How Much Do ‘American Idol’ Contestants Get Paid for Being on Show?

Martin Holmes March 12, 2025, 10:05 am

Carrie Underwood — Kevin Winter/Getty Images

American Idol is back for its 23rd season, raising the frequent question: how much do contestants actually make on the long-running reality show?

Perhaps not unsurprisingly, those who don’t make it through the auditions don’t get anything, and will almost certainly be out of pocket over travel expenses, maybe hotels, clothing, taking time off work and more. According to Richard Rushfield’s book American Idol: The Untold Story, some contestants have to drop out of the auditions due to travel costs and other expenses. Rushfield claims that those who get through the auditions and make it to the early rounds aren’t paid anything beyond room and board.

However, those who make it past the auditions and onto the show are compensated for their televised performances. But there is a catch. According to Taste of Country, the Top 24 singers first have to join the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which costs $3,000.

Once the contestants are signed up to AFTRA, they earn $1,571 for a two-hour show, $1,303 for each one-hour episode, and $910 for each half-hour episode, per 2016 numbers.

The Hollywood Reporter also states that the show gives contestants a wardrobe allowance of $400 per episode. The contestants are also allowed to keep their clothes.

According to PureWow.com, those who make the Top 12 and participate in the summer tour have even more earning potential, as this four to five months of touring brings in around $150,000 for each contestant.

As for the eventual victor, they walk away with $125,000 for winning the show and are signed to a recording contract. Per AmericanSongwriter, the record company typically gives the winner a $300,000 advance as a recording budget, but that is then paid back via future earnings.

Once the album is completed, the winner receives another $100,000, and once they’ve recouped the advance, they earn 15 per cent in royalties on future sales.

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This size of the winning prize has dropped since the early days of Idol when the show was a global phenomenon. For example, when Carrie Underwood won the show in 2005, she received a $1 million recording contract. People also reported she received a Fort Mustang and use of a private jet.

Underwood won Idol‘s fourth season and became one of the show’s biggest success stories, earning multiple number-one albums, hit singles, and countless awards, including eight Grammys. She is now back on the show as a judge, working alongside Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.

According to Taste of Country, Underwood is earning between $10 million and $12.5 million for her role as an Idol judge, while Bryan earns $12 million and Richie earns $10 million. Host Ryan Seacrest reportedly negotiated for a $12 million salary back in 2017.

American Idol, Season 23, Sundays, 8/9c, ABC