The BEST seasons of The X Factor

#1 - Season 5

First Aired 8/16/2008

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fifth series was broadcast on ITV from 16 August 2008 until 13 December 2008. It was won by Alexandra Burke, with new judge Cheryl Cole emerging as the winning mentor. Auditions in front of producers were held in April/May, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants for series 5 reached an all-time high with a reported 182,000 people auditioning. A number of well-established music acts from around the world, such as Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Girls Aloud, Take That, Il Divo, and series 3 winner Leona Lewis performed during the live stages of the show. Burke's prize, as winner, was a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music. Her debut single, "Hallelujah", written by Leonard Cohen, was released for digital download at 00:01 on 14 December 2008, with the physical format following on 17 December. It was later announced that her single had become the fastest selling song of all time.

#2 - Season 1

First Aired 9/4/2004

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a £1 million recording contract with the Syco Music record label. The first series was broadcast from 4 September to 11 December 2004. The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp and live shows, with Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh as judges. It was won by Steve Brookstein, who went on to have some chart success, with runners-up G4 achieving two platinum albums before splitting up in 2007. Cowell was the winning mentor. Brookstein and Cowell reportedly fell out over Cowell's insistence that he record cover versions, rather than self-penned material, leading to him being dropped from Sony BMG, and his name being little-mentioned in subsequent series of the show.

#3 - Season 10

First Aired 8/31/2013

#4 - Season 6

First Aired 8/22/2009

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The sixth series started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back series. The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor hosted by Holly Willoughby on ITV2. Public auditions by aspiring singers began in June 2009 and were held in five cities across the UK. Judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Louis Walsh, and Cheryl Cole returned to judge the contestants, with auditions being held in front of a live audience for the first time. Following initial auditions, the "Boot camp" stage took place in August 2009, where the number of contestants was narrowed down to 24. The 24 contestants were split into their categories, Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups, and given a judge to mentor them at the "Judges' houses" stage and throughout the finals. During "Judges' houses", the 24 acts were reduced to twelve, who went on to the live finals, with one act being eliminated each week by a combination of public vote and judges' decision until a winner was found. The live shows started on 10 October 2009. The acts performed every Saturday night with the results announced on Sundays. This was change of format from previous series in which the results were announced later on the Saturday evening.

#5 - Season 14

First Aired 9/2/2017

#6 - Season 11

First Aired 8/30/2014

#7 - Season 13

First Aired 8/27/2016

#8 - Season 12

First Aired 8/29/2015

#9 - Season 7

First Aired 8/21/2010

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The seventh series started on ITV on 21 August 2010 and ended on 12 December 2010. The winner was Matt Cardle and his debut single "When We Collide" was released after the final. Cardle was mentored throughout by Dannii Minogue, who won as mentor for the second time. A total of 15,448,019 votes were cast throughout the series. It was presented by Dermot O'Leary, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor hosted by Konnie Huq on ITV2, who took over from Holly Willoughby. The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp, judges' houses and live shows. Auditions took place throughout June and July 2010, with Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole returning as judges. Special guest judges were brought in to replace Minogue, who was on maternity leave. Cole missed the auditions in Manchester and bootcamp because she had malaria. Following bootcamp, successful acts were split into four categories: Boys, Girls, Over 28s and Groups. Minogue returned for the judges' houses stage, and each judge mentored eight acts through judges' houses. The live shows started on 9 October 2010. Four acts eliminated at judges' houses were brought back as wildcards, making this the first series to have 16 acts perform in the live shows. This series was the last with Cowell, Minogue and Cole as judges, as Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa Contostavlos replaced them in series 8.

#10 - Season 2

First Aired 8/20/2005

#11 - Season 3

First Aired 8/19/2006

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The third series was broadcast on ITV from 19 August 2006 until 16 December 2006. Twelve million people tuned into the final on 16 December 2006, which saw Leona Lewis declared the winning act and Simon Cowell the winning mentor. After the 9 December show, Cowell became the winning judge even though the series had not yet finished, as two of his acts, Ray Quinn and Lewis, became the two finalists. Instead of the earlier red and purple colour scheme, this year's theme was red and blue. A new-look website for the third series was launched on 11 August 2006.

