Scotty McCreery, 17, of Garner, N.C., was picked tonight as the 10th "American Idol," after a record 122.4 million votes were tallied.

McCreery first auditioned for the show last summer in Milwaukee.

Lauren Alaina, 16, of Rossville, Ga., came in second at the end of the more than two-hour "Idol" season finale.

Said McCreery, "I gotta thank the Lord first, he got me here."

Some 95 million votes were tallied after Wednesday night's performance show, the third highest ever for "American Idol," and the highest for a non-finale episode. Those votes put 16-year-old Lauren Alaina, of Rossville, Ga., and 17-year-old Scotty McCreery, of Garner, N.C., in next week's finals.

That means Haley Reinhart, 20, of Wheeling, Ill., was sent home.

Talented James Durbin, 22, of Santa Cruz, Calif., was sent home from "American Idol" Thursday night, leaving three finalists in the singing competition.

In addition to his singing, Durbin was notable as the first openly autistic finalist in the show's 10 seasons.

"I did what I came here to do, and that was to give metal a chance," said Durbin through tears. He told host Ryan Seacrest he "had a feeling today" he was going home.

The "top three," as "Idol" terms them, are:

• Haley Reinhart, 20, Wheeling, Ill.
• Lauren Alaina, 16, Rossville, Ga.
• Scotty McCreery, 17, Garner, N.C.

Jacob Lusk, 23, of Compton, Calif., was cut from "American Idol" Thursday night, after the count of 60 million viewer votes.

Lusk was in the week's bottom two along with Lauren Alaina, 16, Rossville, Ga.

That leaves four singers in the Fox competition for a recording contract.