NBC’s ‘The Voice’ rankings: James Wolpert, Caroline Pennell, Matthew Schuler rule top 12

Now that “The Voice” has moved on to the top 12 of the season, we’re in a little more of a complicated place in the contestant rankings: Trying to figure out how some of the contestants as a whole stack up with each other. It’s not like each team gets a winner and then a show ends; after all, it wouldn’t be a surprise again to see a team without an artist in the top 6.

But, we at least feel like every single team this year has at least one artist with the capabilities of making it pretty far, though some are probably a little bit more capable than others. The top things that we are basing our ranking on right now are a combination of performance quality and also iTunes sales, which are such a huge part of the voting process for the show.

12. Josh Logan (Christina Aguilera) – A very good singer, but we think that he probably comes across as a less-charismatic version of Tony Lucca from a few seasons ago. There is just not that much in this performance that we see really getting a ton of support from the public, unless he of course finds a way to really mix this up.

11. Ray Boudreaux (Blake Shelton) – It’s not that often that we rank anyone this low on the charts from Team Blake, but we just think that the other two guys are a little more in line with the sort of folks that will get the support of his fan base. Ray’s a great performer, but is facing a little more of an uphill climb.

10. Kat Robichaud (Cee Lo Green) – Kat put herself in a tough position last time with many in choosing a song believed by many to be a gay anthem and changing the lyrics to it. We got what she was doing and had no problem with it, but some online did. She’s got a chance to recover this week, at least in terms of getting more iTunes support.

9. Jonny Gray (Cee Lo) – Cee Lo has probably the weakest overall team, even if he has one singer with the potential of making it pretty far. Even though Jonny has that military fanbase behind him, we still think that he made a little bit of a mistake picking Jonny over Cole Vosbury. America loves soulful singers, and they also love beards! It’s superficial, but “Duck Dynasty” proves that it’s true.

8. Will Champlin (Adam Levine) – Will is a complete wild card in this competition. Even though we think that the guy is probably not going to win, he’s already shown a few times that he can shine when everything is stacked against him. Don’t be too stunned if he works his way somehow into the top 6.

7. Cole Vosbury (Blake) – This is around where Cole placed in iTunes compared to some of the other folks this year, but we would caution you that he is probably the biggest darkhorse to pull a Nicholas David and work his way into the finale. His “Let Her Go” cover did really well online, and he was able to get a solid ranking this week despite performing a song in “Maggie May” that is already pretty well-covered.

6. Austin Jenckes (Blake) – We’re stunned that we are already writing off Team Blake completely on this list, but the thing here is that his team did not have a huge performer on the sales charts this week, and they are still somewhat bubbling underneath the surface. Austin still could do very well, especially now that he is really the only country artist left in the competition. From here on out, he could be trouble for the others.

5. Tessanne Chin (Adam) – Tessanne is a vocal force, and everyone knows that. What she has to work on from here on out is trying to find a way to ensure that she can get the votes week in and week out with a variety of different songs, and justify the amount of screen time and end-of-show performances she has received.

4. Jacquie Lee (Christina) – One of Christina’s two crown jewels this season. Jacquie has a killer voice that we have especially started to hear the last two weeks, where she has almost instantly started to feel like a serious competitor. The only reason she’s not higher is that the top three have been hyped more by the show, and that could help all of them out in the long run.

3. Matthew Schuler (Christina) – Matthew’s ceiling may actually be a little lower than Jacquie, but he’s done a number of more notable performances. If he could make Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” sound that powerful, imagine what he could do with some other songs that he is up against this year. He’s going to be around for a long time.

2. Caroline Pennell (Cee Lo) – The interesting thing about Caroline is that Cee Lo will probably try to pump her up with language about her being the underdog, but we really don’t think she is that. She’s a serious favorite to win this competition with a unique voice and completely likable personality. She really does need the right song more than some of these other artists, but she’s such a vocal change of pace that it is almost top-notch counter-programming.

1. James Wolpert (Adam) – You may or may not agree with this, but when it comes to pure sales, James is the only guy firmly in the top 10 for the first week on iTunes. What was even more impressive about that is that he performed pretty early in the show, and had a few bumps during the Knockout Rounds. This is an indication that he’s got a huge following, and this, pending that he stays as strong as he was with his Joni Mitchell cover, proves that he will be around until the very end.

Who do you think is going to win “The Voice” this season?

Photo: NBC