There has not been a female winner of American Idol since Season 6, when Jordan Sparks took the top honor. In the last 5 seasons, there has been a trend of the good looking guy who can play guitar (David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips). But for everyone tuning into Season 12 of American Idol, it is clear to see that the most of the favorites are female.  

This is what American Idol judge, Keith Urban, told HollywoodLife in late February, "All I can say is at least from what we just saw last night it's absolutely a girl's year to win, in my opinion." Urban went on to say, "That's not to say the guys aren't strong because they really are. Its really more a testament to how strong the girls are this year. I want to see the emergence of great artistry, male, female, it doesn't really matter, but definitely the girls are stronger. I don't know why that is. It's just one of those things. We saw probably over 270 people all up to get it down to where we are today and the girls were just incredibly strong this year." (via www.hollywoodlife.com) 

Many fans of the show are happy for the shift in power this year to help keep the show fresh. It does bring up the question to be asked though, was the talent stacked in favor of the women by the producers this year or did the women's talent just show up to the auditions more this year? If you look back at Idol past, the most successful winners have been Kelly Clarkson (Season 1) and Carrie Underwood (Season 4). The favorites of this season so far are female singers, Kree Harrison, Candice Glover and Angela Miller who have all given memorable performances to date. 

Actually the first 3 of 4 seasons had female winners (Fantasia Barrino, season 3) with many of the recent years winners not making much of a blip on radio stations after their American Idol appearance. Phillip Phillips might have the best chance at a sustained career of recent years winners. Chris Daughtry is by far the most successful Idol who did not make the Top 3 of their season with 2 #1 albums (Daughty, Leave this Town), he got cut at top four.