10:03 - Winner Phillips is singing "Home" with his signature guitar! As the confetti falls, Phillips is crying. He walked down the stage to his family and gives them a hug. Credits scroll. He hugs the judges.

WINNER IS PHILLIP PHILLIPS!

VIDEO: Phillip Phillips Performing "Home" [Watch]

10:00 - results envelope! world record of 132 million votes have been generated.

Phillips and Jessica say thank you to all the fans before opening the envelope..

9:57 - Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips sing a duet "Where the eagles fly"

9:46 - Aerosmith performs! (Seacrest says he has been waiting two years to say this!)

Steve Tyler belts out "Legendary child"

second number: "Walk this way"

9:39 - Jessica Sanchez and grammy winner Jennifer Holiday sing "I am telling you I'm not going"

What a powerful performance! Both divas are belting it out now. Jennifer Holliday's voice is giving me goosebumps!

Jennifer Sanchez's ending to the song is also very powerful. Judges Jennifer and Randy are jumping up and down. They are loving it! What a crazy performance!

VIDEO: Jessica Sanchez and Jennifer Holliday "I am telling you I'm not going" [Watch]

9:35 - A tribute for Robin Gibbs. American Idol male contestants sing Bee Gees tribute. They sing "How deep is your love" and "to love somebody"

9:27 - Holly Cavanagh sings "You'll never walk alone". Jordin Sparks joins her on stage!

9:25 - Former contestants Ace Young and Diana Degarmo were in the audience. Seacrest asks them to come on stage. Ace says, "Diana we have conquered Broadway together. We have an amazing group of people around us. I have a way to make this fun last forever. WIll you marry me?" He kneels on stage and gives her a ring. "I want to make this last forever..Diana.. will you marry me?" A tearful Diana says "Yes!"

both look tearful now.

Diana: I'm so speechless!

9:14 - Jennifer Lopez comes on stage with Wisin Y Yandel to sing "Follow the leader."

Hmm.. she is definitely lip-synching!

But she looks amazing!

9:10 - The idol contestants are dressed in robes and holdin phone books, singing out the american idol phone number .

9:00 - Guys of the top 12 come on stage to perform "They're coming to America", "Then I saw her face". They introduce Neil Diamond!. The music legend comes on stage with the guys on the side. They sing "Sweet Caroline"

8:57 Jessica Sanchez sings "I will always love you" - Wow she sounds so amazing. Standing ovation from Steve Tyler, Randy Jackson and the audience!

8:55 - More Idol Moment Recaps

8:51 - Skylar Lane sings "Turn on the radio". She duets with Reba McEntire.

8:43 - Rihanna comes on stage with "Where Have you been". Rihanna enters the stage carried in a box. The box opens and she comes out of a pyramid glass. Acrobats in the air.

"I love you!" she says.

8:42 - Phillip and Jessica give keys to FORD cars to their mentors - Phillip and Jessica both get brand new Ford cars too!

8:39 - More ford commercial recaps of the top 12 AI contestants / recap of Phillip thanking his brother-in-law and mentor / recap of Jessica thanking Robert Talin, a close family friend for supporting her.

8:31 - ladies of the top 12 come on to perform a number - a melody of "Ain't nobody", "I'm every woman"

They introduce Chaka Khan- - who joins them on stage with "I'm every woman"

Chaka Khan is wearing a tight bodysuit.... ummm.. why do female artists these days forget to wear a skirt?

8:28 - More idol moments recap

8:20 - Next performance is Joshua Ledet with Fantasia singing "Take me to the pilot"

8:17 - Video recap of Idol moments. Seacrest announces audition dates for next season's Idol.

8:12 Phillip Phillips and John Fogerty perform a duet "Have you ever seen the rain".

Both come on with guitars. Audience cheers when Phillips start singing.

Phillips: its such an honor to be here on the stage with John Fogerty. Phillips looks very happy to be performing with Fogerty.

They sing a second number "I see a bad moon rising"

8:05 - Judges come on stage. How Ryan Seacrest follows.

Seacrest: Good evening everybody! After an entire season of intense competition we have made it to the finale at Nokia theatre live . In just two hours your next AI will be named right here! Who is it going to be? They are the biggest names in teh nation now. A new world record was made last night. 132 million votes came in. ladies and gentlemen, Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez!

Two finalists come on stage.

Seacrest: Did either of you sleep last night? Are you excited?

star -studded finale kicks off here!'

8:00 - The show starts. Last night's competition was toucher than ever. But there can only be one winner..

The show opens with the former contestants are performing a number - dressed all in white. Dancers come on stage.

LIVE BLOG STARTS HERE - KEEP REFRESHING!

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The winner of American Idol Season 11 will finally be announced tonight, after an intriguing face-off between Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips on Tuesday night's final performance show.

Last night's show saw both Sanchez and Phillips sing three rounds of songs in the hope of capturing the nation's heart and be crowned this year's Idol.

The first round of songs were chosen by Simon Fuller, and saw Sanchez give a powerful rendition of the late Whitney Houston's famous "I Have Nothing" song. Phillips followed that with an interesting version of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me".

After that first round the judges sided slightly with Sanchez, saying that she had the edge after the first songs.

During the second round Sanchez performed Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's "The Prayer" and was once again given praising compliments by the judging panel of Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson. Phillips again followed with a strong performance of Billy Joel's "Movin' Out" to again put himself in contention alongside Sanchez.

The third and final round of songs on Tuesday night saw Sanchez sing the specially written song "Change Nothing", but although her voice and performance was complimented by judges, they unanimously agreed that the song choice for her was off and that it did not bring out her best talents that everyone has grown accustomed to witnessing.

Phillips then gave a fantastic performance of his specially written song "Home", which was overwhelmingly praised by judges.

With both contestants receiving strong praise and slight criticism on the night, it is still not clear who will take the crown.

Powerhouse vocalist Sanchez expressed backstage on Tuesday night, "Of course we all want to win, but it gets to a point where nobody really makes it this far. I love that I'm with [Phillip] in the top two. It's amazing. He's goofy and he's funny and he is an amazing artist and an amazing person overall."

Phillips said, "We got to the point that whatever happens, happens. We are two completely different artists and we wish each other the best with both of our careers."

Who will America choose?

Find out here tonight on Enstarz's LIVE BLOG from 8 p.m. EST (The show will air on Fox).

Tags
American idol 2012