American Idol season 2

The second season of American Idol premiered on January 21, 2003, and continued until May 21, 2003. The title of show was shortened from American Idol: The Search for a Superstar to just American Idol. Brian Dunkleman quit after the first season, and Ryan Seacrest therefore became the lone host beginning with the second season.

The second season was won by Ruben Studdard, who defeated Clay Aiken by 134,000 votes out of the 24 million votes recorded.

Studdard released his coronation song "Flying Without Wings" after the show, which reached number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Aiken also released a single with "This Is the Night." He was the first non-winning contestant to have a Billboard Hot 100 number one. It was also the biggest U.S. single of 2003, selling over one million copies and reaching six times platinum status in Canada as well as number one in New Zealand.

In addition to Studdard and Aiken, Kimberley Locke, Joshua Gracin, Kimberly Caldwell, and Carmen Rasmusen all signed with various record labels.

Regional auditions
Auditions were held in the fall of 2002 in the following cities:

The number of auditions increased significantly after the success of the first season, and arenas and stadiums began to be used to hold the first auditions from this season onward. Around 70,000 attended auditions this season and 234 were selected to proceed on to the Hollywood round. Radio DJ Angie Martinez was originally signed up as a fourth judge, but quit after a few days, stating that "it became too uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream."

Amber Riley was rejected by producers and did not get to audition for the judges, but later went on to co-star on the television series Glee as Mercedes Jones.

Hollywood week
The contestants performed in a series of rounds and the number of contestants trimmed was in each round. In the first round, the 234 contestants performed a song, after which 114 were eliminated. In the second round, the remaining 120 contestants were asked to compose a melody for one of five sets of lyrics, and 40 more were cut. In the third round, the contestants were separated by gender and performed in small groups. The remaining 48 boys chose from The Carpenters' "Superstar," Seal's "Kiss from a Rose," and Barry Manilow's "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again," while the remaining 32 girls chose from Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud," Freda Payne's "Band of Gold," and Dionne Warwick's "You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)."

In the last round, each of the remaining 48 contestants performed solo. After their performances, the contestants were then divided into three groups of sixteen and placed in separate rooms. One group was eliminated, and 32 contestants proceeded on to the semifinal rounds.

Semifinals
The format changed slightly in the second season; instead of three groups of ten, the semifinalists were grouped into four groups of eight. The singers performed solo on a new and improved stage with piano accompaniment by Michael Orland, and the performances were pre-taped. There was no live audience, although family members of contestants were present in the Red Room where the contestants were placed.

The results of the public vote were announced live the next day. From each group, two were selected to proceed on to the top 12. Nine of those who failed at any of previous stages, including the Hollywood rounds and the initial regional auditions, were given one more chance to perform again in the Wild Card show. Each of the three judges put one contestant from the Wild Card group through to the top 12, with the final one selected by the public vote.

Color key: Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 12 finalists



 * Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978, in Frankfurt, Germany; 24 years old at the time of the show) was from Birmingham, Alabama, and auditioned in Nashville with Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky."
 * Clay Aiken (born November 30, 1978, in Raleigh, North Carolina; 24 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Atlanta with Heatwave's "Always and Forever."
 * Kimberley Locke (born January 3, 1978, in Hartsville, Tennessee; 25 years old at the time of the show) was from Nashville, Tennessee, where she auditioned with Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow."
 * Joshua Gracin (born October 18, 1980, in Westland, Michigan; 22 years old at the time of the show) was from Oceanside, California, where he was stationed while serving in the Marine Corps. He auditioned in Los Angeles with O-Town's "All or Nothing."
 * Trenyce (born March 31, 1980, in Memphis, Tennessee; 22 years old at the time of the show) was from Bartlett, Tennessee, and auditioned in Nashville with Whitney Houston's "I Learned from the Best."
 * Carmen Rasmusen (born March 25, 1985, in Edmonton, Canada; 17 years old at the time of the show) was from Bountiful, Utah, and auditioned in Los Angeles. She did not make the semifinal initially, but was brought back for the Wild Card round and made it to the top 12.
 * Kimberly Caldwell (born February 25, 1982, in Katy, Texas; 20 years old at the time of the show).
 * Rickey Smith (born May 10, 1979 in Keene, Texas; 23 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Nashville with Brian McKnight's "One Last Cry".
 * Corey Clark (born July 13, 1980, in San Bernardino, California; 22 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Nashville with The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye." He was disqualified hours after the website The Smoking Gun revealed his misdemeanor charges of battery and resisting arrest on March 31, 2003.
 * Julia DeMato (born March 7, 1979, in Danbury, Connecticut; 23 years old at the time of the show) was from Brookfield, Connecticut, and auditioned with Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart."
 * Charles Grigsby (born September 15, 1978, in Oberlin, Ohio; 24 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Detroit.
 * Vanessa Olivarez (born April 7, 1981; 21 years old at the time of the show) was from Atlanta, Georgia, where she auditioned with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Finals
Color key:

Top 12 – Motown (March 12)
Lamont Dozier served as a guest judge this week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 11 – Movie soundtracks (March 19)
Gladys Knight served as a guest judge this week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 10 – Country rock (March 26)
Olivia Newton-John served as a guest judge this week. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 8 – Disco (April 1)
Verdine White served as a guest judge this week. Because of Corey Clark's disqualification, no one was eliminated after this round. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 8 – Billboard number ones (April 9)
Lionel Richie served as a guest judge this week. Contestants performed one song from the list of Billboard number one hits, and are listed in the order they performed.

