American Idol's Highest-Earning Alums of 2011

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American Idol doesn't just bring in the ratings, for many of it's past winners and contestants, it also brings in the bucks. 

Forbes magazine released it's list of the 10 Top- Earning American Idols over the past 12 months on Thursday.  

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Carrie Underwood, the list's topper, comes as no surprise. The Season Four winner has handily dwarfed her fellow alums in recent years (headlining the list every year since 2008), and her haul of $20 million this year, brought in as much as the rest of the group's top five combined. 

The second-place spot saw a tie between Season Seven runner up Adam Lambert and Chris Daughtry (Season Five), who both toured over the past year, pulling in $6 million a piece. 

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Season Three winner Fantasia Barrino took the fourth spot, earning $4 million between May 2010 and 2011off of sales of her latest album Back to Me and playing shows. 

Idol's youngest winner, Jordin Sparks (she was just 17 when she took home the trophy) rounded out the top five making $3 million in the last year. 

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"American Idol kick-started me in my career,” she told the magazine. “It gave me an amazing fan base money can’t buy.”