American Idol Recap: Top 16 Power Rankings

I caught a lot heat last week for ranking Siobhan, Lee, and Alex so low in my inaugural power poll. I’ll admit that after her performance on Wednesday night, I probably did have Ms. Magnus a little too low. While I’m still not sold on Dewyze or Lambert, I did move them up considerably (probably not high enough for their supporters, but I just can’t live with myself if people are flying up and down the poll each week!)

Here’s the combination of factors that I look at when making out my Power Poll:

- Would you ever realistically buy their album or go their concert?

- Do they show any signs of possessing a star persona – meaning could you see them being famous? Can you envision them on talk shows or magazine covers or crushing the national anthem at the Super Bowl?

And most importantly:

- Compared to the other contestants remaining, can you actually, physically imagine Ryan announcing that contestant as the winner at the final results show?

This isn’t about personal favorites, this is about who can actually win and make an impact on the pop culture scene.

With that said, here are my Top 16 rankings after last night's results show:

1. Crystal Bowersox (+3 spots from last week)

2. Big Mike Lynche (+3)

3. Casey James (-2)

4. Andrew Garcia (-2)


5. Katelyn Epperly (+2)

6. Lilly Scott (+4)

7. Didi Benami (-3)

8. Lee Dewyze (+6)


9. Siobhan Magnus (+9)

10. Todrick Hall (-2)

11. Katie Stevens (-5)

12. Aaron Kelly (-3)


13. Alex Lambert (+7)

14. Lacey Brown (-1)

15. Paige Miles (+1)

16. Tim Urban (-1)

Were you OK with John, Jermaine, Michelle, and Haley going home? Is there someone else that you think should have been sent packing? Let me know in the comments section below!