• David Cook was the winner of American Idol’s 7th season. The 26-year-old former bartender was awarded the title of American Idol during the FOX reality show’s season finale on May 21, 2008.

  Cook beat out fellow contestant David Archuleta, after a record number of votes were cast for the two. Host Ryan Seacrest said more than 97 million votes were cast in the contest, with Cook garnering 12 million more votes than Archuleta.

  During the finale, Cook and Archuleta each performed three songs. Cook's contestants choice song was "The World I Know" by Collective Soul, while Archuleta opted to repeat his performance of John Lennon's "Imagine."

  When all was said and done, the judges seemed in agreement that the edge went to Archuleta. Before the final results were read, however, judge Simon Cowell apologized to Cook, saying he thought he might have been too critical of his performances the night before.

• 1. Winner: David Cook
  2. Chosen: May 21, 2008
  3. Network: FOX
  4. 97.5 million votes cast
  5. 56% of votes for Cook; 44% for Archuleta
  6. Previous winner: Jordin Sparks

• Voting Frenzy

  Idol fans voted in record numbers for their favorite contestants. Host Ryan Seacrest said more than 97 million votes were cast by phone and through text messaging after the final performances on May 20, 2008.

  Dial Idol correctly predicted that David Cook was going to win the Idol title by more than 10 percentage points.

• Quotes

  "I started this season, much to Simon's chagrin, as the word nerd, but now I'm at a loss for words."— David Cook, American Idol

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