The tenth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox television network on January 19, 2011, and concluded on May 25, 2011. The show underwent a number of changes from the ninth season, including the return of Nigel Lythgoe as executive producer. Randy Jackson returned as judge for his tenth season, while Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler joined the judges' panel following the departures of Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres, and Kara DioGuardi.
Interscope Records, which was part of Universal Music Group, replaced Sony Music Entertainment as Idols official partner record label. Interscope's chairman Jimmy Iovine, a songwriter and producer, was named as the in-house mentor to work with the contestants on a weekly basis. He was supported by associated producers Rodney Jerkins, Alex da Kid, Tricky Stewart, Don Was, will.i.am, and Timbaland, who all helped the contestants tailor their song choices to their chosen genre of performance, while also producing arrangements for the contestants and offering original material to be performed. Ray Chew replaced Rickey Minor as the show's musical director and leader of Idols live band.
Programming changes included a move from Tuesdays and Wednesdays to Wednesdays and Thursdays. The show also opened up an option for viewers to cast their votes online through Facebook. Specific changes in the competition itself included extending extra rounds (such as the one in Las Vegas) and a final solo round, while also returning the judges' Wild Card choices. The show also lowered the age of eligibility to fifteen.
On May 25, 2011, after 122.4 million votes were cast for the finale (and nearly 750 million votes all season), Scotty McCreery was crowned the winner of the tenth season of American Idol, with Lauren Alaina as the runner-up. Nine contestants from this season were signed to record labels, including Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart, James Durbin, Casey Abrams, Stefano Langone, Pia Toscano, Naima Adedapo, and Jimmie Allen.
Changes from previous seasons
Simon Cowell, who had been a judge since the very first season, announced on January 11, 2010, that he would not return as a judge for this season in order to focus on launching the American version of his British singing competition The X Factor. Ellen DeGeneres officially announced her departure on July 29 after judging for only one season, and Kara DioGuardi announced on September 3 that she would also not return. On September 22, 2010, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler would join the show as the new permanent judges.
Extra rounds were added in the Hollywood phase of the competition which would narrow the contestants down to 60 finalists. Those who advanced were then taken to Las Vegas, where they were asked to perform a song from the Beatles, and then a further solo round in Los Angeles. It was initially planned to reduce the contestants down to 20 by the end of the Hollywood rounds, however, 24 contestants were chosen instead for the semifinals, and they would perform in two groups of 12, where the public vote determined the top five males and females. The judges were granted three Wild Card picks, bringing the total number of finalists to 13.
At the end of the ninth season, American Idol 's affiliation with Sony Music Entertainment ended and was replaced with Universal Music Group. Therefor, the winner would now be signed to Interscope Records. Interscope's sister labels, A&M Records and Geffen Records, were also involved in promoting and distributing the albums of the show's finalists. Chairman of the Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group, Jimmy Iovine, worked directly with contestants this season as an in-house mentor. Additionally, a team of Universal Music-associated producers and songwriters, such as Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Timbaland, and Alex da Kid, also worked alongside the contestants to help them take on original arrangement and material.
Regional auditions
Auditions were held in the following cities:
The age minimum this season was reduced to 15; the maximum age, however, still remained at 28.
In addition to the above cities, contestants were allowed for the first time to audition online via Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter. To audition, they were required to upload a forty-second audition clip of them singing a pre-approved song. The on-line auditions who were selected to proceed, which included Karen Rodriguez, were brought to Los Angeles to audition in front of the judges.