NBC’s The Voice’ rankings: Sundance Head, We McDonald, Billy Gilman continue battling at the top

We’ve said all along that there is no clear-cut favorite to win this season of “The Voice,” and while we do still stand by that, at the same exact time we also feel as though as though there are some distinct tiers. You’ve got around three people who seem like genuine contenders to win the show, another couple who are fringe candidates to make it into the finale, and then some others who are true underdogs as we dive into the final weeks of the season.

For the sake of these rankings, we’re trying to take personal preference out of it and focus on the obvious evidence of who’s in the best spot to win, and who’s in danger of going home. This means that iTunes sales, social traffic, and audience reaction are important factors in our placement, coupled with past voting history for similar acts.

8. Aaron Gibson (last week: 10) – Aaron may be one of the most interesting contestants in the history of the show, given that he’s made it this far only on the virtue of surviving three straight #VoiceSave votes. Can he do it again for a fourth? It’s hard to imagine so, especially if he ends up having to square off with someone in Ali Caldwell who will also get votes from Miley Cyrus fans.

7. Josh Gallagher (7) – There have been weeks where we’ve genuinely worried about him, but his fans continue to carry him through. While his iTunes sales haven’t been spectacular, he remains solid and he’s done a great job appealing to his country base.

6. Christian Cuevas (9) – Christian is coming off of his best performance of the entire season, a “Million Reasons” cover that showed off his artistry in a way that hasn’t been highlighted before. moving forward this season, for him it’s all going to be about finding ways to replicate that and show himself off alongside that fantastic voice.

5. Ali Caldwell (5) – Ali is one of the most interesting contenders of the entire season. She’s got one of the most amazing voices we’ve arguably seen on the show in years, but her iTunes sales have been to date a little all over the place. Can she find a way to establish some consistency in that measure? That will be key for her.

4. Brendan Fletcher (4) – The race between Brendan, Ali, and Christian for a spot in the final four is pretty neck-and-neck based on how we’re looking at it right now; we think he has the edge right now due to the uniqueness of his voice, and having the most consistent catalogue of sales the past few weeks. We have a sense as to where he’s going to land in the charts almost every time he goes out there, and at this point, that is important.

3. We McDonald (2) – This is our top three, who we’d be shocked if any of them are gone before the finale. We is fantastic, and not just as a singer — she’s also a great, multi-faceted performer that is a little bit of a mixture of her coach Alicia Keys and Janelle Monae. The biggest issue that she runs into is strictly that voters for this show tend to favor male country artists … and the top two in our rankings are people with at the very least connects to that.

2. Sundance Head (3) – He’s coming off of receiving his first #1 iTunes song of the season in “Me and Jesus,” which played very well to both the country and gospel base. He’s proficient as a musician, a great singer, and decidedly unique in a genre where uniqueness is often to be desired. He also has Blake Shelton as a mentor, which over the years has shown to be a boost (even though we did just lose two Team Blake members). There’s one glaring reason why he’s not #1, and we’ll get to that in a second.

1. Billy Gilman (1) – Besides being the best male singer remaining, Billy’s also got the largest build-in audience — something that’s enormously important. He also appeals to a multitude of different genres — there’s the country background, but he’s now venturing into pop and rock music, as well. All of his songs have performed very well on iTunes. He may be the safe choice to put at #1, but the reality is that he has the attributes behind him to back it up.

Who’s your favorite of the top 8? Be sure to let us know now in the attached comments!

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