In 2006, Taylor Hicks became the oldest contestant to win American Idol. At 29, Hicks, born on October 7, 1976, joined the competition at the very end of its age limit and beat runner-up Katherine McPhee as the winner of season five. Since Hicks’ American Idol win, there have been few “older” contestants close to 30—or even 40, 50, or older—due to the long-running age restrictions of the show. American Idol is currently open to contestants aged 15 and no older than 29 at the time of the audition.
Though The Voice requires contestants to be at least 13 years old to audition, there’s no clear cut-off age for the show, yet most of the contestants in the singing competition have fallen within the mid-20s. There are also no “older” age restrictions on other competitive shows like American’s Got Talent with contestants in their 80s and 90s competing on past seasons.
Along with Hicks, in 2015, Nick Fradiani also won American Idol season 14 at the age of 29—along with David Cook (season seven) and Trent Harmon (season 15) who became the second oldest winners at 25—yet for 21 seasons the majority of Idol hopefuls have been younger and have barely crossed the 30-year mark.
With more than two decades of the show airing, it may be time for the long-running singing competition to open its doors to older contestants.
“Never say never,” said longtime American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, 49, who is open to the show welcoming more age groups in the future. “I’m happy to host.”
During the first three seasons of American Idol, the age restrictions fell between 16 and 24 years old to audition with the end age bumped to 28 by season four. In 2010, the lower age restriction of 16 was dropped to 15, which has remained in place through the present season.
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“I think different people will show up this time,” said former judge Randy Jackson when the show lowered the age limit to 15. “You’re seeing stars like Justin Bieber, a lot of younger artists do it, so you want to take advantage of that. There’s a lot of kids that are getting better earlier. It’s great.”
Former judge Kara DioGuardi added, “Take LeAnn Rimes, at a very young age she was singing very deep country songs, and she had that old soul and it worked. It could be a kid who’s really young, who didn’t even know he was that talented, or it could be someone that’s a little bit older that, for whatever reason, it hasn’t worked out yet. That’s what’s exciting about the show: It’s about that dream and helping people realize it.”
Along with the age restrictions, American Idol contestants must also abide by several other strict rules before auditioning.
If a contestant previously appeared on the show and made it to the Top 10 in the live shows, they are also not allowed to audition again. Also, if a contestant is under the age of 18, they must bring a parent or legal guardian to the audition and be legally allowed to work in the U.S.
Though the lower age limit has remained at 15, the cut-off age has never extended beyond 29. American Idol judge Lionel Richie, now 74, who joined the show in 2018 with fellow judges Luke Bryan, and Katy Perry, agreed that there’s a blind spot on the show for these older contestants who he added are “missed” during the competition.
“I know [actors] who did not make it in their 20s and 30s,” said Richie. “They made in their 40s and 50s because they finally realized— from Hollywood’s point of view, the character is what we need, that new, older character. Singing is the same way. Sometimes there are so many people who are so qualified and ready to go at 40 and 50. We just completely missed them altogether.”
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