“Nothing’s locked,” she told the Associated Press about McCartney. “We’ve had discussions with him over the years.

“It’s always a matter of making it work.”

“Idol” judge Randy Jackson is a friend of Carey – and he says he and Mariah have “tossed it around a bit” about her appearing on the show.

No one would take this kind of talk seriously if reclusive rocker Prince hadn’t materialized unannounced on last season’s finale – shocking a Hollywood audience and viewers with an electrifying performance. Now, it seems like the show can attract the biggest music superstar. And who wouldn’t want to appear on TV’s biggest show?

“The fact we can get Prince is a real tribute to the show . . . [now] who knows who we can get?” said Frot-Coutaz. Sales is at the bottom of it. CD sales are seriously down again this year and TV is the way now to move records. Leona Lewis, the winner of “Idol” judge Simon Cowell‘s British show, “The X Factor,” is also rumored to be making an appearance on “Idol” this season.

Her version of the “Idol” theme “A Moment Like This,” topped the British charts late last year.