American Idol Performances.

Okay, so call me a nerd if you want, but over the last few days I have been desperately trying to compile a list of my all time favorite Idol performances and IT. IS. SO. HARD. I mean, we have 15 years worth of performances here. So instead of making a traditional countdown list (which you can pretty much find on any Entertainment Blog right now), I've broken mine into categories.

Auditions

Yes, over the years there have been a few auditions that grabbed me right from the start. Here are a few of my favorites:

Melinda Doolittle, For Once In My Life

Elliot Yamin, A Song For You

Casey Abrams, I Don't Need No Doctor

Jax, I Want To Hold Your Hand

And... of course....The Queen Bee. 

Hollywood Week

Frenchie Davis and Kimberly Locke, Band of Gold

Blake Lewis, Rudy Cardenas, Chris Sligh, and Thomas Lowe, “How Deep Is Your Love” (season 6)

Kris Allen, Matt Giraud, India Morrision and Justin Williams (Season 8) I Want You Back

Deandre, Candice, and Jessica (Season 11) It Doesn't Matter Anymore

BEATLES Theme

This is a theme that has been done again and again on Idol. Here are some of my favorites:

David Cook, Eleanor Rigby (Season 7)

Carly Smithson, Blackbird (Season 7)

David Archuleta, Imagine (Season 7)

Casey Abrams, With A Little Help From My Friends (Season 10)

Syesha Mercado, Yesterday (season 7)

La Porsha, Come Together (Season 15)

Brought Tears To My Eyes

Melinda Doolittle, Home (Season 6) 

Jason Castro, Hallelujah (Season 7)

Jordin Sparks, I Who Have Nothing (Season 6)

Adam Lambert, Mad World (Season 8)

Candice Glover, LoveSong

Made Me Jump Up and Scream "YAAAAAAAAAS"

Josh Ledet, Man's World (Season 11)

Kelly Clarkson, Natural Woman (Season 1) 

Jennifer Hudson, Circle of Life (Season 3)

Quentin, I Put A Spell On You (Season 14)

Girls Who Rock

Crystal Bowersox, Me and Bobby McGee (Season 9)

Allison Iraheta, Cry Baby (Season 8) 

Haley Reinhart, Bennie and the Jets (Season 10)

Elise Testone, Whole Lotta Love (Season 11)

Made It Their Own

Blake Lewis, You Give Love A Bad Name (Season 6)

Kris Allen, Heartless (Season 8) 

Joey Cook, Miss Independent (Season 14)

David Cook, Billie Jean (Season 7)

DUETS

Crystal and Lee, Falling Slowly (Season 9)

Michael Johns and Carly Smithson, The Letter (Season 7)

Haley Reinhart and Casey Abrams, Moanin (season 10)

Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta, Slow Ride (Season 8)

And now, the performance that really hooked me in, made me start seriously following Idol and do all the crazy things like join fan clubs and follow the tour.

Melinda Doolittle, There Will Come A Day

That's a wrap.