| The X Factor | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
| Broadcast from | September 21–December 22, 2011 |
| Judges | Simon Cowell Paula Abdul Nicole Scherzinger L.A. Reid Cheryl Cole (Chicago & Los Angeles auditions) |
| Host(s) | Steve Jones |
| Broadcaster | Fox |
| Winner: Melanie Amaro |
|
| Origin | Sunrise, Florida |
| Song | "Listen" |
| Genre(s) | Pop, R&B |
| Runner-up | |
| Josh Krajcik | |
| Chronology | |
| 2011 ► | |
The X Factor is an American television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner receives a US$5 million recording contract with Epic Records.[1] The first season began airing on Fox on September 21, 2011 and concluded December 22, 2011. Melanie Amaro was announced as the winner, and Simon Cowell emerged as the winning mentor.
Based on the UK format, the competition consists of auditions, in front of producers and then the judges with a live audience; bootcamp; judges' houses and then the live finals. Auditions for the show began in March 2011 and concluded in June 2011.[2] The show was hosted by Welsh TV presenter Steve Jones, while the judging panel consisted of Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid.
An early preview of The X Factor aired during the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 12, 2011. Another preview was shown following American football coverage on Fox on September 11. The show was simultaneously broadcast in Canada on CTV or CTV Two, depending on schedule.
Contents |
At the time of announcing the U.S. version, Cowell was the only confirmed judge for the show.[3] He later said that he was taking the choices of who to join him on the show very seriously, saying, "It's pointless hiring judges who don't know anything about the music business. I'll probably go and find someone who did what I did for a living. I was an A&R guy for 20 years."[4] Many people were rumored to be in the running to join the judging panel, including Nicole Scherzinger, George Michael,[5] Nicki Minaj,[6] Rihanna, Katy Perry, Elton John, Mariah Carey and Jessica Simpson, though Cowell denied that Perry and John were.[5] Eventually, Grammy Award-winning record executive, songwriter, and record producer L.A. Reid,[7][8] former UK X Factor judge Cheryl Cole,[9][10] and Cowell's former American Idol colleague Paula Abdul[11] were confirmed to join Cowell in the judging panel.
Cowell had previously indicated that the show may have two hosts.[12][13] Numerous people were speculated to host the series, including High School Musical star Corbin Bleu and UK X Factor host Dermot O'Leary.[14][15] At one point, singer-songwriter Lady Gaga was rumored to have a non-judging role on the show.[16] Initially, Scherzinger was to act as co-host with Welsh presenter Steve Jones.[17][18]
On May 26, 2011, it was reported that Cole had been axed from the show and was set to be replaced by Scherzinger. Reports varied over whether she was axed because American audiences had trouble understanding her accent, because of a lack of chemistry between her and Abdul, or that she had stepped down herself due to homesickness.[19][20] Cole's departure was officially confirmed on June 6 in a statement from Fox, which also confirmed Scherzinger as her replacement. Jones now serves as the sole presenter.[21] On August 5, Cowell announced that the reason why Cole left was because he offered her the job in the UK version back and that he felt that she would be more comfortable there. He said if her departure had anything to do with her not getting along with Abdul then he would not be judging the show.[22]
Auditions for producers began in Los Angeles, California, on February 38, 2011, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. They then took place in Miami, Florida, on April 7, 2011, at the BankUnited Center and continued in Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center on April 14, 2011. More auditions took place in Seattle, Washington's KeyArena on April 20, 2011, and Chicago, Illinois's Sears Centre on April 27, 2011, and finished in Dallas, Texas's American Airlines Center on May 26, 2011.[23][24]
It was reported that The X Factor had broken the auditions record in Los Angeles on March 27.[25] It was reported that over 20,000 people auditioned in Newark, New Jersey,[26] and it was also reported that over 5,000 people auditioned in Seattle.[27]
The MyStudio HD audition booths opened in Honolulu, Hawaii; Phoenix, Arizona; Nashville, Tennessee; Anchorage, Alaska; Kansas City, Kansas; and Denver, Colorado.[28] Originally scheduled to end on April 30, 2011, the booths' opening ended up being extended until May 8, 2011. After it was announced that people auditioning through this method was in such high demand, auditions at the booths' ended up being extended until May 15, 2011.
On June 3, Cowell announced that applicants could upload a video of them singing onto YouTube and it was opened for one week only (June 9).[29] Selected applicants would appear in front of the judges.
