American Idol Results: How Close Was The Vote?

The American Idol results last night revealed the winner of what many of us were expecting to be a close, but just how close was the vote?

American Idol Results: 2014 Finale show
American Idol Results: 2014 Finale show – Source: FOX

In a press release FOX indicates things were a lot tighter than Caleb might have hoped:

“AMERICAN IDOL XIII came to a ROCK-tastic close tonight as wild child Caleb Johnson was crowned the winner during the live two-hour Season Finale on FOX. Johnson, 23, from Asheville, NC, emerged as America’s top choice following last night’s extremely close vote.”

Earlier we heard from Keith Urban who surmised this might have been a narrow margin than ever before:

I would love to see how close the voting was. I bet it was insane. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the closest they might have ever had in history.

In our unofficial polling here on the site Jena Irene lead over Caleb Johnson by 5 percentage points out of nearly ten thousand votes. Obviously that didn’t turn out to reflect the nationwide official voting. But what would have been considered “extremely close”? Less than one point difference? I wish we knew!

Throughout the season we rarely get a glimpse in to how the finalists are ranking against each other in the official results. Sure, this season we saw Ryan show how contestants were placing live during the performances, but other than the Bottom 3 or 2 there’s just not much shared with us.

While FOX might not want to influence future week votes during the season, it does seem like at the very end when the voting is all said and done that they could then go ahead and tell us just how close that finale vote really was.

Would you want to know the exact American Idol results of the finale show or is it better to just know who won?

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62 Comments

  1. Jena would have won if Simon Fuller gave her a song for the piano. Also it didn’t help to keep reminding people that Jena was a “WILDCARD”! Congrats to Caleb though.

  2. I would love to know who actually tabulates the votes. I would also love to see the results published. who is to know if the producers are manipulating the voting.

  3. Nielsen ratings are in.

    Tuesday night was only 6.6 million viewers, the lowest-rated episode in the history of Fox’s reality singing competition.

    Wednesday was 10.1 million, making it by far the least-watched finale ever (down from last year’s 14.3 million).

    I don’t think that any amount of changes for next year is going to help save this show’s downward spiral.

    • In the key demographic of 18-49 year olds that advertisers seek the ratings were:

      Tuesday – 1.7 million
      Wednesday – 2.6 million

      • How’d that compare to “Duh Voice” ?

        (I watched 5 minutes of that show before I got bored and left…. )

      • Ok – I’m not sure where / which numbers you are referring to, but the site I looked at show:

        5/21 – FOX American Idol (8-10PM)
        . (rating) 2.6
        . (share) 9
        . (#s in millions) 10.14

        5/19 – NBC The Voice (8-10PM)

        . (rating) 3.1
        . (share) 10
        . (#s in millions) 11.48

        In Chinese, one might say, “差不多”… the difference is not great. Not nearly a “creaming” as you put it.

      • The Voice is doing a tour this summer. First I’ve ever heard of them doing that. Must be enough interest now to do so.

    • Yep this show is on its way out once Simon left it was never as good than they keep bring on these judges who drive people to turn the station. Sorry Idol but your time is coming to a end

      • simon told it like it was. if you were great, he praised you. if you were terrible, he absolutely let you know. and he only did ONE standing ovation

      • and the contestants were none the worse for wear. in fact, I think it really helped them

      • I agree, Simon was great. The show missed a lot when he left. But, his show “X-Factor” really never top American Idol or The Voice in my viewpoint. And I am not sure why that is.

      • X-Factor had too much flashy production for my tastes, which took the focus off the contestants voices.

      • Yep. That was my main issue as well. Did we really need dancers running all over the place, jumping in the air, while the singers were performing?

    • American Idol is trying to curb the downward spiral. They are trying to make the music more current. Did we really need the catalogue of Burt Bacarack night? And they did away with the fluff filled results show I hated so much. But, 13 years and still going … is not a bad run for a TV show. In fact, it might be the longest or close to it.

      • Cathie Summers is right. Several of these blogs have featured a chart showing how Idol plummeted after Simon left.