Top 7 – Billy Joel (April 16)
Smokey Robinson served as a guest judge this week. Contestants performed songs from the Billy Joel discography, and are listed in the order they performed. Joel did not mentor the contestants, but did record snippets in which he reflected upon the songwriting backstory of each song choice.

Top 6 – Diane Warren (April 23)
Diane Warren served as this week's guest mentor and guest judge. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 5 – Music from the 1960s & Neil Sedaka (April 30)
Neil Sedaka served as a guest judge this week. Contestants performed two songs each: one from the 1960s and one from the Neil Sedaka discography. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 4 – Bee Gees (May 7)
Robin Gibb served as a guest judge this week. Contestants performed two songs each from the Bee Gees discography, and are listed in the order they performed.

Top 3 (May 14)
Contestants performed three songs each: one drawn "randomly" from a fishbowl (ie. chosen by the show's producers), one chosen by one of the judges, and one chosen by the contestant. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

Top 2 – Finale (May 21)
The two finalists performed three songs each.

Elimination chart
Color key: • {{legend|gold|Winner}}

• {{legend|silver|Runner-up}}

• {{legend|#FDFC8F|Saved by the public}}

• {{legend|#B0E0E6|Saved by the judges}}

• {{legend|#E6E6FA|Wild Card}}

• {{legend|#e0f0ff|Bottom two or three}}

• {{legend|#FFEBCD|Did not perform}}

• {{legend|#FFB694|Disqualified}}

• {{legend|#FF91A4|Eliminated}}

Controversies
The finale vote had been controversial due to the smallness of the margin. Ryan Seacrest also added fuel by mistakenly announcing the difference in vote count first as 13,000, then 1,335, but eventually revealed later to be around 130,000. There was much discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that more than 150 million votes were dropped, making the voting results suspect. In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed that Clay Aiken had led the fan voting from the wild card week onward until the finale.

There was controversy when contestant Frenchie Davis was disqualified from the competition after it was revealed that she had once posed for topless photos on the Internet. Shortly afterwards, she landed a role in the Broadway musical Rent.

Corey Clark was also disqualified from the show because, according to the Idol producers, Clark had a police record he had not disclosed to the show. However, in 2005, Clark alleged in an interview on ABC's Primetime Live and in a book, They Told Me to Tell the Truth, So... The Sex, Lies and Paulatics of One of America's Idols, that he and judge Paula Abdul had had an affair while he was on the show and that this contributed to his removal. Clark also alleged that Abdul gave him preferential treatment on the show and tips on song choice. A subsequent investigation by an independent counsel hired by Fox "could not corroborate the evidence or allegations provided by Mr. Clark or any witnesses". Paula Abdul was therefore considered exonerated but an "enhanced non-fraternization policy" was put in place after the investigation.

During the Top 10, a problem with the telephone system resulted in some votes not being registered for Julia DeMato; however, Fox insisted that the mistake would not have made any difference in her being voted off.

During the course of the contest, Studdard became known for wearing 205 Flava jerseys representing his area code; when asked about them early in the season, Studdard told Seacrest that he was "just representing 205". Shortly after the end of the contest, Studdard sued 205 Flava, Inc. for $2 Million dollars for using his image for promotional purposes. 205 Flava responded by alleging that Studdard had accepted over $10,000 in return for wearing 205 shirts, and produced eight cashed checks to validate their claim. The allegations, if true, were a clear violation of the American Idol rules. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

U.S. Nielsen ratings
The number of average viewers per episode this season was 21.7 million, an increase of 71% over the first season. Its Wednesday episodes finished as the third most-watched show of the year averaging 21.93 million, and the Tuesday episodes fifth at 21.56 million. The show ranked second in the coveted 18/49 demographic for the 2002–2003 season. This season's finale episode still ranks as the most-watched single episode in Idol history at 38.1 million, the finale night itself averaged 33.7 million when the pre-show special is taken into consideration. The show also helped Fox become the season's number three network in total viewers for the first time.

A couple of specials were aired later in the year - From Justin To Kelly: The Rise of Two American Idols on June 20, 2003, and American Idol: Christmas Songs on November 25, 2003, the latter of which was ranked number 30 with total viewer number of 10.9 million, and number 28 in the 18/49 demo with a 4.1 rating.

Compilations

 * American Idol Season 2: All-Time Classic American Love Songs (Album, 2003)
 * American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics (Feat. Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Kimberley Locke - Album, 2003)
 * American Christmas (Feat. Trenyce, Frenchie Davis - Album, 2008)

Tour

 * American Idols Live! Tour 2003