Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 20, 2022 and was updated on May 19, 2025 to reflect Season 23's winner and current information about wins and nominations for all of the mentioned artists.
For more than 20 years, "American Idol" has helped discover some of the biggest names in pop, country, R&B and beyond. As "Idol" winners and contestants have had success in the music industry, many have been awarded with GRAMMY wins and nominations.
"American Idol" crowned its latest winner, Jamal Roberts, on May 18. Beating out fellow finalists John Foster and Brianna Nix, Roberts' win marked a historic moment for the show in two ways: he's the first Black male winner since Ruben Studdard in 2003, and as Ryan Seacrest noted, Season 23 saw the "biggest finale vote in show history."
Will any of this year's finalists end up in the GRAMMY ranks with their "Idol" predecessors? Time will tell, but for now, see how many "American Idol" winners and contestants have scored GRAMMY Awards and GRAMMY nominations.
Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson and Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard were the first "Idol" winners to be nominated for a GRAMMY, both receiving nominations in 2004. Clarkson became the first "Idol" winner to win a GRAMMY two years later, when she scooped up two awards: Best Pop Vocal Album for Breakaway, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her smash "Since U Been Gone."
Read More: How Kelly Clarkson's 'Breakaway' Proved Her As America's "Idol"
Clarkson became the first "Idol" contestant to win a GRAMMY for an album twice in 2013, when she won the Best Pop Vocal Album GRAMMY for 2011's Stronger. To date, Kelly Clarkson has won three GRAMMYs and has received 17 nominations.
Season 4 winner (and the newest "Idol" judge) Carrie Underwood has won eight GRAMMYs and has received a total of 16 nominations, making her the "Idol" contestant with the most GRAMMY wins and nominations. Her most recent win came in 2022, when she won Best Roots Gospel Album for her 2021 release, My Savior.
Underwood is the only "Idol" winner (and contestant) to win Best New Artist. Only three other "Idol" alums have been nominated for the coveted award: Tori Kelly, Eric Burton of the Black Pumas and Jimmie Allen.
Along with Underwood, Clarkson and Studdard, Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino and Season 6 champion Jordin Sparks are the only other winners to be nominated for a GRAMMY; Barrino has won one and has received 12 nominations, while Sparks has received two nominations. Though Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks hasn't technically received a nomination, he was featured on Jimmy Fallon's 2012 album Blow Your Pants Off (on the track "Friday"), which won Best Comedy Album in 2013.
Season 8's Adam Lambert is the only "Idol" runner-up to be nominated for a GRAMMY. He was nominated for a Best Male Pop Vocal Performance GRAMMY for "Whataya Want From Me" in 2011.
Perhaps two of the most remarkable GRAMMY-winning "Idol" alums are Jennifer Hudson and Tori Kelly. Hudson has two GRAMMYs and Kelly has three, but clearly "Idol" viewers and judges didn't see the star within: Hudson placed seventh on Season 3, and Kelly was cut before the Top 24 on Season 9.
Another GRAMMY-nominated finalist who finished outside of the Top 3 is Chris Daughtry, who placed fourth on Season 5. Daughtry has been nominated for four GRAMMYs, all of which came in 2008 thanks to his eponymous debut album and its hits "It's Not Over" and "Home." (Fellow Season 5 contestant Ace Young co-wrote "It's Not Over," making him another GRAMMY-nominated "Idol" star, as the single earned a Best Rock Song nomination.)
Mandisa, who placed ninth on Daughtry's season, was a GRAMMY winner in her lifetime, as her 2013 album, Overcomer, won a Best Contemporary Christian Music Album GRAMMY in 2014. She sadly passed in April 2024; her fellow "Idol" alums Colton Dixon, Melinda Doolittle and Danny Gokey paid tribute to her on an episode of Season 22 with a performance of Mary Mary's "Shackles (Praise You)."
Gokey, Season 8's third place contestant, has also had a successful career in Christian music. He has been nominated for three GRAMMYs, with two of his albums receiving Best Contemporary Christian Music Album nods and his song "Haven't Seen It Yet" earning a Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song nom.
A number of "Idol" alums have proven you don't have to win "American Idol" to win a GRAMMY or earn a GRAMMY nomination. Be sure to keep watch on your favorite contestants from all 23 seasons — you might just see them on the GRAMMY stage one day.