Wild Card roundAfter the ten singers who advanced on Thursday, March 3, six of the remaining semifinalists were selected by the judges to compete in the Wild Card round. The judges selected three contestants to advance to the final group of 13. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Top 13 finalists- Scotty McCreery was from Garner, North Carolina, and was 17 years old at the time of the show. He auditioned in Milwaukee with Josh Turner's "Your Man" and Travis Tritt's "Put Some Drive in Your Country." He performed "Your Man" in Hollywood, but forgot the words to Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance." For his final solo, he performed Josh Turner's "Long Black Train."
- Lauren Alaina was from Rossville, Georgia, and was 16 years old at the time of the show. She auditioned in Nashville with Faith Hill's "Like We Never Loved at All" and Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," which she also sang in Hollywood. She also performed "Unchained Melody" twice, once for the first solo in Hollywood and again for the final solo. She performed "Hello, Goodbye" for the Las Vegas round with Scotty McCreery and Denise Jackson.
- Haley Reinhart was from Wheeling, Illinois, and was 20 years old at the time of the show. She originally auditioned in Chicago in the ninth season, but did not advance to the Hollywood round. She auditioned in Milwaukee with The Beatles' "Oh! Darling." She performed Corinne Bailey Rae's "Breathless" in the first solo round. In Hollywood, she performed Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child." In the Las Vegas round, she performed the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" with Naima Adedapo and Jacob Lusk. For her final solo, she performed the Shirelles' "Baby It's You."
- James Durbin was from Santa Cruz, California, and was 22 years old at the time of the show. He originally auditioned in the eighth season, but was not selected. He auditioned in San Francisco with Muddy Waters's "You Shook Me" and Aerosmith's "Dream On." He performed the Beatles' "Oh! Darling" for his solo in Hollywood, Queen's "Somebody to Love" in the group round, and Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" for his final solo.
- Jacob Lusk was from Compton, California, and was 23 years old at the time of the show. He auditioned in Los Angeles. Randy Jackson considered his performance of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" in Hollywood the best ever seen on Idol. He also performed the Temptations' "Get Ready" with Naima Adedapo, and Leon Russell's "A Song for You" for his final solo. In the top 24 round, he earned a standing ovation for his performance of "A House Is Not a Home" by Luther Vandross.
- Casey Abrams was from Idyllwild, California, and was 20 years old at the time of the show. He auditioned in Austin with Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor." He impressed the judges with his performance of "Georgia on My Mind" in Hollywood. He also performed Ella Fitzgerald's "Lullaby of Birdland," the Temptations' "Get Ready" in Hollywood, "A Hard Day's Night" in the Las Vegas round, and Kansas Joe McCoy's "Why Don't You Do Right?" for his final solo. He played the double bass and melodica on the show.
- Stefano Langone was from Kent, Washington, and was 22 years old at the time of the show. He auditioned in San Francisco with Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." He performed Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" in Hollywood, "Get Back" in Las Vegas, and his own composition, "Come Home," for his final solo.
- Paul McDonald was from Huntsville, Alabama, and was 26 years old at the time of the show. He auditioned in Nashville with Rod Stewart's "Maggie May." He performed Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" and his own composition, "American Dreams," for his final solo.
- Pia Toscano was from Howard Beach, New York, and was 22 years old at the time of the show. She had auditioned for Idol four times before and made it through to Hollywood in the sixth season, but did not continue further. She auditioned in East Rutherford. She and Karen Rodriguez sang together the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" in Las Vegas. She also performed Bruno Mars's "Grenade" in Hollywood and Alicia Keys's "Doesn't Mean Anything" for her final solo.
- Naima Adedapo was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was 26 years old at the time of the show. She auditioned in Milwaukee with Donny Hathaway's "For All We Know." She performed the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" with Jacob Lusk and Haley Reinhart in Las Vegas, and Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On" for her final solo.
- Thia Megia was from Mountain House, California, and was 16 years old at the time of the show. She auditioned in Milwaukee with Adele's "Chasing Pavements." She performed "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" in Hollywood, "Here Comes the Sun" in Las Vegas, and Secret Garden's "You Raise Me Up" for her final solo.
- Karen Rodriguez was from New York City, New York, and was 21 years old at the time of the show. She was one of the Myspace auditions, who then auditioned in front of the judges in Los Angeles with Whitney Houston's "You Give Good Love." She performed Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love," Bruno Mars's "Just the Way You Are" in Hollywood, and Selena's "No Me Queda Más" in the final round.
- Ashthon Jones was from Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and was 24 years old at the time of the show. She auditioned in Nashville. She sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, Blu Cantrell's Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!) in Hollywood, and Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" for her final solo.
