TV series / 2002-

American Idol

Original title: American Idol: The Search for a Superstar

American Idol is a TV series from 2002-. This page summarizes IMDb episode ratings across 24 seasons and 721 rated episodes.

24 seasons 721 rated episodes 5.7 average 26,883 episode votes

Ratings by Season

Rows are episode numbers. Columns are seasons.

Episode 123456789101112131415161718192021222324
1 5.4 5.3 4.7 5.0 4.0 4.1 5.7 6.3 5.1 5.9 6.6 5.5 5.9 6.6 6.6 6.8 8.0 7.9 7.2 6.8 8.3 8.7 6.6 7.6
2 4.4 5.6 4.4 4.2 4.4 5.0 5.3 4.2 5.0 6.6 5.0 5.6 6.6 6.1 7.2 7.4 7.7 7.9 8.0 9.1 8.2 9.1 7.3 7.6
3 4.3 5.6 4.4 4.9 3.7 5.5 4.6 4.8 4.2 5.9 5.1 5.6 6.0 5.3 6.8 7.9 8.1 7.9 8.0 8.6 8.7 9.1 7.6 7.5
4 4.5 5.6 5.0 4.7 4.1 4.5 4.6 5.0 5.1 5.9 5.4 5.2 5.4 5.8 6.3 7.5 8.2 8.3 8.3 8.2 8.4 9.1 8.3 7.7
5 4.4 5.3 4.9 4.8 4.0 4.3 3.7 5.2 4.5 5.1 5.4 5.2 5.6 5.1 7.3 8.2 8.3 8.1 8.9 8.3 9.0 8.2 7.4
6 4.4 4.9 5.0 4.7 3.8 4.0 4.4 5.2 4.3 5.1 5.0 5.8 5.4 4.7 7.7 8.4 8.3 8.5 8.6 8.6 8.3 8.5 7.8
7 4.3 4.9 5.2 4.4 3.7 3.7 4.1 5.7 5.1 5.8 4.8 5.0 5.1 5.2 7.9 8.2 8.2 8.6 8.9 7.5 9.1 7.9 7.8
8 4.4 4.7 5.0 4.6 4.8 4.0 4.5 4.8 5.1 5.0 5.3 4.4 4.9 5.5 7.7 8.5 8.3 8.3 8.8 8.1 8.4 8.0 7.5
9 4.4 4.8 4.9 4.6 4.5 4.7 4.4 5.7 5.1 5.5 5.0 4.6 5.3 4.9 6.4 7.5 8.5 8.1 8.5 8.5 8.2 8.1 8.7 7.0
10 4.3 4.6 5.4 5.1 5.4 5.0 5.1 5.8 5.2 5.4 5.0 4.9 5.4 4.8 6.4 8.2 8.2 7.9 8.4 8.2 8.2 7.9 7.6 5.3
11 3.8 4.6 4.8 5.0 4.3 4.8 5.3 5.6 4.5 5.9 5.6 4.5 4.7 5.2 6.8 7.7 7.5 7.2 8.7 8.5 8.3 8.2 7.2 7.2
12 4.1 5.4 4.8 4.5 4.9 4.6 5.0 5.6 4.8 5.1 5.3 4.8 5.1 5.1 6.4 8.4 8.0 7.0 8.4 8.8 8.4 8.8 8.4 7.3
13 4.3 4.8 4.8 4.9 5.0 5.4 4.8 5.0 4.5 5.7 6.3 4.2 5.4 5.9 8.0 8.0 7.8 8.1 8.2 8.2 8.2 7.9 7.3
14 4.3 5.0 4.8 5.8 4.7 4.2 5.2 5.3 4.5 5.3 4.6 3.8 5.5 5.5 6.0 8.2 7.5 7.5 8.2 8.0 8.5 9.2 7.8 7.1
15 4.2 5.0 5.3 4.9 5.0 4.3 4.0 5.5 4.7 7.4 6.1 4.4 5.2 5.6 8.0 8.0 7.7 7.8 8.8 8.5 8.8 8.2 7.6
16 4.4 5.0 4.8 5.5 5.0 4.3 4.5 5.1 4.7 6.3 5.1 4.1 4.5 5.4 6.9 7.5 8.0 6.3 8.4 8.8 8.4 8.3 7.7
17 4.0 5.1 5.6 5.6 4.5 4.2 4.5 5.3 4.8 5.0 5.4 4.2 4.6 5.6 5.9 8.0 7.4 8.2 8.7 7.9 8.4 7.9
18 4.4 4.8 4.9 5.1 5.0 4.4 4.7 5.3 4.8 5.2 5.8 4.4 5.1 5.4 5.6 7.2 7.6 7.0 7.9 7.9 7.7 7.3
19 4.6 5.2 4.8 5.0 5.4 4.4 4.3 5.6 4.9 4.9 4.6 4.1 4.9 4.8 5.6 7.0 7.1 7.4 8.1 7.2 7.1
20 4.7 5.0 5.8 4.9 5.4 4.3 4.5 5.2 5.0 5.5 6.0 3.9 5.4 4.6 7.5 8.1
21 4.1 4.8 5.6 5.1 5.2 4.0 4.4 5.3 5.5 5.1 5.5 4.6 4.9 5.3
22 4.5 5.0 5.3 5.7 5.5 4.5 4.1 5.3 4.8 5.0 5.0 4.8 5.1 5.7 7.4
23 4.6 4.7 5.3 5.2 5.6 3.9 5.3 6.1 4.9 5.1 4.0 4.8 4.9 5.4
24 5.2 4.9 5.1 5.1 4.9 4.6 3.9 5.3 4.5 6.8 3.9 4.1 4.7 5.8 7.5
25 4.7 5.3 5.5 5.0 4.2 4.4 5.6 4.7 5.3 4.0 4.5 4.6 5.2
26 4.9 5.7 5.1 5.3 4.3 4.4 5.2 5.6 6.0 3.9 4.0 4.9 5.2
27 4.7 5.5 5.7 5.2 4.2 4.8 5.8 5.2 4.9 4.2 5.2 4.6 5.4
28 4.7 5.7 5.2 5.2 4.0 4.3 5.7 5.0 5.8 4.1 4.1 5.2 5.3
29 5.0 5.2 5.1 5.2 4.0 4.8 5.8 4.6 5.0 4.2 3.9 4.3 5.2
30 5.0 5.8 5.0 5.4 4.6 4.2 5.7 5.8 5.7 4.1 4.0 4.3 5.0
31 4.8 4.8 5.1 5.5 4.1 4.3 5.6 5.4 4.9 4.4 4.0 4.2
32 4.9 5.3 5.0 5.0 5.1 3.9 6.5 5.5 5.7 4.0 3.4 4.9
33 5.2 5.3 5.1 5.2 5.6 4.5 5.3 4.7 5.2 4.2 3.2 4.4
34 5.3 5.3 5.0 5.0 5.3 4.5 8.1 4.7 5.0 3.9 3.9 4.9
35 4.9 5.3 5.6 5.0 5.8 4.3 6.0 3.5 4.8 4.9 3.7 4.7
36 5.4 5.0 5.5 5.0 3.8 5.5 5.7 4.4 5.5 6.6 3.7 5.3
37 4.3 5.1 4.4 5.0 4.3 4.4 7.0 4.4 5.4 4.9 4.5 5.3
38 5.0 4.6 4.9 5.0 4.7 3.9 5.8 4.5 5.6 5.1 4.5
39 5.9 5.6 5.3 5.5 4.2 4.2 7.0 4.4 5.9 6.7 5.4
40 6.1 4.6 5.3 4.8 4.3 7.1 4.8 5.2
41 4.9 4.9 5.8 7.2 5.8 4.1
42 5.1 5.2 7.5 4.7
43 5.6 4.1 6.6

