Behind the show · 2 min read ·

Phillip Phillips made it 5 male Idol winners in a row. Chance can do that.

Phillip Phillips was Idol's fifth male winner in a row. Men won 34 of 54 solo titles. No stage we can compare shows an edge.

Phillip Phillips sings into a microphone while playing an acoustic guitar under pink, purple and blue stage lights.

Phillip Phillips performing · October 8, 2014

Photo: msc marketing · CC BY 2.0 · Photo source.

Phillip Phillips won American Idol in 2012, the fifth man in a row to win after David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze and Scotty McCreery. Across Idol, The Voice and The X Factor, men hold 34 of the 54 titles won by one singer. This story checks whether the shows favor men at each stage we can compare, from the finalists to the winner.

1

Candice Glover ended Idol's run of male winners in 2013

The run lasted from season 7 to season 11. In seasons 7, 9, 10 and 11, about half of the finalists were women. If Idol’s first 13 seasons had drawn winners at random from the finalists, the chance of a run that long would be 1 in 10 to 1 in 5.

The Voice had its own runs: 5 men from season 24 to 28, from Huntley to Aiden Ross, and 4 women from season 13 to 16.

Idol and The Voice each had a long run of male winners

One mark per winner, season by season.

American Idol

15 men, 9 women

The Voice

18 men, 10 women, 1 group act

The X Factor

1 man, 1 woman, 1 group act

Point at or tap a mark to see the winner.

Candice Glover

Photo: Manfred Werner - Tsui · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo source.

2

Women made the top 3 as often as their numbers predict

In the 11 early Idol seasons we can compare, the finalists included 65 women and 61 men. Women took 17 of the 33 top-3 places, and equal chances predict 17. They won 4 of the 11 seasons, against about 6 under equal chances. Set any woman against any man from the same season, and the woman finished higher 43 times in 100. Chance alone often gives gaps this size.

The same holds for the final rounds of The Voice and The X Factor that we can compare. With this few seasons, a real edge could still hide: in a field of half women and half men, the results fit anything from men winning 9 in 10 seasons to women winning 2 in 3.

Women and men finished in every part of the order

One dot per finalist of the 11 early Idol seasons we can compare, by finishing place.

Point at or tap a row to see its counts.

A shared place counts as its higher place.

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