American Idol Season 1: Top 10

As we get ready for the 8th season of American Idol, I thought we’d use these next seven days to look at the past seven seasons of our favorite singing competition. 

As you probably remember, Kelly Clarkson was crowned the winner of Idol’s first season and has gone on to have a lot of success.  Her runner-up, Justin Guarini, currently acts as host on several TV Guide Network shows including Idol Wrap and Idol Tonight.

Here’s the list of the Top 10 from American Idol season one -Recognize/remember any names?

• Kelly Clarkson – Winner
• Justin Guarini – Eliminated September 4, 2002
• Nikki McKibbin – Eliminated August 28, 2002
• Tamyra Gray – Eliminated August 21, 2002
• R. J. Helton – Eliminated August 14, 2002
• Christina Christian – Eliminated August 7, 2002
• Ryan Starr – Eliminated July 31, 2002
• A.J. Gil – Eliminated July 24, 2002
• Jim Verraros – Eliminated July 17, 2002
• EJay Day – Eliminated July 17, 2002

No recap could be complete without the show-winning performance!  Watch this video of Kelly singing “A Moment Like This” right after being announced as the winner.  I still get a little teary over how emotional she is.

image: Newscom