      • I agree with the fact that “the show is not the same without Simon. I liked his honesty. But, the show has been a top running show for years after he left. And it been going 13 years and still going fairly strong. Is that considered “plummeting”?

      • But was cops ever a top rated show, at any point in it’s history. I don’t think it was anything but barely a blip on the radar, since day one. And that is were it stayed.

      • 26 seasons, 1,000 episodes, and at least 3 spin-offs of the series. I’ve seen “Cops” playing in Japanese, South Korean, and Hong Kong cable t.v.

        Who in world does NOT know the “Bad Boys” theme song?

      • 26 seasons and how close to being a number one rated show was Cops, in any season? American Idol was #1 for MANY seasons. And though it has fallen a bit … It is still more popular than most shows can dream of. Including … Cops.

    • They destroyed it last year by letting Candace Glover win. It was bad enough when they didn’t let Adam Lambert win!!! Kris’s Allen hasn’t done jack! 1 radio played song…yippie! Adam’s doin’ pretty awesome tho!

      • hate to repeat myself but we all know why adam didn’t win, and it had nothing to do with talent. will be seeing him this july at Mohegan sun when he and queen rock the house!! the fact that an iconic band wants him as a front man to take on the incredible Freddie speaks volumes.

      • If you are referring to him being gay, I think you are completely incorrect. He does have by far more talent than Kris Allen has in the toenail of his pinky toe! Its OK with me that he didn’t win tho….he is by FAR further along without having to ride the Idol train and being stuck in a contract with them that goes nowhere!!! Its all good!!!!!! Love me some Adam!

      • The Nicki-Mariah cat-fight is what turned off a lot of viewers last
        year. The new panel this year may get a long better but I’ve heard many
        comments that they are rather boring.

      • and how many times did the camera catch jlo gushing nauseatingly (is that a word?) as the contestants performed?? the show is NOT about her!!

      • I don’t find them boring at all! I think we finally have the perfect trifecta of judges! Harry is brutally honest (not a complete asshole like Simon, but still brutally honest). JLo is honest in an endearing sort of way. Keith is just as honest. All 3 give everyone some tips on how to improve…unless they are just so terrible that there’s no way TO improve. I enjoy the interaction that the judges do with the contestants this season. And it was such a toss up with me this year between Caleb & Jena. They are both SO awesome! I suppose its better that Caleb won because I think Jena will make it A LOT farther without having to ride Idol’s back to get there! I mean, look at Daughtry?! Look at Adam?! MUCH further than they would be had they won Idol!!!

      • I quite agree with what MasterClassLady says in her blog regarding the finale.

        m a s t e r c la s s l a d y. c o m/ 2 0 1 4/ 0 5/ 2 0/ v o c a l- m a s t e r c l a s s- d i s c u s s i o n- f o r-a m e r i c a n- i d o l- x i i i-t o p- 2- p e r f o r m a n c e- s h o w/

      • Since I can’t get to that comment, I don’t know what it says.
        I’m just saying that I enjoyed this season…even though I thought Jena should’ve been the winner. But its OK, because she isn’t stuck in an Idol contract after the Top 10 tour is over.

      • I have found that in order to post links here, I have to spread the letters, etc out.

        Here’s a copy of what she wrote:

        Quote –

        Well, here we go! The Top 2 Performance Finale for American Idol Season XIII will air on FOX Tuesday, May 20th, followed by the Results Finale on Wednesday, May 21st at 8:00 PM.

        Vying for the American Idol crown are retro rocker Caleb Johnson and multi-genre artist, Jena Irene.

        At this point in time, Jena deserves to win – so that means Caleb
        will snag the crown and then American Idol will spend the rest of their
        dwindling dollars trying to figure put how to market a totally
        unmarketable and non-media savvy artist.

        So, good luck with that!

        On the upside, all the elements associated with the production of
        this show – the judges, the host, the musicians, the coaches – have been
        first class all the way.

        Now, they need to hold a think tank to figure out how to cultivate,
        not only the very best talent, but also singers who exude a genuine and
        marketable personality.

