The eighth season of Australian Idol premiered on 30 January 2023. It is the show's first season since 2009. It aired on Seven Network, after the network bought the rights to the series from Network 10. The grand final was won by Royston Sagigi-Baira, also known as Royston Noell, whose winner's single, "Invincible", was released after the grand final on 26 March 2023.

Production

On 21 October 2020, Seven Network announced at their annual upfronts that they will be reviving the series, originally slated for 2022. It was later delayed until 2023. Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie are the hosts, with the judging panel consisting of former American Idol judge Harry Connick Jr., former Australian Idol judge Kyle Sandilands, Amy Shark and Meghan Trainor. Original judge Marcia Hines appeared as a guest judge. The series is produced by Eureka Productions.

Auditions

Auditions were held in various cities around Australia. If an auditionee received a "yes" vote from at least three of the four judges, they received a "golden ticket", which put them into the top 50. In a few cases, a single judge visited a remote location, and auditionees were accepted or rejected for the top 50 by that judge alone.

Auditions 1 (30 January)

Auditions 2 (31 January)

Auditions 3 (1 February)

Auditions 4 (5 February)

Auditions 5 (6 February)

Auditions 6 (7 February)

Auditions 7 (12 February)

Top 50

Marcia Hines, who was a judge for all of the seven seasons of Australian Idol's original run, filled in for Meghan Trainor during the Top 50 rounds.

Top 50 Part 1 (13 February)

Top 50 Part 2 (14 February)

32 contestants reached this round. Each contestant sang a song solo in front of a live audience. The judges then decided who would progress to the final 24.

Top 24

The Top 24 was divided into three rounds, with eight singers performing in each round, and four singers from each round progressing to the Top 12. A judge could put a singer through to the Top 12 by awarding a "touchdown", with each judge allowed to award one "touchdown" across the three rounds. The other singers that progressed to the Top 12 were announced by the judges at the end of each round.

Top 24 Part 1 (19 February)

Top 24 Part 2 (20 February)

Top 24 Part 3 (21 February)

Weekly song themes

Group/guest performances

Top 12 finalists

Royston Sagigi-Baira

Phoebe Stewart

Josh Hannan

Anya Hynninen

Ben Sheehy

Amali Dimond

Angelina Curtis

Noora H

Sash Seabourne

Harry Hayden

Maya Weiss

Jasey Fox

Live performances

During each round of the live performances, each contestant sings a song with a given theme. After all contestants have sung, the judges choose one contestant to directly advance to the next stage, then the public is given approximately 24 hours to vote for their favourite singers. During the results night, after voting has closed, the four contestants with the fewest votes sing again, then the two contestants with the lowest votes are eliminated.

Top 12 (26–27 February)

Top 10 (5–6 March)

Top 8 (12–13 March)

Top 6 (19–20 March)

Each contestant performed a song on live performance night. The judges opted not to put any singer directly into the Grand Finale, meaning that all results would be decided by the public vote. On results night, after voting had closed, the contestants each sang again. After each pair of contestants had sung, the results were announced for those two singers: one eliminated, and one was put through to the Grand Finale, three in total.

Grand finale performances

Unlike earlier rounds, there will be no "performance night" for the Final 3. Instead, voting for the winner of Australian Idol opened immediately after the Final 6 results night on 20 March, and closes just before the grand finale. The winner of the Australian Idol was announced as Royston Sagigi-Baira.

Grand finale (26 March)

Elimination chart

Ratings

The show premiered on 30 January 2023 to modest ratings, less than half the viewers of Married at First Sight on Nine and slightly behind Australian Survivor on Ten, which both premiered on the same night. It consistently finished behind both of those shows throughout its run coming third in its timeslot.