The tenth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox television network on January 19, 2011, and concluded on May 25, 2011. The show underwent a number of changes from the ninth season, including the return of Nigel Lythgoe as executive producer.^[2] Randy Jackson returned as judge for his tenth season, while Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler joined the judges' panel following the departures of Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres, and Kara DioGuardi.

Interscope Records, which was part of Universal Music Group, replaced Sony Music Entertainment as Idol's official partner record label. Interscope's chairman Jimmy Iovine, a songwriter and producer, was named as the in-house mentor to work with the contestants on a weekly basis. He was supported by associated producers Rodney Jerkins, Alex da Kid, Tricky Stewart, Don Was, will.i.am, and Timbaland, who all helped the contestants tailor their song choices to their chosen genre of performance, while also producing arrangements for the contestants and offering original material to be performed. Ray Chew replaced Rickey Minor as the show's musical director and leader of Idol's live band.^[3]

Programming changes included a move from Tuesdays and Wednesdays to Wednesdays and Thursdays.^[4] The show also opened up an option for viewers to cast their votes online through Facebook. Specific changes in the competition itself included extending extra rounds (such as the one in Las Vegas) and a final solo round, while also returning the judges' Wild Card choices. The show also lowered the age of eligibility to fifteen.^[5]

On May 25, 2011, after 122.4 million votes were cast for the finale (and nearly 750 million votes all season),^[6] Scotty McCreery was crowned the winner of the tenth season of American Idol, with Lauren Alaina as the runner-up. Nine contestants from this season were signed to record labels, including Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart, James Durbin, Casey Abrams, Stefano Langone, Pia Toscano, Naima Adedapo, and Jimmie Allen.^[7]

Simon Cowell, who had been a judge since the very first season, announced on January 11, 2010, that he would not return as a judge for this season in order to focus on launching the American version of his British singing competition The X Factor.^[8] Ellen DeGeneres officially announced her departure on July 29 after judging for only one season,^[9] and Kara DioGuardi announced on September 3 that she would also not return.^[10] On September 22, 2010, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler would join the show as the new permanent judges.^[11]

Extra rounds were added in the Hollywood phase of the competition which would narrow the contestants down to 60 finalists. Those who advanced were then taken to Las Vegas, where they were asked to perform a song from the Beatles, and then a further solo round in Los Angeles. It was initially planned to reduce the contestants down to 20 by the end of the Hollywood rounds, however, 24 contestants were chosen instead for the semifinals,^[12] and they would perform in two groups of 12, where the public vote determined the top five males and females. The judges were granted three Wild Card picks, bringing the total number of finalists to 13.^[13]

At the end of the ninth season, American Idol 's affiliation with Sony Music Entertainment ended and was replaced with Universal Music Group. Therefor, the winner would now be signed to Interscope Records. Interscope's sister labels, A&M Records and Geffen Records, were also involved in promoting and distributing the albums of the show's finalists.^[14][15] Chairman of the Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group, Jimmy Iovine, worked directly with contestants this season as an in-house mentor.^[15] Additionally, a team of Universal Music-associated producers and songwriters, such as Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Timbaland, and Alex da Kid, also worked alongside the contestants to help them take on original arrangement and material.

Auditions were held in the following cities:^[16]

The age minimum this season was reduced to 15; the maximum age, however, still remained at 28.^[16]

In addition to the above cities, contestants were allowed for the first time to audition online via Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter. To audition, they were required to upload a forty-second audition clip of them singing a pre-approved song.^[23] The on-line auditions who were selected to proceed, which included Karen Rodriguez, were brought to Los Angeles to audition in front of the judges.

The Hollywood phase of the competition was held at the Pasadena Civic Center. There were 327 contestants in the first round, which lasted over two days. The contestants emerged in groups of ten and each performed individually a cappella. After the whole group had finished their performances, those who failed were cut immediately. 168 advanced to the next round, where the contestants performed in groups; out of the 168, only 100 advanced to the next round. In the next round, the contestants performed solo, accompanied by a band or an instrument. The contestants were then separated into four rooms, with two of the four rooms containing eliminated contestants and the other two containing contestants who made it into the next round. Only 61 of the 100 remaining contestants advanced.

This year, due to the large number of contestants, two more rounds were added. The 61 remaining contestants proceeded to Las Vegas, where they performed songs from the Beatles as duos and trios in the Love theater at The Mirage. After that, 41 contestants advanced to a final round back in Los Angeles. In that round, each contestant performed a song of their own choice at Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose aircraft hangar.^[24] The top 24 were then selected from the remaining 41 for the semifinals.

The semifinal round began on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. The males and females competed on back-to-back nights, and the top five from each group, along with the judges' three Wild Card choices, advanced to the finals.

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• Scotty McCreery (born October 9, 1993) 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 (born November 8, 1994) 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 (born September 9, 1990) 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 (born January 6, 1989) 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 (born June 23, 1987) 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 (born February 12, 1991) 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 (born February 27, 1989) 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 (born August 29, 1984) 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 (born October 14, 1988) 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 (born October 5, 1984) 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 (born January 30, 1995) 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 (born March 22, 1989) 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 (born February 27, 1986) 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.

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."

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American 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.^[28] 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.^[29]

• American Idols LIVE! Tour 2011