American Idol was pushed off the ratings podium Wednesday night when, for the first time in six years, American Idol came in second. Who was the ratings winner?  Well, you might have guessed it - The Vancouver Olympics 2010 took home the gold, at least in the ratings.

Nielsen Media produced the rating and immediately people took notice. Until Wednesday, American Idol had not lost one thirty minute time slot since 2004.  NBC’s Olympic coverage beat American Idol and everyone else across the board.  The Olympics averaged 30 million viewers while Fox only had a meager 18.42 million.

Fueled by the gold medal performances of Lindsay Vonn and Shaun White, America tuned in for more coverage of the winter games.

For all the Idol fans out there, don’t worry, there is no reason to panic. This doesn’t mean that Idol is over. The show still rated higher than any other regular series. American Idol will probably be back at number one next week.

Fox is currently the only English language national network that is airing new episodes at 8:00 p.m. against the Olympics.  It’s always good for the top dog to be knocked down a peg. If they are always at the top they tend to think they are invincible.   It’s also great to see the country pulling for these American athletes. Like my favorite quote from Grease, “If you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter.”