Who is the Most successful American Idol: Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson? This question has been brewing for years. Every American Idol fan has his or her thoughts on the subject. If you're a fan of Kelly Clarkson you think it is her.

If you're a Carrie Underwood fan then you obviously choose her. Most fans though, don't make this decision based on facts but instead base it on raw emotion. Lets go over a few facts and then decide who is the greatest American Idol.

Carrie Underwood: Carrie Underwood has achieved fame and fortune in the world of country music. As of the beginning of this year Carrie Underwood had sold over ten and a half million albums in the U.S.

in just a little over four years. Her world wide album sales are, as of the beginning of this year, just over 14 million. She has won five Grammys.

And countless country music awards. Carrie Underwood has become an icon in the country music world. When you ask younger country music fans what the first thing they think of is when they hear the word country music, they say Carrie Underwood.

Underwood has the personality, charm, grace, and beauty along with one of the greatest voices you will ever hear. She has 12 number one singles and her albums continue to fly off the shelves. She has without a doubt done very well for herself and is one of the greatest American Idols. But, is she the most successful?

Kelly Clarkson:

Kelly Clarkson has achieved fame and fortune as well. Clarkson has achieved world wide fame in selling over 23 million albums worldwide. In the U.S. she has sold around 10.2 million since 2002. She was just voted the greatest voice in pop history. She has undoubtedly achieved way more than anybody thought she would when she became American Idol's first winner back in 2002. She has won two Grammys and appeared in the movie "From Justin to Kelly".

Kelly Clarkson broke the record for the biggest single week jump up the Billboard charts with her single "My Life Would Suck Without You". She was also voted the most successful American Idol by Billboard based on album sales, singles sales, and radio plays. Is she the most successful American Idol though?Conclusion:

Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson
There is no doubt that Kelly Clarkson has achieved greatness since she won American Idol back in 2002 but based on the evidence presented I have to say that Billboard is just plain wrong in it's decision to pick Clarkson as the most successful American Idol. In my book, the most successful American Idol is Carrie Underwood.

Let me explain. Kelly Clarkson has been outsold by Underwood in the U.S. despite having over a four year head start. That alone is enough to declare Underwood the most successful American Idol. Based on their current annual album sales, if they had debuted at the same time, Underwood would have twice as many album sales by now. I know some people will say that Clarkson has sold almost 10 million more albums world wide. That is true, but again Clarkson had almost four years to sell albums before Underwood even debuted her first album. Again, based on annual album sales, if they had come out at the same time, Underwood would have a 5 million album lead on Clarkson worldwide.

A few more reasons; Carrie Underwood has become an icon in her genre while Clarkson has not. Carrie has had more success in a shorter amount of time inside the United States which is still the entertainment capital of the world. I don't care what you say, you can make tons more money and achieve way more fame if your successful and popular in the U.S. than you can if you are more popular, in say, Japan. It's just the way it is.

While it is difficult to compare the two because they are in two completely different genres, I have to say that Carrie Underwood is the most successful American Idol and that Billboard jumped the gun on this one. They should have waited a few more years or at least taken into account the fact that Kelly Clarkson had a significant head start on Underwood.