        Case in point: someone who was watching American Idol with me last
        week made this comment when the Top 13 took to the stage to publicize
        the upcoming two-part Finale: “This is the Top 13? What a dismal
        looking bunch of kids”. Ouch!

        I have to agree. Most were clothed in a sloppy and disheveled manner and looked like deer in headlights.

        If anyone thinks this was the best of the best, then I am going to throw in the towel. I long for the Taylor Hicks/Katharine McPhee days and who can ever forget the Battle Of The Davids (Archuleta and Cook) during Season 7?

        Someone out there has to do damage control to bring this show back to
        the days of yore because the present format is not working.

        TOP 24 Semi Finals for the win!

        Comments are now open for business.

        End quote –

      • “On the upside, all the elements associated with the production of
        this show – the judges, the host, the musicians, the coaches – have been
        first class all the way.”

        “Production”, to me means a whole slew of camera work, sound, lighting, directorship, and other ‘show production’ issues. You listed a group of persons, which, on the whole, were a marked improvement over last year.

        Sound? Awful. Just plain awful this year. Of all the years I’ve watched Idol, this year was the worst for ‘live’ sound quality. Whatever system they introduced into their new studio, it did not work well at all. The band often over-played the singers, to the point only Jena & Caleb were able to stay on-par with the band. Whether in the Kodak or Nokia theatres, the sound quality was much, much better. The Audio Engineer, in my opinion, did as much as anyone to deter viewers from coming back to watch A.I. as any other issue.

        Camera-work? Awful. Again, why in the world are they so bent on showing us close-ups of J-Lo swaying? of family members with concerned looks? of girls with mouths agape, screaming? I wanted to watch the Idols… not those others reacting to what they were seeing on stage. How I wished I could have seen The Moment where Caleb lost his mic and had to dive for it… But, no, the director was busying switching this-way and that to ‘liven’ the viewing pleasure. When, in fact, it was a detriment to the whole Production. If one is intent on showing the surroundings, go with a split-screen. I’m a guy. I love young girls as much as anyone; but for the love of Idol, stop with the cuts of young girls… even my dogs were blowing chunks. It was completely unnatural, almost fake—to the point I was wondering if some of them were being paid to act as giddy as they seemed around Alex & Sam at times.

        Lighting was decent. I think they finally have a stage that can create a live performance authenticity to it.

        Finally, as pr64 pointed out, JLo was put on the camera far too often. If I had to, I’d put my money on the fact that Per Blankens is a HUGE J-Lo fan & salivator (drooler?). Or his director. Either way… it gets back to the main gist—put the Idols on cam, not the judges. And, for $17.5, surely they can find a more articulate female judge that is also semi-attractive. Heck, ask Kelly C. to come sit in the chair.

      • There is only one high point on this season’s A.I. and it is the only
        reason I chose to watch after a hiatus of four years. The reason, Harry
        Connick Jr.. I suggested him as a judge over five years ago when it
        was obvious to any real music lover that the judging was deplorable and
        the selection was totally flawed. This year’s so called talent ranks
        poor to bad in my opinion. There is not one great voice among them.
        Harry has gotten the reputation of being tough, hyper critical etc. He
        is a respected knowledgable musician, vocalist and arranger of many
        years. J- Lo is a joke. She is a poor vocalist, has little or no real
        music training or knowledge and lip syncs most of her shows. Urban is a
        little better but not much. The whole format has to be reworked. I
        know they will never ever consider my suggestions but I would like to
        see them be much tougher at the auditions as to actual vocal quality,
        pitch, knowledge of music insofar as the key they are singing in etc.
        Secondly, pick singers of varying singing genres including traditional
        pop, jazz, country and even light classical. Then, once the finalists
        are chosen make them all perform songs of different styles including: Broadway
        musicals, Jazz, Country and traditional Pop. As it is now you’ve got
        the screamers, yellers and growlers but no pure voices. I was sad to
        see the pretty nurse get voted off. She at least had a more pure
        voice. My last beef is with the studio audience who seem to be an
        average age of 15. They know nothing of good voices or good music and
        sadly it’s the same group that votes across the nation.

