American Idol’ Officially Names Keith Urban & Nicki Minaj As New Judges. The country singer and the pop rapper will join Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey on the judging panel. Fox made the formal announcement this morning as all four judges get set to appear at Idol auditions in New York today. Nicki Minaj contract for $8 million for her part with Urban coming in at $5 million. Seacrest earns $15 million a year. Interscope records chairman Jimmy Iovine also is expected to continue to provide his musical input this season.