Finals
There were twelve weeks of finals with thirteen contestants competing. At least one contestant was eliminated every week based on the public's votes, although the judges could veto one elimination through the use of the "judges' save."
Color key:
Top 13 – Personal IdolsContestants performed one song each from their own personal idols, and are listed in the order they performed.
Top 12 – Contestants' birth yearContestants each performed one song from the year they were born, and are listed in the order they performed.
Top 11 (March 24) – Motownserved as a guest mentor this week, although this was not explicitly mentioned on the show. Contestants are listed in the order they performed. The judges chose to use their "judges' save" when Casey Abrams was announced as the performer to be eliminated. As a result, no one was eliminated this week.
Contestants performed one song each from Elton John's discography, and are listed in the order they performed. Two contestants were eliminated.
served as a guest mentor this week, alongside in-house mentor Jimmy Iovine during dress rehearsals. Russell Brand did not mentor them individually, but did entertain them as a group, while coaching them on stage presence and confidence. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Top 8 – Movie soundtracksserved as a guest mentor this week, alongside in-house mentor Jimmy Iovine during dress rehearsals. Rob Reiner did not mentor individually, but did give the top eight a group pep talk. Contestants chose songs featured in movies, and are listed in the order they performed.
Top 7 – Music from the 21st centuryContestants are listed in the order they performed.
served as a guest mentor this week. Each contestant performed two songs from the Carole King discography: one solo and one duet with a fellow contestant. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Top 5 – Music from the new millennium & the 1960sserved as a guest mentor this week. Each contestant performed two songs: one from the new millennium and one from the 1960s. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Top 4 – Inspirational music & Leiber and Stollerserved as a guest mentor this week. Each contestant performed two songs, one of which was written by songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Top 3served as a guest mentor this week. Each contestant performed three songs: one chosen by the contestant, one chosen by mentor Jimmy Iovine, and one chosen by the judges. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
Top 2 – Finaledamaged her vocal cords while rehearsing for the finale, but she was treated and cleared to continue in the competition. Breaking from tradition, the judges did not offer their critiques of the performances until after both contestants had sung both of their opening songs, and then the critiques were delivered to both contestants at the same time. Each contestant performed three songs, one of which was chosen by their personal musical idol. Contestants are listed in the order they performed.
| Performers | Song | | David Cook | "Don't You (Forget About Me)" | | Taio Cruz | "Positive" | | Top 13 | "Born This Way" | James Durbin
with Judas Priest | "Living After Midnight"
"Breaking the Law" | Jacob Lusk
with Gladys Knight and Kirk Franklin | "I Smile" | Casey Abrams
with Jack Black | "Fat Bottomed Girls" | Haley Reinhart, Pia Toscano,
Naima Adedapo, Thia Megia,
Karen Rodriguez, and Ashthon Jones
with Beyoncé | Beyoncé medley:
"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
"Irreplaceable"
"Get Me Bodied"
"If I Were a Boy"
"Deja Vu"
"Crazy in Love" | Haley Reinhart
with Tony Bennett | "Steppin' Out with My Baby" | | Lil Jon | "Come Get Some" | Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart,
Pia Toscano, Naima Adedapo,
Thia Megia, Karen Rodriguez,
and Ashthon Jones
with TLC | "Come Get Some"
"No Scrubs"
"Waterfalls" | Scotty McCreery
with Tim McGraw | "Live Like You Were Dying" | Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez,
and Sheila E. | "Aguanile"
from El Cantante | Scotty McCreery, James Durbin,
Jacob Lusk, Casey Abrams,
Stefano Langone, and Paul McDonald
with Tom Jones | "Kiss"
"She's a Lady"
"What's New, Pussycat?"
"Green, Green Grass of Home"
"Love Me Tonight"
"Delilah"
"It's Not Unusual" | | Lady Gaga | "The Edge of Glory" | Lauren Alaina
with Carrie Underwood | "Before He Cheats" | | Beyoncé | "1+1" | Reeve Carney
with Bono and The Edge | "Rise Above 1" | | Steven Tyler | "Dream On" | | Scotty McCreery | "I Love You This Big" |
Elimination chart'''Color key:'''U.S. Nielsen ratingsAmerican Idol ended the 2010–2011 television season as the number one and number two show in Total Viewers, and the number one and number three show in Adults 18–49. The Wednesday performance shows earned an average of 25.864 million viewers and an 8.8/24 rating in the Adults 18–49 demographic, while the Thursday results show earned an average of 23.798 million viewers and a 7.7/22 rating in the Adults 18–49 demographic. The show's success helped Fox network achieve the longest winning streak in broadcast history of seven consecutive season in the Adult 18–49 demo.
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