 Eight contestants from this season were signed to record labels.The signed artists are Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart, James Durbin, Casey Abrams, Stefano Langone, Pia Toscano and Naima Adedapo.Simon Cowell, who had been a judge since the first episode of the first season, announced on January 11, 2010, that he would not be returning as a judge for this season in order to focus on launching the American version of his hit British singing competition "The X Factor".