1. Elliott Yamin (finished 3rd on the show): I think Elliott was fortunate enough to have both a dedicated core of fans and at the same time be the finalist who was most liked by dedicated fans of other singers. I think he has just become (or may always have been) the most likable, least polarizing finalist of the season.
2. Chris Daughtry (4th): Chris' fervent fans, and those impressed by his post-show dominance on the sales and airplay charts, were enough to offset his detractors and net him the retrospective runner-up trophy.
3. Taylor Hicks (1st): He always was a polarizing figure on the show, and his lower profile since (which is quite likely at least partially by choice) may have cost him in the long run.
4. Kellie Pickler (6th): How about that? Many commenters mentioned how impressed they were with the way her post-show career has developed (must not insert bad joke here...). A new country artist selling more than 600,000 records is remarkable; to expect her to equal Carrie's sales is unrealistic -- Carrie's career is one of those rare, perfectly aligned combinations of timing, circumstance and talent. Kellie's album showed off surprising depth and a knack for lighthearted, upbeat country, and clearly it (and her public persona) impressed a lot of you, enough to give her a two-notch boost in the rankings.
5. Mandisa (9th): Now that surprised me. It is a consistent result with the retrospective boosts received by Tamyra, Nadia and La Toya, adding to the feeling that Idol frequently gives short shrift to talented African American female vocalists. But I'm not sure that alone, and her modest post-Idol career, explains her extremely strong showing in this vote.
6. Bucky Covington (8th): Close behind Mandisa (it's a very tight little cluster between positions 7 to 4), the season's other emergent country star improved on his original ranking. I think his chart success and artistic growth were factors, as well as his evident likability, which only became more apparent from his diary entries on this blog earlier in the year. Plus he gave Taylor-haters a Southern rockish guy to vote for.
You may have noticed the absence so far of a very prominent Season 5 finalist, who can finally be found at ...
7. Katharine McPhee (2nd): Wholly surprising! (Well, partially surprising, anyway.) This was easily the most radical rejection of a top-two finisher so far. Factors presumably include her relatively sluggish sales (although, at least at this point, they're in the same neighborhood as Elliott's), dissatisfaction with her post-Idol musical choices, and a strong feeling (one that kept coming up in comments) that she was an unlikable personality, an overprivileged type, or an erratic singer (or two or three of those things). Something of a shocker.
8. Paris Bennett (5th): Paris also took a tumble in the rankings, likely a combination of her perceived immaturity and widespread disappointment with the album she recorded.
9. Ace Young (7th): Not having an album out yet surely didn't help his cause. It was interesting to see how many people who voted for him cited Father Figure (which if I recall he sang in the semifinals) as their reason for picking him.
10. Lisa Tucker (10th): Finally, down in 10th place, someone's revised ranking actually matches the historical finish. Lisa got some nice comments about how well she performed on tour, but many felt her youth held her back.
11. Melissa McGhee (12th)
12. Kevin Covais (11th)
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