<P> The sixth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two - night , four - hour premiere special on January 16 and January 17 , and ran until May 23 , 2007 . Simon Cowell , Paula Abdul , and Randy Jackson returned to judge once again , and Ryan Seacrest returned as host . A new record of 74 million votes were cast in the finale round , and a new record of 609 million votes were cast in the entire season ( the seasonal total record was surpassed by the tenth season and the finale vote record was broken by the eleventh season ) . Jordin Sparks won the competition with Blake Lewis as the first runner - up and Melinda Doolittle finishing third . Jordin Sparks is also the youngest winner of the competition , winning at age 17 , as well as the first winner from outside the Southern United States . Sparks remained the last female winner until the twelfth season . </P>
<P> The sixth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two - night , four - hour premiere special on January 16 and January 17 , and ran until May 23 , 2007 . Simon Cowell , Paula Abdul , and Randy Jackson returned to judge once again , and Ryan Seacrest returned as host . A new record of 74 million votes were cast in the finale round , and a new record of 609 million votes were cast in the entire season ( the seasonal total record was surpassed by the tenth season and the finale vote record was broken by the eleventh season ) . Jordin Sparks won the competition with Blake Lewis as the first runner - up and Melinda Doolittle finishing third . Jordin Sparks is also the youngest winner of the competition , winning at age 17 , as well as the first winner from outside the Southern United States . Sparks remained the last female winner until the twelfth season . </P>
who lost to jordin sparks on american idol
who lost to jordin sparks on american idol
Blake Lewis
Blake Lewis