Tonight is the season 24 finale of “American Idol,” and we already have some “American Idol” spoilers on what to expect. Read below for a rundown on what we know so far for the “American Idol” 2026 finale.
WARNING: If you do NOT want to know anything about the “American Idol” season 24 finale, STOP READING NOW.
The Schedule
Since this is the Grand Finale, we have a supersized episode of “American Idol” tonight.
The night kicks off at 8/7c on ABC, like normal. It’s going to be a jam-packed night of performances. In addition to the Top 3 performing live for your votes, we will see a lot of musical guests and familiar faces from Season 24 back on that stage.
To make up for this jam-packed night, ABC is giving us three full hours of Idol tonight. The winner of “American Idol” season 24 will be announced by Ryan Seacrest around 11 p.m. ET tonight, as the night and season come to an end.
The Performers
As stated above, we are going to have a big night of performances. The Top 3 — Hannah Harper, Jordan McCullough, and Keyla Richardson — will take the stage and perform for your votes one last night.
For the Grand Finale night, we are also going to have Alicia Keys serving as a guest mentor and judge for the Top 3. In addition, Keys will take to the stage for a special performance during the finale night.
ABC has also announced the following musical guests for the Idol Finale:
- Brad Paisley
- Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms
- Cameron Whitcomb
- Clay Aiken
- En Vogue
- Jason Mraz
- Lee Ann Womack
- Mötley Crüe
- Nelly
- Shinedown
- Tori Kelly
We always know that eliminated contestants from the current season will be coming back for the finale. The show has shared on their Instagram pages some of these performers. We will see Jesse Findling and Jake Thistle perform with Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms.
We will also see Braden Rumfelt perform a duet with Clay Aiken. Lucas Leon will be performing with Brad Paisley. Lee Ann Womack will be performing with Hannah Harper. Jason Mraz performing with Keyla Richardson. Tori Kelly performing with Jordan McCullough and Daniel Stallworth.
The “American Idol” judges will all take the stage and perform together. In addition, Carrie Underwood will be taking the stage to perform with Mötley Crüe.
The Voting
Are you ready to vote for your favorite singer? America gets the final say in who wins “American Idol” season 24 tonight. To vote, there are three ways to do it:
- Social Media Voting: A special voting post will be pinned to the TOP of the “American Idol” social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok). Look for the purple post that shows all three performers of the night. You will write the FIRST name only of the person you want to vote for in the comments. You can vote up to 10 times for each contestant, so 10 separate comments for each vote.
- Online Voting: You can also go to the American Idol voting website during the episode to cast up to 10 votes per contestant.
- Voting by Text: You can text your favorite contestant’s unique number to “21523” as soon as the episode starts. You can do this method up to 10 times. To vote for Hannah, text 8 to 21523. For Jordan, text 14 to 21523. To vote for Keyla, text 20 to 21523.
Live voting will end during the final commercial break, and the winner will be announced during the final moments of the live finale.
The “American Idol” season 29 finale airs tonight at 8/7c on ABC with streaming available on Hulu the next day.
