Ryan Seacrest is in TEARS on American Idol and is comforted by Luke Bryan after ... trends now

Ryan Seacrest couldn't contain his emotions after a moving performance by Loretta Lynn's granddaughter Emmy Russell on Sunday night's episode of American Idol.

The 49-year-old host admitted that he was crying after hearing the 25-year-old songstress perform her original song Want You on acoustic guitar, which got top marks from the judges in the Top 20 show.

The rare display of tears from the usually reserved television fixture led the judge Luke Bryan, 47, to comfort Seacrest.

They managed to lighten the mood when the host comically leapt into Bryan's arms, which was more than the country singer had bargained for.

'I'm crying,' Ryan admitted as soon as he joined Emmy on stage after the applause had died down. 

'Ryan, do you want somebody to want you like that too?' Katy Perry taunted him from the judge's table.

'Love me! Love me, like I love you,' the host added comically to lighten the mood. He was paraphrasing some of Emmy's original lyrics: 'I want you to want me / Like I want you / I want you to need me / Like I need you.'

But Luke wanted to get in on the action too. He started walking toward the stage without warning, which appeared to visibly startle the host.

'Ryan, I'll give you a hug,' the hitmaker said as he walked toward Seacrest with open arms.

But Ryan shocked him when he jumped into Luke's arms and wrapped his legs around him for grip.

'Oh!' Luke shouted in surprise as he held his costar aloft and tapped him on the thigh.

Seacrest quickly jumped down from his perch and Bryan immediately turned to head back to the table with his arms limply reach out, as if he had dirtied his hands and he didn't want to contaminate anything else. 

Back at the table, he joked that he was 'Still trying to get over Ryan's...—' 

'Legs wrapped around you?' Katy interjected.

'Yeah, well, so it's the most expensive thing I've ever held,' Luke shot back as he turned to address Emmy. 

'Back on track, that was so you,' he gushed. 'I loved it because it was so real, and I think we could really feel the emotion in that, and that’s what your artistry is about and don’t lose that.

'That thing that you did with that song really is your signature. It was very emotional and probably my favorite performance that you’ve done,' he added. 

Lionel Richie was also over the moon about the performance, and he proudly told Emmy that she potentially had a 'hit single' on her hands with her original song.

Katy was less effusive, and she off constructive criticism on Emmy's breath control and failure to hold longer notes, though she was still positive overall on the performance.

Ryan also got serious again as he confessed how much Emmy's song had moved him. 

'Knowing that was your song, you started writing at 9, and those are your lyrics, it was just so emotional backstage,' he admitted.

The show also showed Luke being stunned by the transformation Julia Gagnon made from her audition to winning a spot in the show's Top 20.

'We think about how you weren't believing in yourself in the audition and how you came so far, gaining confidence to stand up here and do this, from the Central Maine talent show to top 20!' Luke said. 'Congratulations.'

Julia, a 21-year-old college student from Cumberland, Maine, cried when she learned she won the last spot in the Top 20 at the end of the three-hour episode on ABC.

She revealed that she never felt like she fit in when she was growing up and was shocked when her town rallied around her and even threw a watch party in her honor. 

Julia sang I Believe by Fantasia and burst out crying when she finished and the crowd chanted her name.

'That was amazing!' host Ryan Seacrest , 49, said.

'I guess it looks like America believes that you belong,' Katy Perry, 39, said. 'I really love what you gave us, that heartfelt delivery and especially that falsetto. '

'Anything can happen if you believe,' Lionel Richie, 74, said. 'We are so proud of you.'

The emotional episode in which the Top 20 were revealed after the results of viewer voting also featured performances from Teddy Swims, Paul Russell, and Idol alum Lauren Spencer-Smith.

Jack Blocker, 25, from Nashville, was the first contestant to make the Top 20. He took the stage and sang Jim Croce's song You Don't Mess Around with Jim.

'You did very well tonight,' Lionel said.

Mia Matthews, 19, from Centre, Alabama, was the next Top 20 finalist announced. She performed Lainey Wilson's hit Wildflowers and Wild Horses while playing the guitar.

'Not to sound corny but I think you found your roar!' Katy said.