The first season of American Idol (originally entitled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar) premiered on June 11, 2002, over four months after Pop Idol's first series ended [with Will Young winning the series], and continued until September 4, 2002. The first season was co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman, the latter of whom left the show after the season ended. Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson served as judges. Kelly Clarkson won the competition, defeating Justin Guarini, who finished in second place.

Kelly Clarkson signed with RCA Records, the label in partnership with American Idol's 19 Recordings. Immediately after the finale, Clarkson released two singles, including her coronation song, "A Moment Like This," which went on to break a thirty-eight-year-old record held by The Beatles for a song's biggest leap to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It jumped up from number fifty-two to number one in just one week. Clarkson has enjoyed a successful recording and talk show hosting career since winning, with multiple platinum albums, numerous top-ten hit singles, three Grammy Awards, and seven Emmy Awards. Runner-up Justin Guarini also signed with RCA Records, eventually debuting an album in 2003 after the conclusion of the second season. In addition to Clarkson and Guarini, Nikki McKibbin, Tamyra Gray, R. J. Helton, and Christina Christian also signed recording contracts.

After the finale, a special show in Las Vegas was also shown on September 23, 2002, where all 30 of the contestants who made the judges' initial cut performed in a two-hour concert.

Auditions were held in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, and Seattle in the spring of 2002,^[1] and around 10,000 attended the auditions. Auditions were shown in the episode which aired originally on June 11, 2002.

Kelly Clarkson was notable for being largely absent in the audition episode, and she remains the only winner whose audition was not aired in the original broadcast. The other top ten finalists whose auditions were not shown were Nikki McKibbin and EJ Day.

The Hollywood week rounds were held in the Pasadena Civic Center, where 121 contestants competed for a place in the finals. The contestants first came onto the stage in groups of nine or ten, but performed solo unaccompanied, and those who did not impress the judges were cut after the group finished their individual performances. The 65 singers who were selected to proceed on to the next round were then separated by gender and given a crash course to learn their next song overnight, which they were expected to perform the next day in small groups. The ladies' song was Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer" and the men's song was Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life". Again, those who failed to impress were cut immediately after their performance.

In the final round, the remaining 45 were given new songs to learn and each performed solo and a cappella. The top 15 were first announced, and then the judges selected 15 more out of the remaining 30.

Delano Cagnolatti was initially amongst those announced as the Top 30, but he was later disqualified for falsifying his age,^[7] and became the first person to be disqualified on American Idol. He was replaced by EJay Day.

These 30 contestants reached the semifinals stage of the season. Before their performances, contestants took part in intensive music workshops, where they were given vocal coaching by Debra Byrd and advice by stylists. The contestants each emerged to perform solo with piano accompaniment. There was no studio audience at this stage and the performances were pre-taped. The audiences voted after each round of performances, and the results of the votes were announced the next day. A total of 3.3 million votes were cast in the first week of voting.^[8] From each group, three contestants advanced to the next round based on votes by the viewers.

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Contestants are listed in the order they performed.

