There's an incredible amount of interest each year in finding out who will win American Idol, but it's time to put the accomplishment into perspective. Winning American Idol is not a sure-fire ticket to stardom. Let's look at the results of some of the past winners of Idol

A quick look at Past Winners shows their sales declining

Let's look at the winners of the first five American Idol seasons.

• Kelly Clarkson
• Ruben Studdard
• Fantasia Barrino
• Carrie Underwood
• Taylor Hicks

In this group, the largest amount of commercial success has gone to the winner of the first season's contest, Kelly Clarkson. She's had 20 Top 10 singles and has won two Grammy awards.

Sales for Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard were higher than those for Fantasia Barrino, who moved about one million units less than Stoddard. Keep in mind, part of the prize for winning American Idol is a recording contract where you're expected to move one million units. By anyone's reckoning, Barrino's numbers were flat.

Carrie Underwood went on do to extremely well with a country music career, and she gave way to Taylor Hicks. Hicks is a 29-year old gray-haired singer, and critics immediatedly questioned his ability to sell.

"The record companies are just not interested in anybody over 22 with gray hair," says Michael Laskow, a music agent for Taxi.com "So the challenge is to figure out a way to capitalize on having 35 million viewers see you a week and figure out how to make them active record buyers," explains Billboard Magazine's Melinda Newman.

American Idol has sold a lot of records

So far the count is at 33 million total albums sold by Idol related winners. But the record industry is mired in a deep slump and people are wondering how much legs are left in this old war-horse. It's doubtful that this year's winner will be able to come anywhere the numbers of past winners.