Rocker David Cook won the coveted title of "American Idol" on Wednesday, dealing an unexpected defeat to a silken-voiced teenager, also named David, on the most popular US television show.

Cook, 25, who was bartending and playing in a band before he auditioned for the singing competition, stood back to applaud rival David Archuleta and then bent over crying after host Ryan Seacrest announced the results.

"This is amazing. Thank you," said the Blue Springs, Missouri, native, who in addition to being crowned this year's "Idol" will receive a recording contract.

In its seventh season, "American Idol" has grown from a cheesy summer talent show into a pop culture phenomenon that draws millions of viewers to News Corp's Fox network at least twice a week. It has produced mega-stars from both its winners and losers, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry.

This season, however, average audiences on the show have slipped from just over 30 million viewers last year to roughly 28 million this year, the second straight year of declines.

Nevertheless, it remains the most-watched U.S. TV show, and the dueling Davids garnered a record 97.5 million votes between them, smashing the previous record by 23 million. The contest was decided by a telephone and text-messaging vote in which Cook received 56 percent to Archuleta's 44 percent.

Throughout this year's months-long competition, Cook wowed both the show's viewers and judges with updated, rock versions of pop classics like Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."

On Tuesday night's show, however, the judges said the babyfaced Archuleta had outperformed Cook with his pitch-perfect renditions of John Lennon's "Imagine" and Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."