American Idol is an annual American televised singing competition, which began its first season on June 11, 2002. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.

The program seeks to discover the best young singer in the country, through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of this competition are determined by public voting by phone. The format features three judges who critique the contestants' performances in order to facilitate the voting: record producer and bass player Randy Jackson; former pop star and choreographer Paula Abdul; and music executive Simon Cowell. The show is hosted by former children's game show emcee and television personality Ryan Seacrest; comedian Brian Dunkleman cohosted with Seacrest in season one. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor. The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the US and Thursday and Friday nights in the UK (two days after the US airing). In its six seasons, its six winners have been, in order of their season, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, and Jordin Sparks. The first five American Idols are from the Southern United States of America (U.S) and the sixth, Jordin Sparks, is from the Southwest. Hicks was the oldest winner at 29, Sparks the youngest at just 17.

American Idol is televised on Fox in the United States, ITV2 in the UK, FOX8 in Australia, CTV in Canada, on TV3 in Ireland and on Q11 for the 7th season, in the Philippines. The Idol series was first created by Simon Fuller (manager of the Spice Girls and S Club 7. The director is Bruce Gowers (director of Queen's original "Bohemian Rhapsody" video) and executive producers are Nigel Lythgoe (a judge on So You Think You Can Dance) and Ken Warwick (Gladiators and Grudge Match). With the exception of the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards, American Idol is the highest rated (viewed) program on U.S. national television.