The last set of auditions took place during May and June, 2011. These auditions individually occur simultaneously before both the judges and a live studio audience; and with such audience in attendance able to applaud/cheer approval or disapproval and perhaps influencing the judges.[2]
| Audition city[23] | Date | Audition venue[2] | Date aired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, California | May 8 and 9, 2011 | Galen Center | September 21, 2011 | The judging panel for these auditions consisted of Cheryl Cole, L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell |
| Chicago, Illinois | May 19 and 20, 2011 | Sears Centre | September 28, 2011 | |
| Newark, New Jersey | June 8 and 9, 2011 | Prudential Center | September 29, 2011 | The judging panel for these auditions consisted of Nicole Scherzinger (previously co-host of the show, replaced Cole), Reid, Abdul and Cowell |
| Miami, Florida | June 14 and 15, 2011 | BankUnited Center | September 22, 2011 | |
| Dallas, Texas | June 21 and 22, 2011 | American Airlines Center | September 22, 2011 | |
| Seattle, Washington | June 28, 29 and 30, 2011 | KeyArena | September 21 and 28, 2011 |
Auditions footage first aired on September 21, though they were not aired in the same order that they occurred.[30]
Day 1 of bootcamp started with dance training with choreographer Brian Friedman and then the acts were called to the stage in groups of 10 to sing in front of the judges. After all of them performed, the acts were brought in front of the judges as part of one of three groups. Two of these groups made it through and one was eliminated, leaving 100 acts still in the competition. The judges threw a party for the remaining acts that for many lasted late into the night.
Day 2 started with everyone getting woken up at 6 am and heading to meet Reid. He informed them that they would be put into "ensembles" and groups, and would be working with stylists, choreographers, and vocal coaches. They were given five hours to learn the songs they were given. One third of the acts would be eliminated by the end of the second day. Several of the ensembles performances were aired. The first ensemble performed "Creep", the second ensemble performed "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", the third ensemble performed "Desperado", the fourth ensemble performed "Wishing on a Star", the fifth ensemble performed "Superman (It's Not Easy)", the sixth ensemble performed "Feeling Good", the seventh ensemble performed "I Have Nothing" and the eighth ensemble performed "Run".
Day 2 continued with more ensembles performing for the judges. The ninth ensemble performed "What's Going On". Next, they showed a couple of quick shots of some ensembles, presumably consisting of all people that would not make it through to the end. The tenth ensemble that was covered in detail performed "I Won't Let Go". The eleventh (and final) ensemble performed "Chasing Cars". Next, the judges deliberated, and decided on which a third of the acts would be eliminated. Once again, three groups were brought in. Group 1 was eliminated, meaning groups 2 and 3 made it through to the next round of bootcamp.
Day 3 had all 64 acts perform for the judges. They were given a list of 35 songs at the end of the day 2 and were told to choose one that best represented them. At the end of this final bootcamp round, 32 acts would go through to the judges' houses. This final performance was done in front of a crowd of 3,000 people. After each of the performances, the judges gave no feedback.
The first bootcamp episode aired on October 5, 2011 and covered the first two days of bootcamp.[30] The second bootcamp episode aired on October 6 and covered the rest of Day 2 and the remainder of bootcamp. By the end of bootcamp, 162 acts were cut to 32, 8 acts in each category. The judges later found out which category they would mentor and their acts joined them at their house.
Mariah Carey was contracted to aid Cowell in France, but was unable to attend due to Hurricane Irene grounding her flight to Paris. Enrique Iglesias helped Scherzinger to pick her finalists in Malibu, California and Pharrell Williams acted as a guest judge helping Abdul to pick her finalists in Santa Barbara, California. Rihanna helped L.A. Reid choose his finalists in The Hamptons, New York.[31]
In the United States, footage from Judges' houses was originally scheduled to air on October 12, 13 and 18. However, due to weather delaying the start of the 2011 American League Championship Series (ALCS), the footage from Judges' houses 1 was moved to October 13, with footage from Judges' houses 2 seen instead on October 16; the footage from Judges' houses 3 aired on October 18 as scheduled and featured footage of the judges revealing their 4 finalists (or 5 in the case of Cowell) in each category to take through to the live shows. In Canada the first Judges' Houses episode was broadcast as originally scheduled on October 12.[32] No episode was shown in Canada on October 13, with CTV and CTV Two opting to follow Fox's scheduling changes to take advantage of simsub rules.
