Idol Sales News – Week Ending 03/06/11

By On 03/09/2011 · 40 Comments · In American Idol, Charts

Share on TumblrShare via email

The Grand Magnolias become the first Season 10 contestant related entity to chart on the BB album charts. Their self-titled album more than doubled in sales to reach #16 on the Billboard Heatseekers album. Meanwhile, Crystal continues to have rock steady sales seeing only a 2% drop despite having almost no presence on the radio. Carrie and Fantasia continue their marches toward 2xPlatinum and Gold respectively.

This is the daily number’s thread.

117 Crystal Bowersox “Farmer’s Daughter” 5,070 (-2%; lw 5,161) Total: 165,129 (118) 30 Rock (lw 28)
137 Fantasia “Back to Me” 4K (-10%; lw 4K) Total: 424K (152)
168 Carrie Underwood “Play On” 3K (-11%; lw 4K) Total: 1.965M (179)
Daughtry “Daughtry” 2K (0%; lw 2K)
The Grand Magnolias “The Grand Magnolias” 2K (+145%) Total: 3K #16 Billboard Heatseekers)
Jason Castro “Who I Am” <1K (+22%) Total: 16K

Rounded numbers from Brian at Idol Chatter.

 
← Older Comments
  • Tristessa

    There have been plenty of Idol hopefuls with tons of experience recording and touring, some have even had major record deals before Idol. Their bands have been mentioned while on the show. Thia was on America’s Got Talent. I honestly don’t see the problem.. Paul is no different from many previous contestants, it’s just that this season, they’ve been allowed to communicate with the public during the competition. If he’s allowed to promote his band, well.. in his position I’d do the same thing.

  • tripp_ncwy

    Better late than never:

    Mediabase (rolling)

    US

    AC
    2 2 DAUGHTRY September 1737 1788 -51 10.538

    HAC

    42 43 KIMBERLY CALDWELL Desperate Girls & St… 184 184 0 0.188

    Adult Hits
    20 22 DAUGHTRY September 52 53 -1 0.142
    29 27 ADAM LAMBERT Whataya Want From Me 45 39 6 0.317
    35 33 DAUGHTRY No Surprise 34 32 2 0.172

    Country
    1 1 JASON ALDEAN/KELLY CLARKSON Don’t You Wanna Stay 5800 5483 317 41.841

    Top 40
    37 31 JENNIFER LOPEZ F/PITBULL On The Floor 1646 1231 415 9.363

    AAA
    46 48 CRYSTAL BOWERSOX Farmer’s Daughter 59 60 -1 0.076

    Urban
    21 21 JENNIFER HUDSON Where You At 1255 1175 80 6.838

    Urban AC
    6 7 FANTASIA I’m Doin’ Me 1422 1614 -192 8.974
    11 9 JENNIFER HUDSON Where You At 1110 923 187 7.562
    26 26 CHARLIE WILSON f/FANTASIA I Wanna Be Your Man … 228 224 4 1.229

    Rhythmic
    37 34 JENNIFER LOPEZ F/PITBULL On The Floor 843 765 78 4.484

    Canadian

    Top 40
    28 25 JENNIFER LOPEZ F/PITBULL On The Floor 456 396 60 3.334

    HAC
    34 29 JENNIFER LOPEZ F/PITBULL On The Floor 279 219 60 1.806

    Main-AC
    9 10 DAUGHTRY September 282 285 -3 1.72

    Country
    1 1 JASON ALDEAN/KELLY CLARKSON Don’t You Wanna Stay 823 795 28 3.03

  • standtotheright

    Contestants attempt to attract audiences by geographic affinity, demographic affinity, stylistic presentation, and many other things beyond the performances on the show. The least problematic of these is promoting themselves through their own music, IMO, because the prize is a recording contract.

    Both the artist and the show want people to be voting who will have an interest in buying the album afterwards (if they didn’t care about poor sales then they wouldn’t have retooled the recording process and label interactions).

    That said, there’s a difference between contestants who aim to win while understanding that the best strategy is to build a fanbase and hope for a better recording career from that, and those who only intend to get the latter while eschewing the inconveniences of the title. I’m not following anyone yet, but I hope none of the contestants present themselves that way this year. It leads to an unwillingness to challenge themselves.

  • spritely

    I think the notion of Idol as being for amateurs is a ship that sailed a long time ago, if it was ever true at all. This new way seems so much more honest to me. I prefer it. I only regret that previous contestants didn’t get the same opportunities and had to hide their experience and, as a consequence, some of their talent.

