Adam Lambert is 2015's top 'American Idol' earner-and he lost

"AMERICAN IDOL" began its final season Wednesday night and, over the years, Americans have heard a lot of screeching, listened to a lot of judges' blather, seen a lot of people who could not sing but thought they could, found some occasional talent and voted for a few actual, potential idols.

To kick off the last go-around of the popular karaoke contest, Forbes.com released one of its more creative income lists - the top-earning American Idols of 2015.

And the winner is . . .

Adam Lambert.

With $10 million banked in 2015 (well, maybe all of it wasn't banked), it was Adam's first time at the top, and he was propelled there by cash accumulated while playing arena shows and some festivals in South America as the front man of legendary glam rock band Queen, his album "The Original High" and the hit single "Ghost Town."

"Adam used the launching pad of 'American Idol' very well to have a successful recording career," his co-manager, Martin Kirkup, told Forbes two years ago, before offering a spot-on prognostication: "I think the main part of his career still lies ahead of him."

Carrie Underwood, who topped the list the previous two years, finished second this year with $8 million, thanks to a mix of recorded music (her new album, "Storyteller" sold over 150,000 units) and live shows. Her "Storyteller" tour kicks off this month, so she will also chart high next year.

In third place was Chris Daughtry with earnings of $6 million. Phillip Phillips brough "Home" $5 million to take fourth place. Fifth place saw a tie between Scotty McCreery and Kelly Clarkson, who earned $4 million each.

Put all that money together and you might be somewhere near Ryan Seacrest's wallet.

Forbes' estimates were calculated with the help of data from Pollstar, the RIAA, music industry sources and the teams of some of the artists themselves. These numbers reflect pretax earnings in our June 2014 through June 2015 scoring period.

Thanks in large part to Apple's new platform, U.S. music consumers almost doubled their use of streaming services in 2015, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen said music consumers streamed 317 billion songs, exceeding projections.

Alas, 316 billion of those songs were probably by either Taylor Swift or Adele.

Alas, off those 317 billion streamed songs, the artists probably made around four dollars.

Alas, many of the 317 billion songs were probably streamed by a work colleague, further slowing our network.

Total album sales were down again, this time 6 percent, to around 241 million. A total of 103 million albums were bought in digital formats. Vinyl sales were up a little, but composed only around 10 percent of overall album sales.

Makers of 8-track tapes remain poised for a comeback.

* Philly's own Boyz II Men will appear in a cameo role as Teen Angel on "Grease: Live" on Fox29, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.

The R&B trio will sing "Beauty School Dropout."

* L'Oreal Paris is promoting use of the hashtag "#WorthSaying" on Twitter during Sunday's Golden Globe Awards and will break out the best posts for use in digital advertising.

Kristen Comings, a company vice president, said Tuesday the idea is to urge women everywhere to expand the red carpet chatter beyond pretty dresses.

To perhaps, pretty makeup?

"We really wanted to be part of that conversation," she said. "It's really about engaging beyond beauty and fashion to more substantive questions on the red carpet. These are amazing women who should be known for more than just a beautiful face. Many of the actresses become frustrated by those conversations."

Brand ambassadors Julianne Moore, Karlie Kloss, Eva Longoria, Freida Pinto and Liya Kebede are among those who plan to participate.

So, OK, ladies:

"What would be a fair expansion of background checks that might save lives and not violate the Second Amendment? That's a beautiful clutch."

"Those shoes are fabulous, but in the Mideast, Saudi Arabia or Iran? Whose side are we on?"

"Should the government spend more money developing solar and wind power, and where should that money come from? Love the choker."

* TVguide.com is alleging that Donald Trump's feud with Samuel L. Jackson could be what brings down his campaign for the presidency.

So after all the stuff Trump has said, the final, final straw will be that he may have lied about playing golf with the star of "The Hateful Eight"?

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

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