Congratulations to Kris Allen, the new American Idol! Kris was crowned the winner of Season 8 after a record-setting number of votes were cast, with nearly 100 million votes cast on Tuesday night, and a total of 624 million votes cast this season alone.

Kris winning American Idol was the conclusion to an exciting finale evening. The Top 13 were reunited and kicked off the night with a performance of Pink's "So What." Last year's winner, David Cook, returned to the stage to perform his new single, "Permanent." The performance will be posted on iTunes for the next month, and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure.

The broadcast from the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles also featured appearances by Queen Latifah, Jason Mraz, Keith Urban, Fergie, The Black Eyed Peas, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, KISS, Carlos Santana, Steve Martin, Rod Stewart, and Queen. Lil Rounds and Queen Latifah sang "Cue the Rain," and Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace sang "I'm Yours" with Jason Mraz. Kris Allen paired up with Keith Urban to strum and sing "Kiss a Girl." The top girls sang a medley of songs with Fergie and The Black Eyed Peas. Allison Iraheta sang "Time After Time" with Cyndi Lauper, and Danny Gokey sang a few songs with Lionel Richie. Adam Lambert rocked the house with KISS. Matt Giraud sang with Carlos Santana, and was then joined by the rest of the Idol finalists. Megan Joy and Michael Sarver sang "Pretty Flowers," while Steve Martin played the banjo. The top guys performed with Rod Stewart, and then Rod Stewart sang a solo. The last performance of the night was Kris and Adam singing "We are the Champions" with Queen, and the rest of the Idols came out to join them.

A few Golden Idol Awards were handed out to personalities Nick Mitchell, Tatiana Nicole Del Toro, and "Bikini Girl" Katrina Darrell. Katrina performed "Vision of Love" on stage and was surprised by Kara DioGuardi, who showed her up with some impressive vocals and even opened her dress to reveal her very own bikini.

After Kris won the most coveted award of the night, he took the stage to sing the coronation song, "No Boundaries," co-written by Kara DioGuardi, along with Cathy Dennis and Mitch Allan. The song is available for download on iTunes here, and you can watch the video performance here.

Kris Allen is the eighth American Idol to win the coveted title and a record contract with 19 Recordings. He joins Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, and David Cook. American Idol Season 9 auditions will be held this summer in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orlando, and Denver. Check AmericanIdol.com regularly for more details.

Congratulations, Kris Allen! Relive his journey via the Kris Allen photo gallery.

View photos from the red carpet, finale videos, and more.