When Crystal Bowersox wrapped up her performance of the Impressions' classic "People Get Ready" on Tuesday night's episode of "American Idol," she received rave reviews from the judges and overwhelming support from fans both in the "Idol" studio and across the Internet. In fact, a number of people (including resident MTV News "American Idol" expert Jim Cantiello) who contemplated whether or not Bowersox's teary, passionate version of the song had ascended to the title of "Best 'American Idol' Performance of All Time." (For what it's worth, Cantiello disagreed with that idea.)
We put the question to the audience via a poll that put Bowersox's run through "People Get Ready" up against 11 other iconic "Idol" performances. Though the list included classic star-making "Idol" moments like Kelly Clarkson's "Stuff Like That There," David Cook's "Billie Jean" and Carrie Underwood's "Alone," Bowersox proved to be an overwhelming favorite. She picked up 31 percent of the vote to take the top spot in the poll. Cook's "Billie Jean" came in second with 16 percent, while Underwood managed to pick up just under 10 percent for third place. She was followed by a trio of examples who were all quite close to one another: Clay Aiken ("Build Me Up Buttercup"), Fantasia Barrino ("Summertime," one of Cantiello's all-time favorites) and Jason Castro's "Hallelujah" (which certainly made him into an instant star).
Of course, there was plenty of discussion in the comments about the iconic songs that we neglected to add to the poll. David Archuleta's "Imagine," Adam Lambert's "Mad World," Kris Allen's "Ain't No Sunshine" and any number of Jennifer Hudson performances were all mentioned as songs that were egregiously left off of the original poll. As a make-up, there will be a new poll later today that reflects your requests!