Mariah Carey To Replace Steven Tyler On ‘American Idol’?

The Voice has Christina Aguilera. The X Factor has Britney Spears. Will Mariah Carey be the next diva heading to a prime time singing competition? Given Steven Tyler‘s exit from American Idol yesterday, and Jennifer Lopez‘s televised waffling over whether or not she’ll be back for a third season on the show, People is now reporting that Mimi is “in play” with producers of the Fox series. “They are in serious talks,” a source tells the publication.

Given that Mariah is currently recording her upcoming 11th studio album, and the fact that she’s been pretty much hit-strapped since “Obsessed” scraped into the Top 10 three years ago, she could certainly do worse than racking up weekly exposure on Idol. After all, the gig resuscitated the career of J.Lo, much the way The Voice did for both Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine‘s band Maroon 5.

Plus, the only current AI judge to not be making noise about leaving the show is Carey’s old pal and musical collaborator Randy Jackson. With Lopez possibly on the way out (seriously, we can’t picture these two divas on the same panel…at all), what better time for Mimi to assert herself comfortably as a fresh new judge on the program?

As is usually the case, it’ll all probably come down to the right price. Previously, Mariah was reported more than once to have been in talks to join The X Factor. Perhaps Idol can cough up an attractive amount of cash to lure her to the set.

And, just for those keeping tabs, this now makes the current rumored lineup of judges for Season 12 of Idol Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson and Adam Lambert. We shall see.