The fifteen eliminated acts were:
Melanie Amaro was initially eliminated from the Girls' category, but was invited back to the competition after Cowell decided he had made a mistake in not including her, bringing the total number of finalists to 17.[33]
The 17 finalists were confirmed as follows;
Key:
| Category (mentor) | Acts | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys (Reid) | Astro | Marcus Canty | Phillip Lomax | Chris Rene | ||||||||||||||||
| Girls (Cowell) | Melanie Amaro | Simone Battle | Rachel Crow | Drew | Tiah Tolliver | |||||||||||||||
| Over 30s (Scherzinger) | LeRoy Bell | Stacy Francis | Dexter Haygood | Josh Krajcik | ||||||||||||||||
| Groups (Abdul) | The Brewer Boys | InTENsity | Lakoda Rayne | The Stereo Hogzz | ||||||||||||||||
The first two-and-a-half hour live show aired on a special Tuesday time slot on October 25; which followed the same format as the latest series of the UK show with each of the judges narrowing their number of acts down to three, without a public vote. The public vote started with the following performance and results shows starting November 2, which aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively (except for the live shows on November 22 and 23, that aired on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively during Thanksgiving). The two-part finale was held on December 21 and 22.[34][35] Leona Lewis, the winner of series 3 of the UK X Factor, confirmed during an interview with The Sun that she had been invited to perform on one of the live shows.[36]
There was no guest performance during the first week. The second live result show featured a performance from Outasight. Jessie J and Willow Smith performed on the third live results show, while the forth live results show featured a performance from Rihanna. Kelly Clarkson and Bruno Mars performed on the fifth live result show while Tinie Tempah performed on the sixth live result show. Mary J Blige and Lenny Kravitz performed on the seventh live results show while Florence + The Machine and X Factor USA judge Nicole Scherzinger performed on the semi-final results show. The final featured performances from Justin Bieber, Leona Lewis, 50 Cent, Stevie Wonder, Pitbull and Ne-Yo.
| – | Contestant was eliminated by their mentor (no public vote or final showdown) |
| – | Contestant was in the bottom two/three and had to sing again in the final showdown |
| – | Contestant was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated |
| – | Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) |
| – | Contestant received the most public votes |
| Contestant | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round One | Round Two | |||||||||
| Melanie Amaro | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 1st | Winner |
| Josh Krajcik | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 2nd | Runner-up |
| Chris Rene | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 3rd | Eliminated (week 9) |
| Marcus Canty | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | 7th | Bottom three | 4th | 4th | Eliminated (week 8) | |
| Rachel Crow | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 5th | Eliminated (week 7) | ||
| Drew | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom three | Eliminated (week 6) | |||
| Astro | Saved | Safe | Safe | Bottom two | Safe | 7th | Eliminated (week 6) | |||
| LeRoy Bell | Saved | Safe | Safe | Safe | 8th | Eliminated (week 5) | ||||
| Lakoda Rayne | Saved | Safe | Bottom two | Safe | 9th | Eliminated (week 5) | ||||
| Stacy Francis | Saved | Safe | Safe | Bottom two | Eliminated (week 4) | |||||
| The Stereo Hogzz | Saved | Bottom two | Bottom two | Eliminated (week 3) | ||||||
| InTENsity | Saved | Bottom two | Eliminated (week 2) | |||||||
| Tiah Tolliver | Not saved | Eliminated (week 1) | ||||||||
| Simone Battle | Not saved | Eliminated (week 1) | ||||||||
| Dexter Haygood | Not saved | Eliminated (week 1) | ||||||||
| The Brewer Boys | Not saved | Eliminated (week 1) | ||||||||
| Phillip Lomax | Not saved | Eliminated (week 1) | ||||||||
| Final showdown | None1 | InTENsity The Stereo Hoggz |
Lakoda Rayne The Stereo Hogzz |
Astro Stacy Francis |
LeRoy Bell Marcus Canty |
Marcus Canty Drew |
Marcus Canty Rachel Crow |
No final showdown or judges' vote: results are based on public votes alone |
||
| Judges voted to: | Save | Eliminate | ||||||||
| Reid's vote | Astro, Marcus Canty, Chris Rene |
InTENsity | The Stereo Hogzz | Stacy Francis | LeRoy Bell | Drew | Rachel Crow | |||
| Scherzinger's vote | Stacy Francis, Josh Krajcik, LeRoy Bell |
InTENsity | The Stereo Hogzz | Astro | Marcus Canty | Drew | Rachel Crow | |||
| Abdul's vote | The Stereo Hogzz, Lakoda Rayne, InTENsity |
InTENsity | Lakoda Rayne | Stacy Francis | Marcus Canty | Drew | Marcus Canty | |||
| Cowell's vote | Drew, Rachel Crow, Melanie Amaro |