• Kelly Clarkson (born April 24, 1982, in Fort Worth, Texas; 20 years old at the time of the show) was from Burleson, Texas, and auditioned in Dallas with Etta James' "At Last" and Madonna's "Express Yourself." She performed Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" in Hollywood.
• Justin Guarini (born October 28, 1978, in Columbus, Georgia; 23 years old at the time of the show) was from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and auditioned in New York City with The Jackson 5's version of "Who's Lovin' You." He performed Oleta Adams' version of "Get Here" in Hollywood.
• Nikki McKibbin (born September 28, 1978, in Grand Prairie, Texas; 23 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Dallas with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time." She performed The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" in Hollywood.
• Tamyra Gray (born July 26, 1979, in Takoma Park, Maryland; 22 years old at the time of the show) was from Atlanta, Georgia, and auditioned there with Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love." She performed Oleta Adams' "Get Here" in Hollywood.
• R. J. Helton (born May 17, 1981, in Pasadena, Texas; 21 years old at the time of the show) was from Cumming, Georgia, and auditioned in Atlanta with The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye."
• Christina Christian (born June 21, 1981, in New York City, New York; 21 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Miami with Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely." She performed Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in Hollywood.
• Ryan Starr (born November 21, 1982, in Los Angeles, California; 18 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Los Angeles with Bill Withers' "Lean on Me." She performed Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" in Hollywood.
• AJ Gil (born July 5, 1984, in San Diego, California; 17 years old at the time of the show) was from Tacoma, Washington, and auditioned in Seattle with "The Star-Spangled Banner."
• Jim Verraros (born February 8, 1983, in Chicago, Illinois; 19 years old at the time of the show) was from Crystal Lake, Illinois, and auditioned in Chicago with Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love." He performed Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in Hollywood.
• EJay Day (born September 13, 1981, in Lawrenceville, Georgia; 20 years old at the time of the show) did not originally qualify for the semifinals, but was later chosen to replace disqualified contestant Delano Cagnolatti. He auditioned in Atlanta with Oleta Adams' "Get Here."

The finals were broadcast in front of a live studio audience. The finals lasted for eight weeks, and each finalist performed one or more songs selected from a weekly theme.

The results of public vote were revealed on the results show, which aired the next night. The two or three contestants who received the fewest number of votes were announced. The contestant who received the fewest votes was eliminated from the competition.

This season largely set the pattern for later seasons, such as group performances by the contestants during the result shows, hometown visits for the top three, and performing the songs for the top two that would be released immediately after the finale. In this season, there were no guest mentors aside from Burt Bacharach, who helped the contestants prepare their songs.

Kelly Clarkson was declared the winner over Justin Guarini with Kelly receiving 58% of the 15.5 million votes cast.^[9] Over 110 million votes were cast over the course of the entire season.^[8]

A television special from Las Vegas, Nevada, starring the top thirty-two finalists aired in September 23, 2002,^[10] a thirty-date tour with the top ten followed, as did the box office bomb From Justin to Kelly.

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It was revealed during the season that around 100 phone-phreak hackers with power-dialing hardware and software were able to place as many as 10,000 votes a night from a single phone line with the touch of a button.^[12] However, FremantleMedia, which produces the show, contended that the hackers had a 'statistically insignificant' effect on the vote. Simon Cowell also insisted that Tamyra Gray's unexpected ouster from the show only strengthened the producers' contention that the voting was fair.^[13] Nevertheless, concerns were raised about possible unfairness in the situation of a tight vote.^[14] Ken Warwick later said in the fifth season that equipment was put in place afterwards to address this issue, but it allegedly has never detected such a problem since.^[15]

Controversy erupted when Kelly Clarkson was invited to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a deal arranged by 19 Entertainment at a special commemoration for the first anniversary of September 11 attacks at Washington's Lincoln Memorial. Some critics suggested that Clarkson's appearance would turn a somber occasion of national mourning into a "giant promotional opportunity".^[16] Kelly Clarkson herself considered withdrawing from the commemoration, saying "I think it is a bad idea ... If anybody thinks I'm trying to market anything, well, that's awful." and added "I am not going to do it."^[17] She was however unable to withdraw from the event.

Season one of American Idol was a surprise summer hit show of 2002 and had an average viewership of 12.7 million per episode.^[18] It was the summer's highest-rated show in the 18/49 demographic.^[19]

Re-edited episodes of American Idol season 1 were being shown in syndication as American Idol Rewind. The new episodes featured commentary from some of the first season's top 30, including Justin Guarini, Jim Verraros, Christina Christian, Nikki McKibbin, Angela Peel, and Kelli Glover. Rewind also showcased footage that was not seen in the initial run of season 1, including Kelly Clarkson's full initial audition.^[34]

• American Idols Live! Tour 2002