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What does it mean to win the elusive title and be the American Idol winner? The premise and promise is that the individual who wins the contest gets a recording contract with a Major, with all the accompanying industry supporting mechanisms attached to it, like management, tour management and the likes. But does that mean that the American Idol winner automatically advances to stardom? How did the winners up to date fare and how are they doing now?

Some did not fare well at all. Taylor Hicks got dropped by the major record company Arista Records, J Records and Sony/BMG who announced that they released American Idol winner Hicks from his contract. Apparently his record was the worst selling record ever for an American Idol winner. Nevertheless, he is currently starring in “Grease” on Broadway and plans to release his new record with his own label to be distributed by Vanguard Records in August. The problems Kelly Clarkson had with the record company were very public last and this year, her latest album did not sell well and her future is very shaky. On the other hand, Carrie Underwood, American Idol winner of the season 4 has already two multi-platinum albums and the induction into the “Grand Ole Opry”, the ultimate recognition by the country music industry. While Jordin Sparks, the American Idol winner of the season 6 album sales were less than stellar, barely reaching gold status, the recent American Idol winner David Cook had almost one million iTunes downloads even before his first album went into the stores. This statistic alone gives the impression that Cook could be the most successful American Idol winner yet. He is the only American Idol winner who made it into the UK charts and this due to downloads alone. He had eleven songs debuting on the Hot 100, and fourteen Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs chart setting new records. His album is due to be released in November 2008. Ruben Studdard, the American Idol winner who won the second season, got also dropped from the record company, but remained under contract by 19 Entertainment, who hold all the American Idol licenses. Finally, Fantasia, the American Idol winner of season 3, has won awards left and right, including Grammys and is currently working on her third album. Her stellar performance on Broadway in “The Color Purple” has lead to her being cast by Oprah Winfrey in “The Color Purple Movie Musical” which is currently in pre-production.

While being the American Idol winner does not ensure lasting fame and success, most of the American Idol winners have fared very well. Perhaps this is the best validation for the show itself.