6 American Idol champs who didn't get the success they expected as Season 24 crowns winner

As American Idol crowned Hannah Harper its Season 24 winner, fans are also revisiting former champions whose careers never fully reached superstar status. Taylor Hicks is one example. During Season 5 auditions, Simon Cowell doubted Hicks would last long, yet he eventually defeated Katharine McPhee to win the competition. His first single after the show, Do I Make You Proud, topped the charts, while Takin’ It to the Streets also entered the Billboard Hot 100. Although his debut album sold more than 700,000 copies, later releases struggled commercially. After being dropped by his label in 2008, Hicks started his own company, Modern Whomp Records, but his next album sold only around 60,000 copies. Outside music, he found success through Broadway’s Grease, television hosting, and his restaurant business, while continuing to release occasional singles.

Kris Allen won Season 8 of American Idol, but his post-show music career never reached the same heights as some earlier winners. His 2009 self-titled debut album entered the Billboard charts at No. 11 and sold more than 340,000 copies. The lead single, Live Like We’re Dying, became his biggest success and eventually earned platinum status. But, momentum slowed after that. His second album, Thank You Camellia, struggled commercially and sold fewer than 40,000 copies, leading RCA Records to drop him from the label. Even without major chart success, Allen stayed active in music over the years. He continued releasing solo albums, collaborated with the trio Triangle Offense, toured regularly, and contributed instrumentals to other artists’ projects. Outside performing, Allen also built a career in education, teaching music at Williams College and directing its jazz orchestra.

Lee DeWyze won Season 9 of American Idol after defeating Crystal Bowersox, but his hype faded not long after the show ended. His first post-Idol album, Live It Up, sold only a little over 150,000 copies and recorded one of the weakest debut sales weeks for an Idol winner at the time. The disappointing numbers eventually led RCA Records to part ways with him in 2011. Although DeWyze continued making music, mainstream success remained out of reach. His songs later appeared in TV series like Nashville and The Walking Dead, helping him maintain some visibility. Still, later albums such as Frames, Oil and Water, Paranoia, Ghost Stories, and Gone for Days struggled commercially despite occasional chart appearances from singles like Fight.

Candice Glover finally won Season 12 after unsuccessfully auditioning twice before. But, her music career struggled to gain traction afterward. Glover released her debut album, Music Speaks, in 2014, but the project failed to make much commercial impact and its lead single Cried did not become a hit or appear on major charts. According to Glover, repeated delays and communication problems between Interscope Records, iTunes, and management even caused the album to accidentally release earlier than planned. After the album underperformed, Glover largely stepped away from mainstream music releases, dropping only a few singles in 2017 and 2018. In later years, she focused more on live performances, including appearing in the Broadway holiday production Home For the Holidays and the 2024 Savannah College of Art and Design Holiday Spectacular.

Caleb Johnson spent years trying to break into American Idol before finally winning Season 13 in 2014. After unsuccessful auditions in 2011 and 2012, the rock vocalist eventually claimed the title, but his post-show fame faded quickly. His debut album, Testify, struggled commercially, and by 2015 he had already separated from Interscope Records. After leaving the company, he launched a crowdfunding campaign for an EP that ultimately never got released. He later formed Caleb Johnson & The Ramblin’ Saints and released the 2019 album Born From Southern Ground. In 2021, he followed it with the solo project Mountain Mojo Vol. 1, which received little attention. Johnson also joined a one-week Meat Loaf tribute tour in the UK in 2023 before releasing the single Blind in 2024.

Just Sam won Season 18 of American Idol in 2020, defeating runner-up Arthur Gunn during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of lockdown restrictions, the finalists performed remotely instead of appearing live on the Idol stage. After the show, Sam signed with Hollywood Records but never officially released music through the label. They later revealed they even had to pay money to recover recordings made during that contract. Hoping for a smoother start in the music business, Sam later admitted the industry proved far more difficult and expensive than expected. Financial struggles eventually pushed the singer back to busking in New York City subway stations. In 2024, Sam signed with CrowdMGMT and released 2 singles in early 2025, though neither managed to break through commercially.