Australian Idol (season 1)

When Network Ten paid $15 million for the first season of Australian Idol they anticipated it to be a critical and financial success, like it had been in other countries such as the UK and the USA. When the show aired for the first time in August 2003 it was very successful, attracting a diverse ranges of viewers, from people wanting the crazy auditions to people who wanted to hear great voices. The audition process went through several major cities in Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. Towards the end of its run, Australian Idol became the most popular TV show in the country with more ratings than major events such as the AFL Grand Final. The Grand Final at the Sydney Opera House attracted more than 3 million viewers.

The winner of the competition was Guy Sebastian. He beat Shannon Noll who finished in 2nd place, Cosima De Vito who came in 3rd place, Paulini Curuenavuli who came in 4th place & Rob Mills who finished in 5th place. After Idol, it was these five, the Final 5, who were the most successful out of the Top 12.

Other Idol contestants from Season 1 to release music were Rebekah LaVauney, Peter Ryan and Courtney Act.

In the third semi final, just before the live verdict, one of the contestants, Anthony Sumbati, was disqualified for taking part in a radio interview without the consent of the producers. He later performed in the Grand Final as one of the performances outside the Sydney Opera House.

In the wildcard show, a contestant named Daniel Wakefield was originally meant to be in the top 12, but due to his contract, he wasn't able to be in the top 12. Instead of having one contestant chosen by the judges and the other chosen by Australia, three contestants were chosen, two by Australia and one by the judges.

Since winning Australian Idol, Guy Sebastian has released ten top 10 albums, with eight reaching the top 5, including three #1's. Sebastian has also released 23 top 20 singles, with 14 reaching the top 10, including six #1's.[5] He has the most #1 singles for an Australian male vocalist in Australian music history, and he is third overall for all Australian acts.[6] He has a total of 69 platinum and seven gold certifications in Australia, the highest accreditations for any Australian Idol contestant.[7] Sebastian's debut album Just As I Am reached #1 and 6× platinum, eventually selling 480,000 copies.[8][9] Just As I Am remains the highest selling album ever released by an Australian Idol contestant.[10] Guy Sebastian's winner's single "Angels Brought Me Here" debuted at #1 and reached 5× platinum.[5][11] The song was the highest selling single in Australia in 2003, and won the 2004 Highest Selling Single ARIA Award.[12][13] In 2010 ARIA announced it was the highest selling song of the previous decade.[10] Sebastian's second and third albums were platinum sellers.[14][15] Beautiful Life peaked at #2, with Closer to the Sun reaching #4[5] His fourth album The Memphis Album peaked at #3 and went on to sell 2× platinum.[16] Sebastian's 5th album Like It Like That achieved platinum certification.[17][18] His next two albums, Twenty Ten and Armageddon, gained double platinum certification.[19][20] Armageddon was his second album to achieve #1.[18] Sebastian's eighth album Madness has been certified gold.[20] "Like it Like That", the 4× platinum title track from his fifth album, reached #1 and was the highest selling Australian artist song of 2009.[21][22]

"Who's That Girl" the only single released from Twenty Ten also reached #1 and was certified 5× platinum.[21] It was nominated for the 2011 ARIA Best Pop Release and Song of the Year, and won the Highest Selling Single ARIA.[23][24] "Don't Worry Be Happy", Armageddon's lead single, reached #5 and gained 5× platinum certification.[25][5][26] The third single, "Battle Scars" featuring Lupe Fiasco, became his sixth #1 single in Australia, and has been certified 12× platinum.[5][25] Sebastian's most recent album, T.R.U.T.H., became his third to reach #1, and has been certified gold. During his career Sebastian has received 34 ARIA Award nominations, winning seven of them including Best Pop Release and Best Live Act.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

Sebastian also had success outside of Australia with his first single reaching #1 in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia and New Zealand in 2004. His first album reached #3 in New Zealand.[35][36][37] "Angels Brought Me Here" gained platinum and Just As I Am double platinum accreditation in New Zealand.[38] Sebastian has achieved five further top ten singles in New Zealand since then, including another #1 with "Who's That Girl", and now has a total of six platinum and three gold certifications there.[39][40] Sebastian is currently the only Australian Idol contestant to chart in the US. "Battle Scars" reached #71 on the Billboard Hot 100, #23 on the Billboard Digital Songs Chart and #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-hop Digital Song Chart.[41][42] It spent 20 weeks in the Hot 100 and was certified platinum in the US for sales of one million.[43][44] "Battle Scars" also reached #2 in Norway.[45] In 2015 Sebastian was selected to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest. He finished 5th, and his song "Tonight Again" charted in the top 50 in a number of European countries, including No.6 in Iceland and 16 in Austria.[46][47][48]