The Stereo Hogzz | The Stereo Hogzz | Stacy Francis | LeRoy Bell | Marcus Canty | Marcus Canty | |||
| Eliminated | Phillip Lomax | InTENsity 3 of 4 votes Majority |
The Stereo Hogzz 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Stacy Francis 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Lakoda Rayne Public vote |
Astro Public vote |
Rachel Crow 2 of 4 votes Deadlock |
Marcus Canty Public vote |
Chris Rene Public vote |
Josh Krajcik Public vote |
| The Brewer Boys | ||||||||||
| Dexter Haygood | LeRoy Bell 2 of 4 votes Deadlock |
Drew 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Melanie Amaro Winner |
|||||||
| Simone Battle | ||||||||||
| Tiah Tolliver | ||||||||||
| Reference(s) | [37] | [38] | [39] | [40] | [41] | [42] | [43] | [44] | ||
| Act | Order | Song[46] | Result[37] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro | 1 | "Jump" | Safe |
| Chris Rene | 2 | "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" | Safe |
| Phillip Lomax | 3 | "I'm a Believer" | Eliminated |
| Marcus Canty | 4 | "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" | Safe |
| The Stereo Hogzz | 5 | "Try a Little Tenderness" | Safe |
| The Brewer Boys | 6 | "Rich Girl" / "Faith" | Eliminated |
| InTENsity | 7 | "The Clapping Song" / "Footloose" | Safe |
| Lakoda Rayne | 8 | "Come On Eileen" | Safe |
| Dexter Haygood | 9 | "Womanizer" / "I Kissed a Girl" | Eliminated |
| LeRoy Bell | 10 | "Nobody Knows" | Safe |
| Stacy Francis | 11 | "One More Try" | Safe |
| Josh Krajcik | 12 | "Forever Young" | Safe |
| Simone Battle | 13 | "Just Be Good to Me" | Eliminated |
| Rachel Crow | 14 | "Where Did Our Love Go" / "Baby" | Safe |
| Drew | 15 | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" | Safe |
| Tiah Tolliver | 16 | "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" | Eliminated |
| Melanie Amaro | 17 | "I Have Nothing" | Safe |
Judges' decisions to eliminate[37]
| Act | Order | Song[48] | Result[38] |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Stereo Hogzz | 1 | "Rhythm Nation" | Bottom two |
| Chris Rene | 2 | "Superstar" | Safe |
| LeRoy Bell | 3 | "I'm Already There" | Safe |
| Rachel Crow | 4 | "Walking on Sunshine" | Safe |
| Lakoda Rayne | 5 | "Landslide" | Safe |
| Josh Krajcik | 6 | "Jar of Hearts" | Safe |
| Melanie Amaro | 7 | "Desperado" | Safe |
| Astro | 8 | "Hip Hop Hooray" / "Get Ur Freak On" | Safe |
| InTENsity | 9 | "Kids in America" / "Party Rock Anthem" | Bottom two |
| Drew | 10 | "Just a Dream" | Safe |
| Marcus Canty | 11 | "Nothin' on You" / "Every Little Step" | Safe |
| Stacy Francis | 12 | "Up to the Mountain" | Safe |
| Final showdown details[38] | |||
| The Stereo Hogzz | 1 | "Emotion" | Safe |
| InTENsity | 2 | "My Life Would Suck Without You" | Eliminated |
| Act | Order | Song[50] | Movie[50] | Result[39] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stacy Francis | 1 | "Queen of the Night" | The Bodyguard | Safe |
| Marcus Canty | 2 | "I'm Going Down" | Car Wash | Safe |
| Drew | 3 | "Fix You" | You, Me & Dupree | Safe |
| LeRoy Bell | 4 | "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" | Runaway Bride | Safe |
| Lakoda Rayne | 5 | "Somebody Like You" | How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days | Bottom two |
| Astro | 6 | "Lose Yourself" | 8 Mile | Safe |
| Melanie Amaro | 7 | "Man in the Mirror" | Michael Jackson's This Is It | Safe |
| The Stereo Hogzz | 8 | "Ain't No Other Man" | Get Smart | Bottom two |
| Josh Krajcik | 9 | "With a Little Help from My Friends" | Across the Universe | Safe |
| Chris Rene | 10 | "Gangsta's Paradise" | Dangerous Minds | Safe |
| Rachel Crow | 11 | "I'd Rather Go Blind" | Cadillac Records | Safe |
| Final showdown details[39] | ||||
| Lakoda Rayne | 1 | "No Air" | Safe | |
| The Stereo Hogzz | 2 | "You Are Not Alone" | Eliminated | |
| Act | Order | Song | Result[40] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeRoy Bell | 1 | "We've Got Tonight" | Safe | |
| Rachel Crow | 2 | "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" | Safe | |
| Chris Rene | 3 | "No Woman, No Cry" / "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" | Safe | |
| Stacy Francis | 4 | "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" | Bottom two | |
| Melanie Amaro | 5 | "Everybody Hurts" | Safe | |
| Josh Krajcik | 6 | "The Pretender" | Safe | |
| Astro | 7 | "I'll Be Missing You" | Bottom two | |
| Lakoda Rayne | 8 | "Your Love" / "Go Your Own Way" | Safe | |
| Drew | 9 | "With or Without You" | Safe | |
| Marcus Canty | 10 | "Piece of My Heart" | Safe | |
| Final showdown details[40] | ||||
| Stacy Francis | 1 | "Amazing Grace" | Eliminated | |
| Astro | 2 | "Never Can Say Goodbye" | Safe | |
The Pepsi Choice Group performance was chosen by the audience and included circus outfits along with a rotating stage and laser special effects in a hip-hop dance style.
