American Idol's tenth season is narrowing down to the final few, which makes me beg the question...
Why Don't American Idol Alums Become American Idols?
Out of the show's nine winners thus far, only two - Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood - have achieved huge success. Other winners Fantasia Barrino, Jordin Sparks, Adam Lambert, David Cook, and Kris Allen achieved success at first but have all lost steam over the years. Other winners Lee DeWyze and Ruben Studdard haven't even achieved mainstream success at all, or to a very low extent. Why?

In my opinion, a lot of them just aren't that great - especially recently. I mean, I like Kris Allen but it's obvious that Adam Lambert is a better vocalist by miles. Last season was just terrible altogether, which explains why the incredibly mediocre (IMO) Lee Dewyze won. I think that, often, winners end up being overshadowed by others who just happened to get eliminated earlier than they did. Look at Taylor Hicks compared to Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry, or Fantasia compared to Jennifer Hudson - although Fantasia is and was amazing on Idol, but Season 3 was just stellar from start to finish.

Basically, I think very often the wrong people end up winning nowadays.

I agree with this! Winning does not really matter on Idol anymore. A lot of the non-winners have more success than many of these idol winners. Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert and Chris Daughtry ect Kelly and Carrie are the only true Idol winners

I also think that it has to do with the type of music they do.