The Voice quickly became a success after it debuted on NBC in 2011, with Carson Daly as host and a group of successful coaches ready to find the next superstar.

Kicking off the first season, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Adam Levine filled the coaches’ chairs, each bringing their different expertise to the table. Aguilera and Green left before season 4 and were temporarily replaced by Shakira and Usher. The original judges returned for their chairs in season 5 before leaving again in season 6.

Aguilera briefly appeared as a part-time adviser on season 7 and returned as a coach twice more — for seasons 8 and 10 — officially exiting in 2016. She later referred to the show as an “energy sucker” in her life

“It became something that I didn’t feel was what I had signed up for in season 1. … You realize it’s not about music. It’s about making good TV moments and massaging a story,” she told Billboard magazine in 2018. “I didn’t get into this business to be a television show host and to be given all these [rules]. … Especially as a female: ‘You can’t wear this, can’t say that.’ I would find myself on that show desperately trying to express myself through clothing or makeup or hair. It was my only kind of outlet.”

Scroll through the gallery below for all the coaches through the years and why they left the show:

Blake Shelton

Status: Coached for seasons 1-23

Reason for exit: Shelton announced his plans to leave The Voice after more than a decade as a coach. “I’ve been wrestling with this for a while and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from The Voice after season 23,” he wrote in an October 2022 statement. “This show has changed my life in every way for the better and it will always feel like home to me. It’s been a hell of a ride over these 12 years of chair turns and I want to thank everyone at The Voice from NBC, every producer, the writers, musicians, crew and catering people, you are the best.”

The country star’s final episode aired in May 2023.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Christina Aguilera

Status: Coached for seasons 1-3, 5, 8 and 10

Reason for exit: Aguilera left for seasons 6 and 7 to spend time with her family. Following her permanent exit, the five-time Grammy winner told Billboard that she was “longing for freedom” after spending five years on the show. “[After filming,] I would just take everything off — the makeup, all of it — and would blast hip-hop, or Nirvana, ‘Creep,’ Slayer. Anything like that to get me out of that zone, that TV mode,” she told the magazine in 2018.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Cee Lo Green

Status: Coached for seasons 1-3 and 5

Reason for exit: Despite rumors that the Gnarls Barkley singer quit to avoid being fired, Green told Us Weekly in 2014 he left the show on good terms, simply because it “quickly became a job” more than anything else. “Very, very obligating, taxing and tiring,” he shared with Us. “I still tip my hat to Adam and Blake and those guys who continuously do it, but I think I ran my course there just naturally.”

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Adam Levine

Status: Coached for seasons 1-16, 27

Reason for exit: A source told Us exclusively in 2019 that leaving wasn’t an easy decision. “Things have been very tense between the judges,” the insider said in 2019. “It was his choice to go but no one was begging him to stay.”

That same year, Levine told Ellen DeGeneres that he was happy to “be able to stop in this moment to spend time with my new young family and just have the greatest time ever.”

The longtime coach returned to perform on the season 20 finale in May 2021. News broke three years later that Levine would be joining the cast of coaches for season 27.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Shakira

Status: Coached for seasons 4 and 6

Reason for exit: In 2013, after her first season coaching, the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer told Access Hollywood she was “really struggling with the fact that I had to leave my nest with my little baby.” At the time, her son Milan was only 5 months old. After her second season on the show — and welcoming a second child — she decided again it was too tough to be away from her children.

Credit: Mark Seliger/NBC

Usher

Status: Coached for seasons 4 and 6

Reason for exit: The artist never spoke out about the reason for his exit but has said that he’d love to return if the opportunity arose.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Gwen Stefani

Status: Coached for seasons 7, 9, 12, 17, 19, 22 and 24

Reason for exit: After four seasons off, the No Doubt singer returned for season 17, taking Levine’s chair. She returned for seasons 19 and 22, the latter marking her first time in the red chairs since she married Shelton. Following a one-season hiatus, Stefani coached once again in season 24.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Pharrell Williams

Status: Coached for seasons 7-10

Reason for exit: “Honestly, I have to work. I got so much work to do. It was so much fun and while I was doing it, helping other people was like a drug for me,” he told the Today Show of why he was leaving in 2017. “I couldn’t get enough of helping them, but I have work to do, music to make and so many records.”

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Miley Cyrus

Status: Coached for seasons 11 and 13

Reason for exit: Ahead of season 14, Cyrus revealed she didn’t have plans to return but added on The Howard Stern Show in 2017, “This is not my last season maybe forever!”

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Alicia Keys

Status: Coached for seasons 11, 12 and 14

Reason for exit: Keys left the show to focus on recording her own music, explaining to Entertainment Tonight in 2018 that it was “time” for a new album.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Jennifer Hudson

Status: Coached for seasons 13 and 15

Reason for exit: Hudson has never spoken out about why she chose to leave the reality show.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Kelly Clarkson

Status: Coached for seasons 14-21 and 23

Reason for exit: In 2023, Clarkson opened up about wanting a “fresh start” in New York City — where her talk show is now based — after her divorce. “Full disclosure, I put on a smile a lot of those times because I was struggling a lot in my personal life,” she told USA Today. “I’ve learned a lot about what I’m capable of handling, and also what you should not handle. That was me saying ‘bye’ to The Voice and having this big move. I love that family, but I was like, ‘I’m struggling. I can’t smile anymore. I don’t feel like smiling.’”

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

John Legend

Status: Coached for seasons 16-21, 24 and 25

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Nick Jonas

Status: Coached for seasons 18 and 20

Reason for Exit: Though Jonas hasn’t offered a reason for leaving the show after season 20, it’s not the first time he’s decided to take a break. After replacing Gwen Stefani as a coach for season 18 of The Voice, the youngest Jonas Brothers member took a hiatus for season 19. Though he returned the next season, it was announced in March 2021 that Ariana Grande would take his spot for the 21st competition.

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Ariana Grande

Status: Coached for season 21

Reason for exit: Grande was gearing up to film Jon Chu’s two-part Wicked movie musical opposite Cynthia Erivo when season 21 aired in 2021. “I mean, [the audition process] was really insane. It was a three-and-a-half-month period of time. … I was filming The Voice, so I was going from my vocal coach to my acting coach to doing the live shows,” she told Variety in 2024. “I was so nervous about my voice being in good shape because my audition was the next day. And I was on set doing The Voice, and I asked them to cut the air conditioning. They keep it really cold to keep the live audience awake. I had to sing opera the next day. I had to sing ‘No One Mourns the Wicked,’ and people started to notice. I was like, ‘It’s my fault.’”

Credit: Tyler Golden/NBC

Camila Cabello

Status: Coached for the first time in season 22

Reason for exit: The “Señorita” singer has not addressed her exit from The Voice.

Credit: DANIEL DAL ZENNARO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Niall Horan

Status: Coached (and won!) for the first time on season 23, returned for season 24

Reason for exit: Horan chose not to return for the 25th season due to his busy tour schedule promoting his third album, The Show.

Credit: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Chance the Rapper

Status: Coached for season 23, returned for season 25

Reason for exit: The Chicago native has not directly addressed why he spent time away from the competition series.

Credit: Greg Gayne/NBC

Reba McEntire

Status: Joined for seasons 24 and 25, returned for season 26

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock

Dan + Shay

Status: Joined season 25 as the show’s first-ever coaching duo

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Michael Buble

Status: Joined for season 26, returning for season 27

Credit: Trae Patton/NBC

Snoop Dogg

Status: Joined for season 26

Credit: Catherine Powell/NBC

Kelsea Ballerini

Status: Joining for season 27