Shannon Noll released his first single "What About Me?" in February 2004. It debuted at #1 and remained at the top for four weeks.[49] It was certified 4× Platinum[50] and was the highest selling single in Australia in 2004.[51] His debut album That's What I'm Talking About was also a chart topper gaining 5× Platinum accreditation selling 350,000 copies.[52] Both the single and album were nominated as highest seller at the 2004 ARIA Awards. His second album Lift also reached #1 on the ARIA charts and remained in the top 50 for 53 weeks.[53] It was accredited 3× platinum with 210,000 copies sold.[54] Lift received a nomination for best pop release at the 2006 ARIA Awards and the lead single "Shine" was nominated for highest selling single.[55] "Don't Give Up" a duet with Natalie Bassingthwaighte was also nominated for highest selling single at the 2007 ARIA Awards.[56] His third album, Turn It Up, was released in 2007 peaking at #3 and reaching platinum accreditation.[57][58] His fourth album No Turning Back: The Story So Far, released in 2008 peaked at #7, and his fifth album "A Million Suns" released in 2011 reached #8. Neither of these albums reached certification. Noll has released ten top 10 singles including three #1's.[59] He is the only artist in Australian music history to achieve ten consecutive top 10 singles.[60] He has released seven more singles since achieving this, with two reaching the ARIA Top 50, the highest one peaking at #26.[59] He has gained 17 platinum and three gold accreditations during his career.[7] Noll has had some success outside Australia with his debut single What About Me reaching #2 in Ireland and #10 in New Zealand. His debut album also peaked at #31 on the New Zealand charts.[61]

Cosima De Vito released "When the War Is Over" as her debut single in mid-2004 through her own independent label, CDV Records. It was a #1 hit and sold over 70,000 copies resulting in platinum status. Her debut self-titled album Cosima peaked at #2 on the charts and reached gold certification. Her second single "Now That You Can't Have Me" peaked at #42 on the charts. Her second album This Is Now that was released in September 2007 didn't chart in the ARIA Charts.

Paulini Curuenavuli released a debut single titled "Angel Eyes" which reached #1 and platinum certification. It stayed at the top spot for four weeks. Her debut album One Determined Heart also reached #1 and received platinum status. Her Christmas EP "Amazing Grace: Songs for Christmas" peaked at #72. Her second album Superwoman reached #70. The album gave her two top 50 singles. In 2006 Paulini joined an all girl pop group called the "Young Divas" with other former Idol contestants including Kate DeAraugo, Emily Williams, Ricki-Lee Coulter and later Jessica Mauboy. They achieved success with a double platinum album and platinum and gold singles.

Courtney Act has become a successful drag queen performer based in Los Angeles. In December 2013, Logo announced that Courtney Act was among 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. She later went on to become a finalist in the competition, alongside fellow contestants Adore Delano and Bianca Del Rio, but in the season finale lost the title to Bianca Del Rio. In July 2014, Courtney Act became the first drag performer in history to sing live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Act appeared as a guest performer with Cheyenne Jackson in "Hello, Gorgeous! Cheyenne Jackson Goes to the Movies". The two sang a duet of "Elephant Love Song" from the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge. In September 2014, Courtney Act, along with Willam Belli and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, were the first drag queens to become ad girls for American Apparel. They worked for the campaign Support Artists, Support Ethical Manufacturing of the fashion brand, featuring three limited exclusive T-shirts that honors each drag queen's talents and allure. Courtney also has a Wig Company called Wigs By Vanity that she set up in 2003 for drag queens with a business partner and fellow drag queen, Vanity Faire. In December 2015, Courtney was featured on two singles from the Christmas Queens LP, "From Head To Mistletoe", and "Christmas Sweater" with fellow American Apparel ad girls Willam and Alaska. As of 2016, Act has been a foreign correspondent for the Australian news website, Junkee. Act covered the Presidential election of 2016 for the site, attending rallies of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Following Trump's election, Act also participated in and reported on the 2017 Women's March.

Rob Mills experienced a very short lived career at Sony BMG with one gold selling single "Ms. Vanity" and an album titled Up All Night which peaked at #21. He was later dropped from the label. He appeared in the Australian 2008 production of Wicked, and has also worked in television.

• Official Australian Idol website
• Australian Idol 2023 website