#12 - Season 4

First Aired 8/18/2007

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fourth series was broadcast on ITV from 18 August 2007 and was won by Leon Jackson on 15 December 2007, with Rhydian Roberts finishing as the runner-up and Dannii Minogue emerging as the winning mentor. Dermot O'Leary presented the main show on ITV, whilst Fearne Cotton presented spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne returned as judges, whilst two new judges, Brian Friedman and Minogue joined the panel. Friedman replaced original judge Louis Walsh, but Walsh was later reinstated after the London auditions. This series saw a number of changes to the format, most notably the lowering of the minimum age for participants from 16 to 14 and the increase in the number of categories from three to four, resulting from the division of the 16-24s category into separate male and female categories. The series hit the headlines even before recording began. Some of the controversy centred upon whether 14 and 15-year-olds should be eligible to enter, and also on the high-profile dismissals of judge Louis Walsh and presenter Kate Thornton, who were replaced by choreographer and Grease Is the Word judge Brian Friedman and Big Brother's Little Brother host Dermot O'Leary respectively. Before hiring Freidman and Minogue, Cowell had apparently approached colleague and fellow American Idol judge Randy Jackson, and close friend and The X Factor mentor Sinitta. Friedman, however, was only a judge for the London auditions and Walsh was quickly reinstated, with Friedman becoming the show's choreographer. Jackson's prize as winner was a £1 million recording contract. His first single release was "When You Believe", arranged for the finalists by composer Stephen Schwartz and released to download on 16 December 2007, with the physical format following on 19 December. The single became that year's Christmas Number one in the UK Singles Chart.

#13 - Season 8

First Aired 8/20/2011

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The eighth series began airing on ITV on 20 August 2011 and ended on 11 December 2011. The winner was Little Mix, a four-piece girl group known earlier in the series as Rhythmix, consisting of members Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jade Thirlwall. They became the first act in the groups category to win in the show's history with new judge Tulisa Contostavlos emerging as their winning mentor. Also they are the only girl group to get to the final. Louis Walsh was the only judge from the previous series to return, and was joined by Contostavlos, Gary Barlow and Kelly Rowland, who all appeared as judges for the first time. Previous judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole all left to join other shows before recording for this series started. Dermot O'Leary presented the show on ITV, while Caroline Flack and series 6 runner-up Olly Murs co-presented the spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, replacing Konnie Huq from the previous year. On 4 August 2011, promotional pictures of the judges surfaced across the internet. The next day, an advertisement premiered on itv.com.

#14 - Season 9

First Aired 8/18/2012

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The ninth series began airing on ITV on 18 August 2012 and ended on 9 December 2012. Before the start of the auditions process it was confirmed that Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Tulisa Contostavlos would return to the judging panel. Nicole Scherzinger was confirmed as the fourth permanent judge after Geri Halliwell, Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, Mel B, Anastacia and Scherzinger herself stood in as guest judges for the vacant position left by Kelly Rowland. Dermot O'Leary returned as host on ITV, whilst Caroline Flack and Olly Murs returned to host The Xtra Factor on ITV2. After the 8 December show, two of Scherzinger's acts, James Arthur and Jahméne Douglas, became the two finalists, meaning that Scherzinger was guaranteed to win. Arthur was announced as the winner on 9 December, and released a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible" as his winner's song. This has since gone on to become the second best selling winning single of any The X Factor winner, behind only series 5 winner Alexandra Burke's version of "Hallelujah". This series was the final one to feature Contostavlos as judge, as she will not return for series 10, where former judge Sharon Osbourne replaced her.

#15 - Season 15

First Aired 9/1/2018