American Idol contestants covered era-spanning songs by world-famous hitmaker Taylor Swift on Monday (April 27).

Idol’s Top 7 contestants took the stage on the show’s inaugural Swift-themed night, and the competition narrowed to the Top 5. Braden Rumfelt performed “cardigan,” from Swift’s Folklore studio album in 2020. Chris Tungseth delivered “exile” from the same record. Hannah Harper took the stage with “Mean,” which appeared on Swift’s Speak Now album in 2010. Jordan McCullough threw it back to Swift’s debut era — the singer-songwriter’s first-ever album turns 20 this year — with “Tim McGraw.” Keyla Richardson delivered a rendition of the title track of Swift’s 2019 album, Lover. Brooks performed one of Swift’s first hits of her career, “Love Story,” and Daniel Stallworth sang “Fearless” on the Idol stage.

Judges Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie shared throwback photos with Swift in honor of American Idol’s theme. Bryan even shared a clip of a moment he shared on stage with Swift. She brought the country star on stage as a surprise guest on her 2013 “Red Tour” in Nashville, Tennessee, and the pair performed Bryan’s “I Don’t Want This Night to End.”

American Idol airs on ABC on Monday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET/PT. It’s available to stream the next day on Hulu.

Bryan is part of the star-studded lineup of the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival. The show also includes Carly Pearce, Kane Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Shaboozey, Dylan Scott, Russell Dickerson, Gretchen Wilson, Chase Matthew, Lauren Alaina and special guest George Birge. iHeartRadio's Bobby Bones is returning as the event’s host. The show will take place on May 2 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Tickets to the show are available on Ticketmaster.com. Fans across the country will be able to catch all the action as the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival will be broadcast live across iHeartCountry stations nationwide and the free iHeartRadio app on Saturday, May 2nd at 8pm ET/5pm PT (7pm CT).

Watch the performances below, and scroll below to find out which artists made the Top 5 (warning: spoiler).

Braden Rumfelt, “cardigan”

Jeff Stevens