American Idol season 20 aired its finale on May 22nd, 2022, where the long-running reality TV singing competition crowned a new winner. The top 3 final contestants of American Idol were HunterGirl, Noah Thompson, and Leah Marlene, which aired on ABC. On Sunday, the show’s conclusion felt like a free concert comprised of a three-hour song-filled celebration that featured the judges, candidates, judges, and influential personalities in music. The extraordinary musical guest who performed in the show’s season finale were Katy Perry, Luke Brayan, Lionel Richie, Michael Bublé, Flo Rida, Earth, Wind & Fire, Melissa Etheridge, and Michael. Carrie Underwood got scheduled to perform at the finale on Sunday, but she could not sing due to scheduling conflicts.
The Top 3 finalists during the first round of performances of the show sang by paying tribute to Bruce Springsteen, where Leah performed Bruce Springsteen’s “Cover Me,” and HunterGirl performed Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” Noah performed Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.” Next, the finalists then sang a song of their choosing where HunterGirl sang her original song titled “Red Bird,” Leah chose to perform her original song “Flowers,” and Noah also sang an original song, “One Day Tonight.”
The results were then revealed based on the audience voting, and Ryan Seacrest announced that Leah got eliminated from the competition. The performances continued were top 2020 finalists of American Idol performed alongside Lionel Richie, the famous hit song titled “You Are,” and Leah, who was the eliminated top 3 finalist, sang with Katy Perry “Firework.” Further, the remaining top 2 finalists commenced with HunterGirl singing a song by Randy Travis called “I Told You So,” and Noah sang “Stay” by Rihana. Over 16 million votes was counted, revealing that Noah was the winner of American Idol 2022, which Ryan Seacrest announced. Noah asserted that the competition positively impacted his life in his celebratory speech. He treated the audience to a final performance where he sang his original song called “One Day Tonight.”