    I also think the music biz can’t afford to nurture true beginners. They almost have to shortcut the process by bringing along contestants who need polishing rather than starting at the beginning.

  • meyers77

    girlygirl: Congrats to Paul and his (current/former) bandmates. The album should continue to sell as long as Paul stays on AI. Has anyone bought or listened to it? What does it sound like?

    Take a listen

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr9L1xgM3dY

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IwHOg0_akY&feature=related

    Tristessa: I bought it, and really like it. After the first three songs (which sound fairly modern/radio-friendly), it reminds me a bit of Blind Melon. Alt-rock, with some folk/country influence.

    Pretty good description. A southern version of all that.

  • BootStar

    Go, Crystal!

    I bought that Grand Magnolias album. It’s awesome.

  • CindyM

    YAYAYAY!!! Still pretty consistent for FYE in sales!!

  • aa618892

    Damn, FYE keeps plugging along. I have no doubt this will eventually reach platinum in the US. Most likely when Adam #2 comes out, it is a great record.

  • http://emuisemo.pbworks.com eilonwy

    That said, there’s a difference between contestants who aim to win while understanding that the best strategy is to build a fanbase and hope for a better recording career from that, and those who only intend to get the latter while eschewing the inconveniences of the title. I’m not following anyone yet, but I hope none of the contestants present themselves that way this year. It leads to an unwillingness to challenge themselves.

    The reason I set Top 4 as the goal to be reached with the “show recording-artist viability” strategy is not that I applaud contestants crapping out at that point, but that I think Top 4 is approximately the end of the mid-game.

  • calimari

    I listened to the Grand Magnolia album online once – liked it – plan to listen one or two more times & will probably buy it. There were a few tunes I didn’t care for, but that’s always the case.

    As far as contestants w/ previous experience/opportunities, that comes up every year. Like Kristi Lee Cook’s previous record contract. Taylor Hicks had some self-released CDs – I think Daughtry might have too? Even Lee DeWyze last year. I think the last “true” unknown talent w/ no real experience to have any success on Idol was Jason Castro. If I recall, he had never sung in public prior to the show.

  • girlygirl

    Each of the last 3 Idol winners had pre-Idol albums that they released. The difference is that (I believe) David C and Kris produced and released their albums themselves, while Lee had a label deal.

    So Paul having an album out and being able to sell it on iTunes is not that different, except for the fact that I don’t think either David C or Kris were allowed to put their album for sale on iTunes during their run on the show, while Lee’s label and Paul’s bandmates have been allowed to do so.

  • sma11ie

    David C and Kris produced and released their albums themselves, while Lee had a label deal.
    [...]
    I don’t think either David C or Kris were allowed to put their album for sale on iTunes during their run on the show, while Lee’s label and Paul’s bandmates have been allowed to do so.

    I wonder if that’s why Paul and Lee can have music for sale while Kris and David couldn’t. Paul’s music is released through his band, and Lee’s through his former label, so they couldn’t control it. David and Lee had self-releases, so because they were in control, they weren’t allowed to have them up for sale.

  • ladymadonna

    I wonder if that’s why Paul and Lee can have music for sale while Kris and David couldn’t. Paul’s music is released through his band, and Lee’s through his former label, so they couldn’t control it. David and Lee had self-releases, so because they were in control, they weren’t allowed to have them up for sale.

    I don’t think there’s even that much rhyme or reason to it actually. In S7 Brooke White also had an independently released solo album (so no band or label involvement) that was up for sale throughout the season (Carly’s pre-Idol album was also available, though that was through a label). Cook had to pull Analog Heart mid-season, but that was only after it started to get press because the album had gone to #1 on Amazon. I still count myself lucky that I snagged a copy legally before it disappeared into legend.

    I think Brooke and Carly’s cases were simply an oversight, or perhaps they simply weren’t selling enough for TPTB to care about possible conflict of interest. With Lee and Paul, I think its simply a case of Idol evolving, which I think is a good thing. For me, having pre-Idol music available helps me become more engaged with the contestants. As long as the policy is applied consistently across a season’s contestants, I don’t have a problem with it. I think the inconsistency in S7 is what has caused consternation for all these years.

  • CindyM

    I get so confused…

    idolsnow

    With JENNIFER HUDSON’s “Where You At” topping the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, “American Idol”collects its 290th Billboard #1. 5 minutes ago via web

    But doesn’t that placement mean it’s really like #101?? They count #1 on a chart about those under #100 as a Billboard #1??

  • girlygirl

    Looks like The Grand Magnolias album has fallen off the iTunes chart

← Older Comments