Ruben Studdard (right) beat Clay Aiken by just 130,000 votes

That was 15 million more than saw the climax of the first series in September.

Soul singer Ruben Studdard was voted the contest's winner and his debut single is due out less than two weeks after the victory.

A total of 24 million votes were cast, with Studdard beating fellow finalist Clay Aiken by just 130,000 votes.

Between 2100 and 2200 on Wednesday, as the result was being announced, an average of 38.06 million watched, according to Nielsen Media Research.

REALITY TV RECORD RATINGS Survivor (2000, above) - 52m Joe Millionaire (2003) - 40m American Idol 2 (2003) - 38m

It was less than the 40 million who saw the final of another reality hit, Joe Millionaire in February.

But more than the 33 million-strong audience for the Academy Awards in March - usually the most-watched entertainment event of the year.

The top-ratings reality final� is still the first series of Survivor in 2000, seen by 52 million.

The average audience for the whole second series of American Idol - which started in January - was 21.7 million, up nine million from the first series.

Studdard, 25, dubbed the Velvet Teddy Bear, sang Imagine by John Lennon, Westlife's Flying Without Wings and Burt Bacharach's A House is Not a Home on the final show.

He will release Flying Without Wings as his first single on 3 June.

His rival, 24-year-old Aiken from Raleigh, North Carolina, follows that one week later with This is the Night.