American Idol season 24 is racing by at lightning speed! Just one week after watching the judges cut the number of contestants down from over 100 hopefuls to a Top 30, another ten American Idol contestants watched their dreams of becoming the next American Idol come to an end during the “Ohana round” cuts.
After narrowing the field down to 30, judges Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie were tasked with cutting a third of the remaining contestants to create the Top 20 for season 24. They weren’t alone in helping to determine which contestants moved through to the next round of the competition, though!
In an American Idol first, the show took the power to award the platinum tickets out of the judges’ hands and gave it to three separate groups: tastemakers, ohana, and the contestants. After every Top 30 group took to the stage, these three groups voted to award a platinum ticket to one artist. The “tastemakers” included voice coach and Broadway star Cheryl Porter, Dancing with the Stars pro Sasha Farber, social media stars Loren Gray and Anthony Gargiula, Rolling Stone co-editor-in-chief Shirley Halpert, Y’All Access host Kelly Sutton, and TikTok power couple Terry McCaskill and Kaniya Brown; the ohana ticket was voted on by loved ones of the contestants, and the contestant ticket was determined by their peers.
So who walked away with a platinum ticket sending them not into the Top 20 and straight through to America’s vote? Allow us to introduce you to this year’s Top 20!
Meet the American Idol 2026 Top 20
Following a night of amazing performances, 10 contestants’ American Idol journeys came to an end as tough cuts were made.
Before the judges selected the 17 contestants they’d be putting through to the Top 20, the results of the platinum ticket voting were revealed, with Jordan McCullough, Brooks Rosser, and Kyndal Inskeep becoming the first members of the 2026 Top 20. Jordan won the peer-voted platinum ticket, becoming the first to enter the Top 20; Brooks became the second member of the Top 20 by winning the ohana vote, and Kyndal was the third to make it through with the tastemakers ticket.
The judges then deliberated and chose the following 17 contestants to round out the Top 20 for season 24:
This led to the elimination of Brenna Brigman, Bella Emry, Kiera Howell, Michael Garner, Chloe Lauren, Jacquie Lee, Sheldon Riley, Tianna Roberts, Bryant Thomas, and Brianna Yancey from the competition.
- Abayomi
- Kutter Bradley
- Jesse Findling
- Hannah Harper
- Genevieve Heyward
- Julian Kalel
- Philmon Lee
- Lucas Leon
- Madison Moon
- Makiyah
- Rae
- Ruby Rae
- Keyla Richardson
- Braden Rumfelt
- Daniel Stallworth
- Jake Thistle
- Chris Tungseth
Next up, the Top 20 will perform for America’s vote in hopes of making it through to the next round of the competition. Keke Palmer will be on hand to help mentor the contestants and also serve as a special guest judge, guiding the contestants over two nights of performances set to unfold over the next two weeks.