American Idol

The auditions begin in 3 California cities: Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai. Judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie return, along with host Ryan Seacrest.

Auditions across California – Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai – continue.

Auditions across California – Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai – continue.

Auditions continue in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai.

The auditions conclude in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai.

Hollywood Week kicks off with fan favorites from auditions returning to the stage for the Genre Challenge in hopes of making it through to the next round.

The iconic Hollywood Week wraps up with Hollywood Duets. Idol hopefuls continue to compete for their chance to make it through to the next round.

The Showstopper round has the contestants perform with a band for their last chance to make it into the Top 24.

The Showstopper round has the contestants perform with a band for their last chance to make it into the Top 24.

Contestants perform duets with surprise celebrity guests for a chance to make it to live shows.

Contestants perform duets with surprise celebrity guests for a chance to make it to live shows.

The Top 16 are revealed and perform in the hope of securing America’s vote to the next round.

After the overnight vote, 10 contestants are revealed as safe, leaving 6 contestants to try to impress the judges for their chance at the final 2 spots in the Top 12.

The Top 12 contestants perform Oscar-nominated songs in the hope of securing America’s vote into the Top 9. Lionel Richie opens the show with a special performance of “Say You Say Me.”

Ten finalists from the previous season return to make their debut on the Idol stage, where they sing for America’s vote. After a week-long vote, only one will remain in the competition, rounding out the top 10.

After the results of the Comeback show are announced, we see the Top 9's trip to Walt Disney World for a one-on-one session with a celebrity mentor. The season’s Top 10, including the Comeback winner, then perform a song from the renowned Disney songbook in hopes of securing America’s real-time vote. The Top 7 finalists are revealed at the end of the episode.

The Top 7 contestants are live coast-to-coast. Each performs a song in honor of Mother’s Day and a second song from the Coldplay songbook, mentored by the band’s lead singer, Chris Martin. Coldplay performs their recently announced new single, “Higher Power.” Voting starts at the beginning of the episode and the Top 5 finalists are revealed at the end.

FINNEAS mentors the top 5, who are grouped to perform two of his songs. They then perform two additional songs each: one inspired by their personal idol and the debut of their winner’s single. FINNEAS takes to the Idol stage to perform “Till Forever Falls Apart” with Ashe. Voting starts at the beginning of the episode and the final 3 are revealed at the end.

In the 3-hour live coast-to-coast season finale the top 3 finalists each take the stage in hopes of winning the season. The judges each perform a hit song, the rest of the top 9 return to join renowned music artists Lindsey Buckingham, Alessia Cara, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Fall Out Boy, Mickey Guyton, Chaka Khan, Leona Lewis, and Macklemore.