The victor was crowned during a live two-hour finale on Monday.


The 16th season of American Idol came to a close on Monday night when Maddie Poppe was crowned the winner of the singing competition.


The show opened with a performance by judge Lionel Richie of his 1983 hit “All Night Long.” He was joined by the top 10 contestants from this season who sang along with him onstage.

This year's three finalists — Gabby Barrett, Caleb Lee Hutchinson and Maddie Poppe – all performed during the finale, including duets between Barrett and judge Luke Bryan, Poppe and Kermit the Frog, and Hutchinson and Darius Rucker.

Barrett was the first to be eliminated as voting results from overnight were read by host Ryan Seacrest, leaving Hutchinson and Poppe to sweat it out for nearly an hour before the final winner was announced, but they did drop the bombshell that they are dating and performed a duet of "Over the Rainbow" together. The couple was also gifted with a Hawaiian getaway.


Throughout the show, Nick Jonas, Bebe Rexha and Gary Clark Jr. also performed. Not to be outdone by Richie, fellow judges Bryan and Katy Perry also performed.

Jimmy Kimmel also made a surprise appearance to unearth an American Idol time capsule such items as a Simon Cowell v-neck t-shirt, "Ryan's frosted hair tips from season one" and former contestant Sanjaya Malakar.


This year's iteration of the singing competition was the first season to air on ABC after 15 years on Fox.