Country star Carrie Underwood has topped a new poll to find the most popular American Idol star ever.

The singer beat Kelly Clarkson in the new AOL Television hitlist, picking up 54 percent of the vote from 1.3 million fans who took part.

Clarkson was a distant second with 26 percent of the vote.

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WENN

Kelly Clarkson overcame nerves to perform for 25,000 Catholics and the Pope in New York on Saturday.

The Since U Been Gone rocker a modest blue dress and tied her hair back into a bun to perform Ave Maria for Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Joseph Seminary.

The religious date was the latest in the Pope’s tour of America.

Clarkson admits that singing for the Pope was both a dream come true and one of her most difficult shows: “I was so excited to be asked to sing for the Pope. It’s always been a dream of mine to perform Ave Maria. To have that dream come true on such a special occasion is truly a blessing.”

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WENN

Kelly Clarkson performing live in concert at the Brighton Center in Brighton, England, yesterday.

WENN

Kelly Clarkson performing live at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, England, yesterday.

WENN

Kelly Clarkson got into a kerfuffle last year with J Records label head honcho Clive Davis and her album, My December, was a flop.

It just goes to show that time heals all wounds. Clive Davis has extended an olive branch out to Kelly by including her photo among the very few that get included in his invite to his annual pre-Grammy dinner gala.

The swanky black and gold square-shaped invitation has four pages of past dinner performers. The book opens with Alicia Keys, and continues with such Davis stalwarts as Whitney Houston, Rod Stewart, Annie Lennox, Barry Manilow, Fantasia and Jennifer Hudson.

Maybe for her next album, she’ll listen to Clive, the old guy knows his music.

Kelly Clarkson has taken great pains to make sure she’ll never have to wait tables or sling drinks again.

In the new issue of Reader’s Digest, she reveals that, by the time she was 23, she had put enough money away to keep her set for the rest of her life.

Clarkson, 25, who fired her manager last month and cancelled her upcoming tour, also boldly continues to trash her label RCA and its 75-year-old CEO Clive Davis.

Kelly calls out all the haters in interview excerpts below:

On making her albums:
“There’ve been a lot of cooks in the kitchen on all three of my albums. Everybody wants a success, so that’s great. On the other hand, the kitchen gets real crowded.”

On the RCA Records haters:
“They hated Miss Independent on my first album. It was No. 1 for six weeks, then they got behind it. They hated Breakaway. The song I wrote that they hated the most was Because of You. I fought and fought for it, it became successful and they finally got behind it. I’m not complaining, I’ll just say no until I get my way, and I did.”

On rumors that Clive Davis didn’t like her new album, My December:
“I just want people to hear it, instead of 100-year old executives making decisions on what’s good for pop radio. It’s people my age who listen to it. My gut hasn’t been wrong yet, so why wouldn’t I continue to follow it?”

On American Idol:
“I did my own hair and makeup for the first half of the shows. What you saw us wearing was our stuff from home. We’d be in a magazine under the heading ‘What Was She Thinking?’ I was like, I’m thinking I ain’t got no money.”

On money:
“I have saved and saved, and I don’t have to work another day. When I won Idol and started working with a business manager, she asked, ‘What do you want?’ I was like, I don’t ever want to have to make a decision because I need money. So we accomplished that two years ago, and I’m set.”

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If I didn’t know any better, I would say that looks an awful lot like an engagement ring!