American Idol Upsets

Last night on American Idol saw another upset winner.  Alas, American Idol, while exciting and intriguing, ultimately has a flawed system for deciding its winner.  The trade off for this is that the show generates much more excitement.  It would be much more boring if the clear front runner was awarded the win by the judges, for example.  Fortunately for the runner up, it is debatable.

Here is a review of past American Idol upsets.

• Season 2: Ruben Studdard over Clay Aiken.
  From Wikipedia:
  "In an interview prior to season five, a statement by executive producer Nigel Lythgoe suggested that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wildcard week onward until the finale...Out of a total of 24 million votes, Studdard finished 134,000 votes ahead of Clay Aiken and there was discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that more than 150,000 votes were dropped, making the voting suspect."
  Truth be told, I rooted for Ruben that season.
• Season 5: Taylor Hicks over Chris Daughtry
  Chris Daughtry appeared to be the heavy favorite to take home the title, yet he somehow lost in the final four.  He went on to have a ton of hits.  Taylor Hicks?  Not so much.
• Season 6: Jordin Sparks over Sanjaya Malakar.
  Jordin may have won the season, but I think I can speak for America in saying that Sanjaya won our hearts.  Sanjaya set that place on fire.
  
• Season 7: David Cook over David Archuleta
  David Archuleta was the front runner for most of the season, but truth be told, David Cook was better in the last half of the season.  We haven't really heard anything that great from either of them since.
• Season 8: Kris Allen over Adam Lambert
  Adam Lambert was by far the most talented one that season.  However, the votes came in and he was defeated in the final two.  In hindsight, his sexuality didn't win him favor with the American Idol fan base.
• Season 9: Lee DeWyze over Crystal Bowersox
  Just another example of the contestant who clearly was more talented not winning.  After so many upsets over the years, however, this doesn't phase me.