  4. OMG people really need to know that they pick the winners not us it
    doesn’t matter if she had more votes than him they wanted him to win
    because it had tried out 3 years in a row and he kept coming back so it
    makes for a good story of NOT giving up and look now you are the
    American Idol. They need people to keep coming back and to watch the
    show because they have lost alot of the people who watched other seasons
    but not any more and The Voice is getting better ratings the American
    Idol.

    • If the producers were really as manipulative and savvy about
      manipulating the vote as you suggest, no way in the world would they
      have allowed Taylor Hicks to win season 5, nor would they have allowed Chris Daughtry to go home two weeks before the finale.

      • I very much agree. There was no way the producers would have chose Taylor Hicks to win … If they had a choice in the matter.

      • Well I am saying they do that now they did not always do it but I do think they do now just like the judges save bull crap just another way to have thing their way but like I said this is what I think is going on

      • I don’t think they would have let Candice Glover win either.. She has succeed at being the biggest failure in Idol history… I don’t think AI cheats.. I think people learn how to beat the system. That was the case when Chris Allen won over Adam Lambert.. In Arkansas, ATT taught customers the tricks of texting…. and there were the robo calls.. so.. not so much idol as the fans..

      • How can you say they are even doing it now? Jena, the one everyone was saying the producers arranged for a win … Did not win. Where is the conspiracy?

      • A lot of evidence exists to support the theory the ‘popular vote’ is not all it once may have been to electing who stays & who goes on A.I.

        Per Blankens comes to AI this year from the equivalent production in Sweden. Last year, Sweden Idol had 2 “Rockers” as finalists. Circumstantial? Per-haps.

        They obviously stopped announcing the vote tallies this year. One reason for that was the different methods one could ‘cast’ votes. How does a ‘SuperVote’ correlate with a ’50-vote-count’ or just a plain text or call to the 1-855-#s? That was never fully disclosed. Circumstantial? I doubt it, but you can draw your own conclusions.

        Delve into the past; as others have pointed out, the shockers of Daughtry leaving early in season 5, that Adam Lambert didn’t win season 8, that four Stand-&-Deliver-Divas held the Top 4 last season, that in season 10 two country/western kids made it to the finale, .. and just about every-other-year, a WGWG ends up winning only to disappear into thin-air after 3 weeks of winning.

        While many think of the burden A.I. has in producing a contestant that remains relevant in the coming years as a breakout artist, like Underwood or Clarkson, … just for a moment consider the burden of doing that consistently. There is very little chance of them actually doing that with the current show format. To create the next Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, Paramore, et. al., the show’s format of how & who picks what songs to perform would have to be radically altered. The show is not, after all, geared to producing a great ‘Idol’.

        Caleb & Jena are the closest thing A.I. has had that approximates an ‘Idol’ in years. But, I doubt a pure viewer vote had anything to do with that. Yes, the popular vote weighs on the producer’s decision. But, ultimately, they are weighing a LOT of factors—viewership, cost to the show, A.I. concert sales, ‘shock’-value (hey, more drama usually turns into more ratings), & other concerns.

  5. Using the audience’s applause as a “poll” of sorts, Caleb should have easily won the contest because most of the time he received long and loud applause and ovations, roughly 2X or 3X the amount/time that Jena did.

  6. Close only counts in horse shoes. Someone posted that MJ site is cursing out Caleb’s win. Get over it and move on. By the way I got over my “Wildcard'” Redskins losing to Miami in the 1972 Superbowl. LOL

  7. Excellent piece on USA Today’s Idol Chatter blog about what went wrong this season.

    w w w. u s a t o d a y.c o m/ s t o r y/ i d o l c h a t t e r/ 2 0 1 4/ 0 5/ 1 9/ a m e r i c a n- i d o l- w h a t- w e n t- w r o n g/ 9 2 8 7 6 2 5/

    • Thanks for sharing that. That hit the nail on the head as far as I’m concerned.

    • They need to get back to the top 24 format, where 2 people were booted each week. This gave the contestants time to get used to the live shows.

      This entry age for AI (what is it, 15 years old?) made for
      very ‘green’ contestants.

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