ArchivesRuben Studdard wins American Idol 2, beating Clay Aiken by only 1,335 votes.
Ruben Studdard won American Idol 2, barely beating Clay Aiken by just 1,335 votes. With 24 million votes, Ruben had 50.28 percent of the vote, and Clay earned 49.72 percent of the vote. (According to The AP, however, the difference was around 133,000 votes, which seems to be the correct math; Ryan Seacrest gave two different numbers during the show, starting with 13,000 and “correcting” himself at the very end with the 1,335 number. More on that.) In other voting news, Ryan told us that Clay won New York, North Carolina, and Ohio, while Ruben won Florida and Alabama. Simon Cowell said that both finalists’ singles will come out the same day; both are currently listed on Amazon.com, with Clay’s still at number one as of 11 a.m. ET. (Ruben’s single is Flying Without Wings/Superstar; Clay’s is This Is The Night/On The Wings Of Love.) The results of last night’s vote were finally revealed after nearly two hours of performances by the finalists, dozens of teases by Ryan Seacrest (who just landed his own talk show), and video of Simon and Paula making out (seriously).
+ also: Clive Davis presented Kelly Clarkson with a platinum album; Thankful has sold 1.3 million copies in its first five weeks.
American Idol 2
Ruben Studdard wins American Idol 2, beating Clay Aiken by only 1,335 votes.
link to this story + posted May. 22, 2003 at 8:00 AM by Andy Dehnart
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