NBC’s ‘The Voice’ rankings: Jordan Smith, Jeffery Austin, and Amy Vachal fight for top spots

Is this the best season of “The Voice” so far? We’re not sure that we will say that, but what we do like about it is that, at least for now, it feels like there is a competition to see who makes it into the top 4 at the end of the season. That’s not something we always have, and we don’t think there are many subpar singers left. In one way or another, we at least understand why everyone left is still there.

As per usual, we’re basing these rankings on performance quality, screen time, edit, and also past voting history.

10. Korin Bukowski (last week: 11) – It’s pretty impressive that the public has saved her with the #VoiceSave for two straight weeks, and it is possible that it could even happen again this week! The thing that we have a hard time imagining in the end here is her making the final given the evidence that we have so far.

9. Braiden Sunshine (9) – We suppose that Braiden deserves credit for seemingly being impervious to lower iTunes rankings, which is something we don’t see often. We think he could be a YouTube or Vine star after the show and attract a big audience; he’s just not ready to win this show.

8. Shelby Brown (7) – Shelby’s been solid all season long, but one thing that you’re going to see with our take on the remainder of the contestants is that many of them are solid. We really think that there is not that much distance right now separating #8 from #4, and then there’s a big divide.

7. Barrett Baber (2) – Yes, it’s a big drop for Barrett this week, mostly because we came to the realization this past week that he’s playing it far too safe. Why he may have some pre-show fame, we feel like both Zach Seabaugh and Emily Ann Roberts are at this point tracking better on Team Blake.

6. Madi Davis (6) – Currently, Madi seems destined to be the really good artist this season who gets eliminated before her time. Hopefully, someone will recognize her talent after the show and give her a chance.

5. Emily Ann Roberts (8) – Emily’s had a good run recently, but where things get interesting here is that in a matter of weeks the show is going to make a huge cut down to the top 4. One of Team Blake’s artists will probably get in there at least, and it’s between right now Emily and Zach.

4. Zach Seabaugh (4) – We’re temporarily giving Zach the edge given that he’s gotten more of the spotlight on the show editing-wise, and he seems like the sort of country artist who the young female voters will get behind. Think Scotty McCreery on “American Idol.”

3. Jeffery Austin (3) – We’ve made our own love of Jeffery very clear, but we have to consider the fact that maybe his support base isn’t as huge with casual fans given that, even with the final spot of the night this past week, he couldn’t crack the top ten on iTunes with an excellent “Dancing on My Own.”

2. Amy Vachal (5) – The hype surrounding Amy is now real. She actually beat Jordan Smith on iTunes earlier this week, and it’s even more impressive when you consider that there haven’t really been any female pop singers on the show that have generated this sort of support.

1. Jordan Smith (1) – We’re still not moving Jordan. He is the immovable man this season much like Sawyer Fredericks was last year. It’s going to have to take multiple weeks of weak performances for someone else to have a chance, and Jordan’s too good to have that happen.

Who tops your rankings at present? Share with a comment, and head over here to get some news on who is performing on the results show Tuesday! Also, sign up here to get some more updates on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)