Finals venue	Kodak Theatre
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	January 16 (2007-01-16) – May 23, 2007 (2007-05-23)
Season chronology
← Previous Season 5 Next → Season 7
List of episodes

The sixth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned as judges, and Ryan Seacrest returned as host. A new record of 74 million votes were cast in the finale round, and a new record of 609 million votes were cast in the entire season. Jordin Sparks won the competition, while Blake Lewis was the runner-up.

Regional auditions

Contestants were required to be between the ages 16 and 28 on August 6, 2006. Guest judges were used for auditions this season.^[1]

• Jewel, Minneapolis auditions
• Carole Bayer Sager, New York auditions
• Olivia Newton-John, Los Angeles auditions

Auditions were held in the following cities:

Jordin Sparks, this season's winner, originally failed to pass through her audition in Los Angeles,^[9] but later won an audition in Seattle as a reward for winning a local Fox-affiliate-sponsored contest called Arizona Idol.^[10]

Hollywood week

The Hollywood rounds of the audition process were held over four days in November 2006 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

The first round consisted of each contestant singing one song a cappella in front of the judges. Contestants were then told whether they were moving on or going home in groups of six. This extended over the first two days.

The second round took place on the second and third days, and consisted of groups of three or four contestants rehearsing and then performing one of nine pre-selected songs. Groups were reviewed and contestants were then judged individually as to whether they were moving on or going home.

The third round took place on the fourth day, where each contestant performed one song from a pre-selected list accompanied by a piano and backup singers. Contestants were again informed of whether they had made the cut or not.

The final round took place at the Pasadena Civic Center on January 14–15, 2007, just before the regional audition shows began airing. Without any further auditioning, the 40 remaining contestants were reduced to 24. In a process taking a whole day, contestants waited in a sitting room until, one by one, they went up to the center's Gold Room. The three judges told them whether they had made it onto the stage show or were cut. The 24 semifinalists were announced on February 14, 2007.

Semifinals

The live show portion of the semifinals began on February 20, 2007, with the names announced on February 14. Starting with 12 women and 12 men, the women and men performed weekly on separate shows and on the result show, the bottom two male and two female contestants were eliminated. The semifinals took place over three weeks, leaving the other six to form the top 12. The females performed on the first night, followed by the males the next night.

Color key:

Top 24 (February 20 & 21)

Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 20 (February 27 & 28)

Contestants are listed in the order they performed.