Two acts were eliminated during the results show. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced, and the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and faced the judges' votes.[54]
| Act | Order | Song | Result[41] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rachel Crow | 1 | "I Believe" | Safe | |
| Marcus Canty | 2 | "A Song for Mama" | Bottom three | |
| Melanie Amaro | 3 | "The World's Greatest" | Safe | |
| Chris Rene | 4 | "Let It Be" / "Young Homie" | Safe | |
| Lakoda Rayne | 5 | "You Belong with Me" | Eliminated | |
| LeRoy Bell | 6 | "Angel" | Bottom three | |
| Astro | 7 | "Show Me What You Got" | Safe | |
| Drew | 8 | "Skyscraper" | Safe | |
| Josh Krajcik | 9 | "Wild Horses" | Safe | |
| Final showdown details[41] | ||||
| Marcus Canty | 1 | "You Lost Me" | Safe | |
| LeRoy Bell | 2 | "Don't Let Me Down" | Eliminated | |
With the judges deadlocked, LeRoy Bell received the fewest amount of votes and was eliminated.[41]
Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine; his three children Prince, Paris, and Blanket; and his brothers Marlon, Tito, and Jackie were present in the audience during the performance show.[56]
As in the previous week, two acts were eliminated during the results show. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced, and the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and faced the judges' votes.[57]
| Act | Order | Song | Result[42] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Krajcik | 1 | "Dirty Diana" | Safe | |
| Astro | 2 | "Black or White" | Eliminated | |
| Drew | 3 | "Billie Jean" | Bottom three | |
| Rachel Crow | 4 | "Can You Feel It" | Safe | |
| Marcus Canty | 5 | "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" | Bottom three | |
| Chris Rene | 6 | "I'll Be There" | Safe | |
| Melanie Amaro | 7 | "Earth Song" | Safe | |
| Final showdown details[42] | ||||
| Drew | 1 | "Listen to Your Heart" | Eliminated | |
| Marcus Canty | 2 | "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" | Safe | |
Originally, the second song was going to be chosen by the public as part of the Pepsi Challenge,[58][59] however, due to technical problems that happened with the Pepsi Challenge the night before the performance show, that feature was delayed to Week 8 and executive producers told that the contestants had only 24 hours to choose another song.
| Act | Order | First song | Order | Second song | Result[43] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanie Amaro | 1 | "Someone Like You" | 6 | "When You Believe" | Safe |
| Marcus Canty | 2 | "Ain't Nobody" | 7 | "A Song for You" | Bottom two |
| Rachel Crow | 3 | "Nothin' on You" | 8 | "Music and Me" | Bottom two |
| Josh Krajcik | 4 | "We Found Love" | 9 | "Something" | Safe |
| Chris Rene | 5 | "Live Your Life" | 10 | "Where Do We Go from Here" | Safe |
| Final showdown details[43] | |||||
| Marcus Canty | 1 | "I'm Going Down" | Safe | ||
| Rachel Crow | 2 | "I'd Rather Go Blind" | Eliminated | ||
With the judges deadlocked, Rachel Crow was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes. Scherzinger was booed by the audience after Crow's elimination.[43]
| Act | Order | First song[61] | Order | Second song[61] | Result[44] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Canty | 1 | "I'll Make Love to You" | 5 | "Careless Whisper" | Eliminated |
| Chris Rene | 2 | "Fly" | 6 | "No One" | Safe |
| Melanie Amaro | 3 | "Hero" | 7 | "Feeling Good" | Safe |
| Josh Krajcik | 4 | "Come Together" | 8 | "Hallelujah" | Safe |
The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Marcus Canty, was automatically eliminated. Unlike the UK version of The X Factor, Canty did not reprise any of his performances as his exit song after his elimination.[44]
The final lasted for 1.5 hours on Wednesday, December 21 and 2 hours on Thursday, December 22.
