After crowning Abi Carter the winner of American Idol Season 22 and bidding Katy Perry adieu, fans are excited to see another season kick off in March on the 2025 TV schedule. Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood is returning as a judge alongside Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie to help shine a spotlight on undiscovered talent. Dozens of contestants will put their lives and jobs on hold for this opportunity, and that begs the question: Do American Idol contestants get paid to appear on the ABC singing competition?
The short answer is yes, contestants who make it to a certain point in the season are paid for their time. There are reportedly other perks along the way but also some expenses. Let’s break it all down.
American Idol Pays Its Top 24 Contestants Per Episode
Most of what is known about how much American Idol artists make on the show comes from the 2011 book American Idol: The Untold Story by Richard Rushfield, who covered the show as an entertainment web editor for the LA Times. Rushfield reports (via Fox Business) that American Idol begins paying its contestants once they reach the Top 24.
However, in order to earn a performance fee, they must first join the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which costs $1,600. After that they’re paid by episode, with the length of the episode determining how much they earn. As of 2016, musicians earned $1,571 for two-hour shows, $1,303 for one-hour shows and $910 for half-hour episodes.
With this source material coming out over a decade ago, it seems likely that these numbers may have changed — especially since the show has moved from Fox to ABC since then — but contestants’ contracts may keep them from divulging such financial details publicly.
Idol Contestants Earn Additional Stipend If They Make It To Top 12
The longer you last on the show, the better the benefits, apparently, as Richard Rushfield also said that once the artists reach the Top 12, they’re given a stipend of $450 per week. That apparently means clothes for many of the singers, and the author wrote:
They go on a shopping trip with a fashion consultant who works on the show and they get like $450 a week to spend on whatever they want. But a lot of them dip into their own pocket because a few hundred dollars doesn't go that far in a lot of these expensive stores in Hollywood. The clothes are theirs to keep after the show.
At least they get to keep the clothes! However, I can see how that wouldn’t be a lot of money if they’re not provided a wardrobe from the show. One thing they are provided, however, is room and board. The Top 12 contestants no longer have to pay for lodging, which seems like it could be a huge expense for the Top 24 up to that point.
How nice the digs are depends on the season. Richard Rushfield points out that on seasons where the living quarters are shown on the air, contestants have stayed in mansions, while otherwise they’re put up in apartments that are “nothing fancy, but it’s not squalor.”
Families Must Pay Their Own Way To Attend Tapings
It sounds like having friends and family attend tapings to support the contestants could prove a bit tricky for those who live far away from Los Angeles. American Idol allegedly does not pay for travel or hotel accommodations for its contestants’ loved ones.
The American Idol Tour Was Pretty Lucrative
Another big perk of making it to the Top 10 or 12 of an American Idol season used to be the spot it earned you on the live tour. The artists reportedly pulled in around $150,000 to travel for the show post-season. However, the final tour ended in 2015 ahead of Fox’s cancellation of the show. The tour was not resumed when ABC revived it in 2018.
How Much Does The American Idol Winner Earn?
Early winners of American Idol like Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard walked away with an impressive $1 million on top of a record deal. The dollar amount has gone down since then, per American Songwriter, which reported in 2024 that Idol winners get a cash prize of $125,000. Upon completion of their first album, the artist will receive another $100,000. The site reports that artists are then given an advance of $300,000 for their second album, which is required to be paid back against future earnings.
In 2019, The Blast reported a different breakdown after seeing Season 17 third-place finisher Madison VanDenburg’s contract. The then-17-year-old’s paperwork said that season’s winner would walk away with $250,000 but would be responsible for many of the costs of producing their album.
The winner (who ended up being Laine Hardy) would sign with Hollywood Records, where they would receive $125,000 in advance of their debut album and another $125,000 upon completion. The winner would also reportedly make $1,000 a week during recording and another $1,000 per master recording turned in, receiving a 15% royalty rate for their first three albums.
The runner-up for that season (Alejandro Aranda) was potentially eligible for $87,500 to start an album and another $87,000 when it was finished, if Hollywood Records chose to sign them too. All three finalists recorded three original tracks while competing on American Idol, which were allegedly allowed to be used however the Top 3 wished.
Getting On Television And Making Connections Is A Valuable Part Of Being On American Idol
While many of the contestants will reportedly be compensated for their appearances on the popular singing competition, no one there (except maybe the finalists) is getting rich from their time on American Idol alone. Artists go on the show for the opportunity for national exposure, and that likely remains the most valuable thing they can get from the competition.
Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood and Fantasia Barrino are a few early-season singers who found their fame on the show, but 22 seasons later, American Idol continues to produce popular musicians. Two alumni were even nominated for awards at the 2025 Grammy Awards in Benson Boone (Season 19) — who made headlines for adjusting himself during his performance as a Best New Artist nominee — and Lucky Daye, who competed under his real name, David Brown, on Season 4.
It’s also a good idea for artists to make connections during their time on the show that could lead to relationships and opportunities afterward. Just one example of that is Season 20 winner Noah Thompson teaming up with runner-up HunterGirl to co-headline a tour following their time on the show in 2022.
Artists often have to sacrifice for the opportunity to join American Idol, and while we don’t have much current information on what they earn, it does appear that the contestants do receive some sort of payment once they reach a specific level of the competition.
Tune in to see who will be making the big bucks when American Idol Season 23 premieres at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, March 9, on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
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