Series summary

About American Idol

The rated episodes of American Idol have an average IMDb rating of 5.7 based on 26,883 episode votes. Season 22 has the highest average rating at 8.6 across 18 rated episodes. Season 1 has the lowest average rating at 4.4.

Genre
Game-Show, Music, and Reality-TV
Runtime
42 minute episodes
Principal cast
Ryan Seacrest, Mark Thompson, Randy Jackson, and Simon Cowell
Writers
Simon Fuller and J. Chris Newberg
Directors
Bruce Gowers, Phil Heyes, and Russell Norman
Also known as
American Idol 10, American Idol 2, and American Idol 3

Highest rated

Best Episodes

  1. S22E14: 714 (Shania Twain Mentors the Top 10 on Songs From Their Year of Birth) The best episode of American Idol is S22E14: 714 (Shania Twain Mentors the Top 10 on Songs From Their Year of Birth) with a 9.2 rating / 32 votes
  2. S22E2: 702 (Auditions) 9.1 rating / 39 votes
  3. S20E2: 502 (Auditions) 9.1 rating / 38 votes
  4. S22E4: 704 (Auditions) 9.1 rating / 35 votes
  5. S22E3: 703 (Auditions) 9.1 rating / 33 votes

Lowest rated

Worst Episodes

  1. S12E33: Episode #12.33 The worse episode of American Idol is S12E33: Episode #12.33 with a 3.2 rating / 25 votes
  2. S12E32: Episode #12.32 3.4 rating / 25 votes
  3. S9E35: Top Six Results 3.5 rating / 30 votes
  4. S6E7: Auditions: San Antonio 3.7 rating / 44 votes
  5. S7E5: Omaha Auditions 3.7 rating / 41 votes