A combined 273 artists have won the television series '' Idols'', a reality singing competition adapted in forty-six regions. The series, originally created by British television executive

Simon Fuller Simon Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer renowned for nurturing and inspiring world class entertainment talent. He is the creator of the ''Idols'' TV format, including the UK s ...

as ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'', aims to find the most outstanding independent solo singer. Through mass auditions, a group of semi-finalists is selected by a panel of judges based on their performances. The finalists are then selected amongst a group of semi-finalists by the television audiences and the judges (through wildcard rounds), with the finalist receiving the most votes by the television audiences in their weekly performance being declared the winner. Each winner is given a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

, a monetary prize, and a title as that nation's ''Idol'', ''SuperStar'' or ''Star''. The first winner of the format was

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 Pop Idol (series 1), inaugural series of the ITV (TV network), ITV talent contest ''Pop Idol'', making him the f ...

of the United Kingdom in 2002. Two winners of the series were also able to win for another regional title:

Kurt Nilsen Kurt Erik Nilsen () (born 29 September 1978) is a Norwegian pop/country singer. He won the first season of the Norwegian reality show ''Idol'', which aired on TV 2 in May 2003. He then won a one-off international version of ''Pop Idol'' called ...

of Norway also won ''

World Idol ''World Idol'' (Germany: ''SuperStar Weltweit'', Arab World: ''SuperStar El Alaam'') is a one-off international version of the singing competition television show ''Pop Idol'', featuring winners of the various national ''Idol'' shows around t ...

'' in 2003, and

Hady Mirza Muhammad Mirzahady Bin Amir, also known as Hady Mirza ( ms, حدي ميرزا; born 28 January 1980) is a Singaporean singer. He was the winner of the second season of the reality TV show ''Singapore Idol''. He was crowned the winner on 25 Sept ...

of Singapore also won ''

Asian Idol ''Asian Idol'' is a reality singing competition, which featured winners of ''Idol'' competitions from six Southeast and South Asian countries consisting of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam. Part of the '' Idol fra ...

'' in 2007. In addition,

Jason Hartman Jason Hartman is a singer-songwriter and the 2009 co-winner of season 5 of the '' Idols'' (South Africa). After a malfunction occurred with the text lines in the finals, it was decided that even though Jason was the official winner of ''Idols'' ...

and

Sasha-Lee Davids Sasha-Lee Davids born in Atlantis, Western Cape, South Africa is a singer and the 2009 co-winner of South African Idols season 5. She is also the winner of the 2008 reality TV show "Matrix" season 2. Early life Davids comes from Atlantis in the We ...

of South Africa were the only two finalists to be declared as co-winners of the format. Winning the ''Idols'' series provides a unique opportunity for the winning artist(s) to launch or further their music careers, due to the surrounding publicity and the recording contract offerings. However, only a few of them have managed to further their international careers. The most notable winner of the series was

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

of the United States, who has sold over 70 million records worldwide. Other notable winning artists who also have managed to chart internationally include

Agnes Carlsson Agnes Emilia Carlsson (born 6 March 1988), known mononymously as Agnes, is a Swedish recording artist. She rose to fame as the winner of Idol 2005, the second season of the Swedish Idol series. She was then signed to Sony Music, through which s ...

of Sweden,

Alexander Klaws Alexander Klaws (born 3 September 1983) is a German singer, songwriter, actor, and host. He rose to fame in 2003 after winning the debut season of the television series '' Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German ''Idol'' series adaptation ...

of Germany,

of Norway,

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first '' Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

of Australia,

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

of the United States, and

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

of the United Kingdom.

Winners

Kelly Clarkson at Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth Texas

National versions

Multinational versions

Junior competitions

Winner competitions

Notes

# Citizens of Macedonia were eligible to participate in the first season. # Citizens of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are eligible to participate throughout the series. # Citizens of Wallonia and Québec were eligible to participate in the first season. # Citizens of Austria and Switzerland are eligible to participate throughout the series. # Citizens of Cyprus were eligible to participate in ''Super Idol''. # Citizens of Moldova were eligible to participate in ''SuperStar România''. # Citizens of Belarus and Ukraine were eligible to participate in the first and second season. # Citizens of Puerto Rico were eligible to participate in the eighth season. # Countries whose citizens were eligible to participate include all the

member states of the Arab League The Arab League has 22 member states. It was founded in Cairo in March 1945 with six members: the Kingdom of Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Republic, and Transjordan (Jordan from 1949). North Yemen (later becoming Yemen) ...

. # Countries whose citizens were eligible to participate include: Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Réunion (a part of France), Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. # Countries whose citizens were eligible to participate include all of the Latin American countries, with the exception of Brazil. # Countries whose citizens were eligible to participate include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. # Winners of ''Indian Idol'', ''Indonesian Idol'', ''Malaysian Idol'', ''Philippine Idol'', ''Singapore Idol'', ''SuperStar KZ'', and ''Vietnam Idol'' participated in ''Asian Idol'', in which the winner was determined the greatest percentage of votes. # Winners of inaugural seasons of ''American Idol'', ''Australian Idol'', ''Canadian Idol'', ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', ''Idool'', ''Idols'' (Dutch version), ''Idols'' (South African version), ''Idol'' (Polish version), ''Idol'' (Norwegian version), ''Pop Idol'', and SuperStar (Arab version) participated in ''World Idol'', in which the winner was determined by the most collective points given by each of the other participating countries (similar to the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

References

{{Idol series Idols (TV series) winners Non-British television series based on British television series Television shows remade overseas