American Idol (season 7)

Broadcast from	January 15 – May 21, 2008
Judges	Paula Abdul Simon Cowell Randy Jackson
Host(s)	Ryan Seacrest
Broadcaster	Fox Broadcasting Company
Finals venue	Nokia Theatre Los Angeles
David Cook
Cook in the hometown during the season
Origin	Blue Springs, Missouri, United States
Song	"The Time of My Life"
Genre(s)	Alternative rock Post-grunge
David Archuleta
◀ 2008 ▶

The seventh season of American Idol, the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges. David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total ever recorded in the show's history. The split was 56 percent to 44 percent.

The seventh season was the first season during which neither the winner nor the runner-up was ever in the bottom group during any week before the finale on May 21, 2008, with the second being the ninth season. It was also the second season during which both the winner and the runner-up were male contestants, with the second season being the first, the third being the eighth season and the fourth being the fourteenth season.

Michael Johns died on August 1, 2014, making him the first American Idol finalist to die. Joanne Borgella, a semi-finalist, died on October 18, 2014.

Prior to the start of season 7, Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe admitted that season 6 had placed more focus on the guest mentors than the contestants. Changes were planned for season 7 designed to return attention to the contestants by providing more information on their backgrounds and families.

A major change for the seventh season was allowing contestants to play musical instruments, an element that originated on Australian Idol and can also be seen on Norway's Idol and Canadian Idol. A brand new set was built, and a new introduction credit sequence created. The season finale also moved from the Kodak Theatre to the larger Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.