December 21
| Act | Order | First song (duet)[62] | Order | Second song[62] | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Krajcik | 1 | "Uninvited" | 4 | "At Last" | Runner-up |
| Chris Rene | 2 | "Complicated" | 5 | "Young Homie" | Third Place |
| Melanie Amaro | 3 | "I Believe I Can Fly" | 6 | "Listen" | Winner |
December 22
| Act | Order | Song |
|---|---|---|
| Melanie Amaro | 1 | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" |
| Chris Rene | 2 | "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" |
| Josh Krajcik | 3 | "Please Come Home for Christmas" |
| Episode | Airdate | Rating | Share | Rating/share (18-49) |
Viewers (millions) |
Rank (timeslot) |
Rank (night) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auditions 1 | September 21 | 7.2[64] | 12 | 4.4/12 | 12.49[65] | #1 | #2 |
| Auditions 2 | September 22 | 7.0[66] | 11 | 4.3/11 | 12.51[67] | #1 | #2 |
| Auditions 3 | September 28 | 6.9[68] | 11 | 4.1/11 | 11.86[69] | #1 | #2 |
| Auditions 4 | September 29 | 6.9[70] | 11 | 3.9/11 | 12.17[71] | #1 | #2 |
| Bootcamp 1 | October 5 | 6.8[72] | 11 | 4.1/11 | 11.93[73] | #1 | #2 |
| Bootcamp 2 | October 6 | 7.0[74] | 11 | 4.0/11 | 11.67[75] | #1 | #1 |
| Judges' houses 1 | October 13[Note 1] | 6.4 | 10 | 3.7/10 | 11.24[76] | #1 | #1 |
| Judges' houses 2 | October 16[Note 1] | 10 | 3.4/10 | 8.84[77] | #1 | #2 | |
| Judges' houses 3 | October 18 | 10 | 3.9/10 | 10.39[78] | #1 | #1 | |
| Live show and results 1 | October 25 | 7.0 | 12 | 4.4/12 | 12.09[79] | #1 | #1 |
| Live show 2 | November 2 | 6.8 | 11 | 4.0/11 | 11.76[80] | #1 | #1 |
| Live results 2 | November 3 | 6.4 | 11 | 3.7/11 | 11.64[81] | #2 | #2 |
| Live show 3 | November 9 | 10 | 3.8/10 | 10.25[82] | #2 | #2 | |
| Live results 3 | November 10 | 9 | 3.3/9 | 10.13[83] | #2 | #4 | |
| Live show 4 | November 16 | 10 | 3.9/10 | 11.31[84] | #1 | #2 | |
| Live results 4 | November 17 | 9 | 3.1/9 | 9.71[85] | #2 | #3 | |
| Live show 5 | November 22 | 5.8[86] | 9 | 3.2/9 | 9.43[87] | #2 | #3 |
| Live results 5 | November 23 | 8 | 2.5/8 | 8.51[88] | #2 | #3 | |
| Live show 6 | November 30 | 10 | 3.7/10 | 11.05[89] | #1 | #1 | |
| Live results 6 | December 1 | 6.0[90] | 9 | 3.1/9 | 10.34[91] | #1 | #1 |
| Live show 7 | December 7 | 9 | 3.4/9 | 10.70[92] | #1 | #3 | |
| Live results 7 | December 8 | 8 | 2.9/8 | 9.84[93] | #2 | #3 | |
| Live show 8 | December 14 | 9 | 3.4/9 | 10.69[94] | #1 | #3 | |
| Live results 8 | December 15 | 9 | 2.9/9 | 9.87[95] | #1 | #2 | |
| Live final | December 21 | 6.9[96] | 10 | 3.3/10 | 11.23[97] | #1 | #1 |
| Live final results | December 22 | 7.5[98] | 11 | 3.8/11 | 12.59[99] | #1 | #1 |
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