#1 - Melinda Doolittle

Is Melinda losing her death grip on first place?  Maybe a little bit, but I wouldn't say it's her fault.  Her performances are uniformly great, and this has made them seem normal.  I'm not surprised when Melinda brings down the house anymore.  This phenomenon may end up hurting Melinda's chances to win the whole thing, especailly with someone like Jordin Sparks, who has been improving as the show has progressed.


#2 - Jordin Sparks

Jordin has been turning it on as of late, gaining the support of the online community and the judges.  As I said above, Jordin is going to helped by the fact that she is young and constantly improving.  It doesn't matter that she isn't as polished or consistent as Melinda, if she can save her best performances for last Jordin could very easily be this year's American Idol.


#3 - Blake Lewis

Blake seems to be the largest source of divisiveness among fans of American Idol (outside of Sanjaya, of course).  I like him because he at least tries to do something different, on top of being an already pretty good singer.  He's also the most comfortable on-stage performer remaining on the show.  He seems to be going away from the beat-boxing lately, but I'm betting he starts employing it more in the next couple of weeks, seeing as it tends to be a crowd pleaser.