by Gina Scarpa

 

Last night, things on American Idol came down to teen country singer Scotty McCreery and teen country singer Lauren Alaina for the win.

 

The top 13 performed Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and throughout the night, some of the lucky members were paired up with music royalty. James Durbin rocked out with Judas Priest (did you ever think you'd see metal on Idol?!), James Durbin sang up with gospel star Kurt Franklin and Gladys Knight, and Casey Abrams appropriately teamed up with Jack Black - and it was awesome!

 

The ladies of American Idol got together for "Single Ladies" and "Deja Vu", showing off many of them at their best - and then Beyonce herself came out to join them for "Crazy In Love". They also performed with TLC on "Waterfalls" after the duo sang "Scrubs" with some help from Lil Jon.

 

The men of American Idol got in on the action, singing a medley of everything from Prince to Elvis that had one thing in common - Tom Jones, who eventually joined them on stage for "It's Not Usual". Do the Carlton!

 

There were the usual video montages: Randy's most memorable quotes of the season, Steven's outrageous comments after performances, and Jennifer's reaction to the crushes of the male contestants. We also had foul mouthed rejectees, the Top 13 reflecting back on the season, and Scotty's and Lauren's trips back to their schools to donate some money to help the music programs there.

 

More celeb/Idol duets included Haley Reinhart with the one and only Tony Bennett, Scotty McCreery got to sing with one of his idols, Tim McGraw, and Lauren took to the stage with Idol winner Carrie Underwood.

 

Marc Anthony performed with a little help from his wife and Lady Gaga took over the stage later on in the night for "Edge of Glory". Beyonce also returned to show off her new song, "One By One". The Broadway show Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark performed with Bono and The Edge from U2. Yep, still don't wanna see it. Steven Tyler also got in on the action on stage and performed "Dream On".

 

After two hours and over 120 million votes, Seacrest names Scotty McCreery the winner of American Idol!

 

(Image courtesy of FOX)

 

 

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