‘American Idol’ Power List: Scotty McCreery Playing Catch Up

Becky Bain | April 8, 2011 11:00 am

If Pia Toscano hadn’t been eliminated last night on American Idol, the raven-haired balladeer would have continued to be in first place on our Idol Power List with 43 points (44, with one point deducted for being in the Bottom Three). You can leave with your head held high, Ms. Toscano! So, who usurped Pia’s crown to become the top contestant of Season 10? Find out below!

During Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame night, Hayley Reinhart pulled herself up by her Gwen Stefani-styled bootstraps and gave our favorite performance of the night, garnering her 8 points. Scotty McCreery (7) was able to sing an Elvis song without doing an impersonation of The King, and Casey Abrams (6) brought his bass back out for another excellent performance. (Seriously, though, we want to see that melodica again!)

Paul McDonald (5) and Lauren Alaina (4) were good, but not great, and though Jacob Lusk (3) esteemed that he would not end up in the Bottom Three unless America was not willing to look itself in the mirror, it appears the U.S. saw its reflection just fine. Jacob gets deducted one whole point for being the contestant with the third lowest number of votes, leaving him with 2.

And it’s a good thing for James Durbin that he’s done pretty well in the previous weeks, because his lack of rockin’ and rollin’ left him with only 2 points as well. And Stefano Langone? His sole point is reduced to nil for being in Bottom Three.

Scotty is only five points away from James — if he gives another great performance next week while James delivers another disappointing one, we think the country crooner could be the one to beat. Weird, huh?

AMERICAN IDOL POWER LIST, WEEK #5 — TOP 8

1. James Durbin (39, Last Week #2) 2. Scotty McCreery (34, Last Week #4) 3. Jacob Lusk (29, Last Week #3) 4. Casey Abrams (28, Last Week #6) 5. Lauren Alaina (26, Last Week #5) 6. Haley Reinhart (24, Last Week #7/tie) 7. Stefano Langone (15, Last Week #7) 8. Paul McDonald (13, Last Week #9)

Check back every Friday to see how the contestants rise or fall in our power rankings! And, of course, we welcome debate in the comments.