David Wins American Idol

After more than two hours packed with musical-numbers and celebrity guest stars, American Idol finally crowned its season 7 champ, 25-year-old rocker David Cook.

Cook beat 17-year-old smooth-voiced David Archuleta by 12 million votes after a record breaking 97.5 million votes were cast.

Cook was overcome by emotion when Ryan Seacrest announced his name. "I started this season as the word nerd," Cook said. "And, I am absolutely at a loss for words right now."

"This is amazing," added Cook.

In Idol tradition, Cook closed the show with a song, "Time of My Life," written by the winner of the Idol songwriting competition, Regie Hamm.

Wednesday night's finale, at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, only highlighted the Idol contestants for a little more than an hour, while the rest of the show was filled with movie promotion, jokes, and performances by George Michael, Donna Summer, Bryan Adams and the Jonas Brothers.