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Did you ever notice how some contestants who win American Idol seem to fall off the face of the planet after the season is over? Then there are other Idol winners who become huge successes. Ever wonder why this happens? There’s no doubt about it, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson are not only beautiful but extremely talented. Underwood covered Heart’s “Alone” during one of the Idol episodes and it was such an amazing performance that Simon Cowell said to her, “I’m going to make a prediction: you are not only going to win this competition, but you’re going to sell millions of records.” And she did just that.

Clarkson has also sold millions of records, and she’s received several Grammy Awards as well. To be quite honest, she deserves it. Her vocal range is absolutely amazing, and she blew just about every other contestant away on Idol’s first season, although Justin Guarini did come in a close second.

So why is it that artists such as Clarkson and Underwood make it big but artists such as Fantasia Barrino and Taylor Hicks seem to disappear off the face of the earth? Is it because Clarkson and Underwood are more marketable since they’re young, attractive women? Or could it be that the majority of people in society who vote for their favorite American Idol contestant simply don’t know how to accurately judge who is the most talented?

It seems to be unanimous that Chris Daughtry was much more marketable than Taylor Hicks. Daughtry was a young, attractive artist with a unique sense of rock and roll style that America loved. Yet, for some strange reason, Hicks won the fifth season of American Idol. Hicks was dropped by his record label J. Records soon after his Idol victory, while Daughtry is constantly played on radio stations all over the country and selling millions of records.

It was a similar situation with Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken. Studdard won the second season of Idol, however Aiken was the star who took over the public eye once the season ended.

Fantasia Barrino hasn’t had much press attention either, with the exception of her Lifetime documentary about her life story and her stint on Broadway. As far as radio airtime goes, she’s nowhere to be found.

There’s no doubt that Barrino and Studdard both have incredible voices, but what is it that made them less marketable than Underwood, Clarkson and Daughtry?

Jordin Sparks and David Cook, who won the most recent seasons of Idol, received a large amount of publicity after their successes. Could it be because they’re both young, attractive, marketable artists? Or could it be because they have a good songwriter on their payrolls and society likes catchy tunes?

Everyone has their own opinion as to what drives the success of artists and why they often fail. It could be a popularity contest based on the best-looking contestants. It could depend on who’s writing the songs for them and how good they are (or aren’t). It just doesn’t seem to make sense that if the majority of society is voting for one artist, why that same majority of people wouldn’t buy their albums once they secure a record deal. I guess we’ll just never know.

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