American Idol: The Top 50 Performances

Before we begin, someone is bound to ask why Season 5 hasn’t been included in this countdown. One day it will, but the measure of this countdown is how the performances stand up in the history of the series. Simply put, the season five performances are still a bit new. You can be sure that Chris Daughtry’s “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” and Katharine McPhee’s “Black Horse and Cherry Tree” will certainly be honored in the future.

But for now, fire up your wayback machine and relive the great moments of the seasons gone by.

1. Fantasia, “Summertime”

There are a number of things that were spectacular about this performance. Fantasia was definitely in the “love her or hate her” phase of her campaign. Yet when Fantasia was shown on camera to sing “Summertime,” on the ground, shoeless, in a simple pink dress that immediately transformed us to some Broadway production on 52nd Street, Fantasia had the audience in the palm of her skillfully manicured hands from the first violin sweeps and didn’t let us go until we felt the emotion in every syllable she sang. To call it a powerful rendition does not even capture the surreal, fantastic moment in time we were treated to. Fantasia gave us a glimpse of what she could become, long after Idols were forgotten... with a song she’d never heard before (and couldn’t read, we’d later learn). Wow.

2. Bo Bice, “In a Dream”

Bo has been showing how versatile a performer he is from the moment we first saw him. But this a cappella performance in the heat of an American Idol competition was jaw-dropping. While it is easy to pigeon-hole Bo as a southern rocker who rarely did anything else (that would be incorrect), no one has ever performed without musical backing after making the semi-finals. A tremendous gamble. There is nowhere to hide with your voice. One false note could very well mar the whole performance. It was bold, it was brave, and it was perfectly executed. An amazing moment.

3. Clay Aiken, “Solitaire”

Back in season 2, Neil Sedaka was gushing praise at Clay’s masterful reading of Sedaka’s classic like a disciple who found a new god. Bathed in a solo spotlight, Clay used the power of his voice to transform and transfix. Ironically, Clay would do “Build Me Up, Buttercup” in another performance this night, and may be have produced the greatest one night of performances in Idol history. Of “Solitaire,” when the first version of this list was done, Mike DeGeorge said Clay “sang the absolute blue-eyed hell out of it.” I can’t think of a better way to describe it!

4. Tamyra Gray, “A House Is Not a Home”

In the last version of this chart, Tamyra was number 6, an example of how a performance can ferment like fine wine after a time. Back then, I said the problem with Tamyra, if there was one, was that she had the “can-do-no-wrong” stamp on her for a while, which was turning off some viewers. It was like she was the teacher’s pet. She was always great, but Simon seemed a little too enthusiastic about her. Tamyra had to keep pushing herself to show she was worthy of all that praise. During Burt Bacharach week, Tamyra took on the legacy of Luther Vandross’ extraordinarily popular version (risky in itself), multiplied the risk by leaning toward the original, less-known rendition, and was flat-out fabulous. The delivery, the pitch, the calculated catch in her voice at the end - someone broke Tamyra’s heart and she was reliving it with us. She was singing from her toenails!

5. Kelly Clarkson, “Natural Woman”

Bona fide superstar Kelly Clarkson was nailing performance after performance at such a dizzying rate when she was on Idol, she would be given the award for consistent excellence in this list if there were one. But this was the performance that said she was going to win. She managed to match Aretha Franklin with power, and had the nerve to throw in a high C for good measure (Randy Jackson would later say in astonishment, “I didn’t know you could do that!”). She was the uncrowned American Idol from that point on.

6. Justin Guarini, “Get Here”

The signature song for Justin Guarini’s Idol campaign, no question. He performed it a number of times in season 1, but none captured the magic of when he sang it during his original audition... and left Paula in pile of her own juices. She was so affected, she couldn’t even say “Hollywood,” or anything else for that matter. And just like that, he was my favorite to win. For a while. He didn’t win, obviously, but no performance has been that lights-out since. A lot of things made Justin Justin, and he is so much more than a warm singing voice.

7. Ruben Studdard, “Superstar”

All of the Luther Vandross-esque qualities of Ruben’s voice are highlighted in this classic, and being able to come close to Vandross’ velvety intimacy is no small task for anyone. Ruben came more than close - he pretty much repossessed the song from the master! For all of the things you remember about Ruben - the 205s, the big dimples, that way he was all business when the judges gave him critiques - “Superstar” is another one of those identifiable hallmarks. It was his signature song, one that fits him like your favorite sneakers. Ruben always sang this song like he was born to sing. Never disappointing.

8. Kimberley Locke, “I Can’t Make You Love Me”

This was the moment when we realized that Kimberley, who always seemed to end up in the bottom three, was winning folks over finally. She sang this number during country rock week, right after Ruben’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” Kim’s was a mature, professional, and elegant counterpoint to the flat-out handclapping fun Ruben had just provided, but no less entertaining. Kimberley was scratching on the potential that everyone could see in her, but just wasn’t getting. In telling the story of someone who realizes that her relationship has gone as far as it is gonna go, Kim made it very real. Ruben was the most fun that night, but Kim was the most moving. And this is when the sure top two started looking like a sure top three.

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