Underdogs · 3 min read ·

Sundance Head went home in Idol’s Top 16. Nine years later he won The Voice.

Sundance Head left Idol in 2007 and won The Voice in 2016. Jake Worthington and Ricky Duran got no chair turn, then finished second.

Sundance Head wears a white cowboy hat and sings into a microphone while playing an orange electric guitar, with drums behind him.

Sundance Head at Freiheit Country Store, New Braunfels, Texas · July 8, 2017

Photo: carole chiles fuller · Public domain · Photo source.

Sundance Head went out of American Idol in the Top 16 in March 2007. In December 2016 he won season 11 of The Voice, and Darlin’ Don’t Go and At Last both made the Billboard Hot 100. He is one of 35 singers profiled here who came back to Idol, The Voice or The X Factor for another run. Here is how far each one got.

1

18 of 35 went further on a later try

Of the 35, 18 went further on a later run, 13 reached the same stage and 4 went less far. Maddie Poppe made the longest climb: no coach turned a chair for her on The Voice in 2016, and in 2018 she won American Idol.

Thunderstorm Artis and Wé Ani both finished third on The Voice, then went out fourth or fifth on Idol. Of the singers here who reached a final, only Sundance Head and Jake Worthington made the Billboard Hot 100.

How far each singer got, first try and later try

One row per singer. The ring is the stage of the first run, the dot the stage of the best later run, on any of the three shows. Tap or hover a mark for the season and the finish.

Went further: 18

  1. Maddie Poppe
  2. Sundance Head
  3. Caleb Lee Hutchinson
  4. Jake Worthington
  5. Ricky Duran
  6. Megan Danielle
  7. Sonika Vaid
  8. MacKenzie Bourg
  9. Mara Justine
  10. Savion Wright
  11. Dennis Lorenzo
  12. Dexter Roberts
  13. Anita Antoinette
  14. Garrett Gardner
  15. Alyssa Raghu
  16. Kyndal Inskeep
  17. Mac Royals
  18. Mia Matthews

Same stage: 13

  1. Thunderstorm Artis
  2. Wé Ani
  3. Allegra Miles
  4. Arin Ray
  5. Ellona Santiago
  6. Jeremy Rosado
  7. Marybeth Byrd
  8. Jason Warrior
  9. Michael Williams
  10. Patrique Fortson
  11. Raquel Trinidad
  12. Ricky Braddy
  13. Shelbie Z

Less far: 4

  1. Arthur Gunn
  2. Drew Ryn
  3. Hailey Mia
  4. Victor Solomon

2

Seven singers here got no chair turn, then reached the finals

In season 6 of The Voice, Jake Worthington, turned away in season 5, finished second, and no coach turned around for Ricky Duran in the blind auditions. Five years later Duran finished second too, in season 17. Both reached the final on Blake Shelton’s team.

No chair turn, then the finals

Singers turned away in The Voice’s blind auditions who reached the finals on a later try, and one fact from after.

  • Maddie PoppeThe Voice 10: no chair turn · American Idol 16: Winner

    Released Whirlwind on Hollywood Records in 2019.

  • Caleb Lee HutchinsonThe Voice 9: no chair turn · American Idol 16: Runner-up

    Released the album Southern Galactic in 2023.

  • Jake WorthingtonThe Voice 5: no chair turn · The Voice 6: Runner-up

    Named to the Grand Ole Opry’s NextStage class of 2026.

  • Ricky DuranThe Voice 6: no chair turn · The Voice 17: Runner-up

    Released the album Space & Time in 2022.

  • Sonika VaidThe Voice 4: no chair turn · American Idol 15: Eliminated (5th)

    Joined the cast of Netflix’s Buying Beverly Hills in 2022.

  • Anita AntoinetteThe Voice 3: no chair turn · The Voice 7: Eliminated in the wildcard round

    Released the album Smile in 2017.

  • Garrett GardnerThe Voice 3: no chair turn · The Voice 4: Eliminated in the Top 12

    Sang his song The Valley on Good Day New York in 2013.

3

Arthur Gunn finished second, came back and went out sixth or seventh

Arthur Gunn was the runner-up of American Idol season 18 in 2020. He came back for season 19 the next year and went out in sixth or seventh place. Three more singers went out of Idol before the finals after a top-six finish on another show: Hailey Mia, fourth place on The Voice in 2021; Victor Solomon, fifth place on The Voice in 2021; and Drew Ryn, sixth place on The X Factor in 2011.

Over the last 12 months, Gunn’s Wikipedia article drew more views than that of any other singer here who reached the finals.

Wikipedia readers, October 2025 to September 2026

Views of each singer’s own English Wikipedia article: the five most-read singers here who reached the finals on either try.

  1. Arthur Gunn54,168
    American Idol 18 · Runner-up, then American Idol 19 · Eliminated (6th–7th)
  2. Maddie Poppe42,225
    The Voice 10 · No chair turn in the blind auditions, then American Idol 16 · Winner
  3. Jake Worthington25,663
    The Voice 5 · No chair turn in the blind auditions, then The Voice 6 · Runner-up
  4. Sundance Head18,600
    American Idol 6 · Eliminated in the Top 16, then The Voice 11 · Winner
  5. Jeremy Rosado17,825
    American Idol 11 · Eliminated 13th, then The Voice 21 · Eliminated in the Top 10

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Photo credits (10 photos)