Voting results have been a consistent source of controversy. The mechanism of voting had also aroused considerable criticisms, most notably in season two when Ruben Studdard beat Clay Aiken in a close vote, and in season eight, when the massive increase in text votes (100 million more text votes than season 7) fueled the texting controversy. Concerns about power voting have been expressed from the very first season. Since 2004, votes also have been affected to a limited degree by online communities such as DialIdol, Vote for the Worst (closed in 2013), and Vote for the Girls (started 2010).

Who won season two of American Idol?