Idol Sales News – Week Ending 05/24/09

Cookie made money for his charity! Yay!!

Mad World is pretty impressive when you consider how many copies it sold when he sang it the first time. And it looks like Kris has a hit with Heartless.

Life is good.

Here are the total sales for each:

Allen = 478,927 (11 songs in top 200)
Lambert = 380,654 (14 songs in top 200)

I just added these up once, so I didn’t check my math and don’t guarantee them.

So Kris had more sales of about 98,000, but Adam had more songs in the top 200.

Good sales for both. Not like last year though if I remember correctly. About half?

Amazing numbers for Cookie’s Permanent. I’m so proud of him and for everyone for helping his charity. Light On got a nice boost also. So close to Platinum.

Until real sales numbers come in for Idol albums, here’s the HDD prediction for the week:

CHART DATE: 05/25/2009

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ 26 DAVID COOK 19/RCA/RMG 17,955 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ 
DAVID COOK

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ 34 RUBEN STUDDARD HICKORY RECORDS 14,746 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ 
LOVE IS

20 42 KELLY CLARKSON RCA/RMG 12,690 -26%
ALL I EVER WANTED

35 44 CARRIE UNDERWOOD ARISTA NASHVILLE 12,241 -1%
CARNIVAL RIDE

Kelly seems to be losing some steam with her album, Ruben opens higher than Taylor’s last album (9K), but lower than Elliott’s (20K).

Man, I wish we had cumulative totals!

Looks like Magic Rainbow still rules supreme. Seems like Cook’s record will not be broken this year.

Are the Permanent numbers a combination of the charity single and the one from the record? Do we have an idea what is the breakdown?

Hi,

Little confused. So these totals are for sales from this past week? Also, we don’t know how the overall season 8 albums are doing? I also wonder what the numbers are on the music videos?

I would like to think that these are only from the past week as I can’t believe Allison didn’t sell more.

Does anyone remember the Magic Rainbow’s number for first week sales?

Also, we donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know how the overall season 8 albums are doing?

The albums were just single compilations and will not chart separately. All of the numbers should be accounted for in the data above.

Good sales for both. Not like last year though if I remember correctly. About half?

Last years numbers:

David Cook: 942,000 (60% of S7 downloads, 15.7% of all US downloads).
David Archuletta: 323,000 (21.5% of S7 downloads, 5.4% of all US downloads)
Jason Castro with 64,000
Brooke White with 47,000
Michael Johns with 40,000
Carly Smithson with 33,000
Syesha Mercado with 18,000
Kristi Lee Cook with 10,000
Chikezie with 5,000

Little confused. So these totals are for sales from this past week?

Just this week.

Also, we donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know how the overall season 8 albums are doing?

Those will often leak later in the week. Idol Chatter might have the rounded numbers later today.

I also wonder what the numbers are on the music videos?

If you are lucky. They leak once in a blue moon.

Man, I wish we had cumulative totals!

Me too. This is all pointless to me when over half of these songs have been out for download for like 2 months now. I wonder why they don’t release the cumulative totals?? Now THAT would be interesting!!

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ 10 COOK*DAVID PERMANENT 102595 999 308 126905

Top 10 with over 100K? Awesome!!! :biggrin_wp:
I’m so thrilled for David that such a personal song got such an overwhelming response.

Good sales for both. Not like last year though if I remember correctly. About half?

Someone will have the exact number, but IIRC Cook sold close to 1M dowloads all on his own the week of the Season 7 finale (with most songs only having 3 days to sell before they were taken off iTunes).

ETA: OK, I knew someone will get the numbers, just didn’t think it’ll happen while I was posting. Thanks Kirsten!

So the Season 8 albums are different and not included in the totals here? So if the album sold 10,000 copies, then 10,000 would have to be added to each song’s total that was on the album?

Pretty solid numbers across the board. Heartless and Mad World killed it. It is amazing though how few of this year’s crop other than Kris and Adam seem to have sold much. Last season was spread-out a bit more.

Does anyone remember the Magic Rainbowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s number for first week sales?

TOML sold 236,024 its opening week. Here are Cook’s totals for this week last year. I don’t have easy-access to the rest of the S7 crew but I know it’s in mj’s archves. Pre-finale tracks had 3 sales days. Songs sung on Top 2 performance night, plus the Rainbow, had 4 days.

ETA: Or, Kristen will have everything at her fingertips!!

So the Season 8 albums are different and not included in the totals here?

No. The Season 8 albums are not included in these totals.

So the Season 8 albums are different and not included in the totals here? So if the album sold 10,000 copies, then 10,000 would have to be added to each songà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s total that was on the album?

Yes. That’s why there were two different versions of songs charting on iTunes the past week. The album sales on iTunes are not huge, so probably 5,000- 10,000 added to each song for higher charting albums is a good approximation.

I don’t think there will be any numbers released for season 8 “albums”. Both versions are combined into one for each song and are included in the above data.

I don;t have easy-access to the rest of the S7 crew but I know ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s in mjà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s archves.

They are linked in my previous post.

Pre-finale tracks had 3 sales days.

For reasons like this, seasons are hard to compare. Do you sell more when people panic buy (buy now or you’ll never get these songs, EVER!) or when they have an entire week to sell.

These are the things that fuel endless debate.

Yes. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why there were two different versions of songs charting on iTunes the past week. The album sales on iTunes are not huge, so probably 5,000- 10,000 added to each song for higher charting albums is a good approximation.

Yes, and then we can say add 1.3M (or so) to the weekly totals for each of Adam and Kris and they sold more singles than last year. Debate! LOL.

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think there will be any numbers released for season 8 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“albumsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . Both versions are combined into one for each song and are included in the above data..

No, that’s not true. Album sales are always reported as album sales and not converted into single sales.

Extra tidbit:
Percentage of Season 8 Idol Songs sold (not including duets)
Kris Allen: Top 200: 52% Top 100: 61%
Adam Lambert: Top 200: 40% Top 100: 36%
Danny Gokey: Top 200: 7%
Allison Iraheta: Top 200: 1%

Exactly, Kirsten. While I love LadyMadonna’s chart (it’s truly the purtiest thing evah), you can’t compare. David’s numbers are hella impressive, but these kids may go on to sell more. Why? Because they can. It’s all good. I wish them all well. It’s what happens once they are on their own, out of the AI bubble, that truly matters.

I know we’re trying to not compare here but just to be clear, these numbers do not include the sales during the season right? And last year’s numbers as quoted above also does not include the sales totals for the entire season. Those numbers continue to be a mystery to us all?

Yeah, that album thing is a bit confusing. I thought if they were going to add it, they would have done it in these numbers.

Do you sell more when people panic buy (buy now or youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll never get these songs, EVER!) or when they have an entire week to sell.

There isn’t a different between buying the song on wednesday or thursday and buying it on saturday. I don’t think that changes much, even having the songs available for more time. How many people will wait to buy? We can pretty much see every song has gone down fast… people usually buy it in the first week. After that the sales overall won’t be relevant.
We can compare the coronation songs though… and there’s a difference of 100k.

Comparing to last season, I think the only conclusion I take is that this season was never half as popular and loved as the season with the robotic kids. But we’ve had other signs of that…

I think part of the reason why S8 doesn’t sell as much as S7 is that they didn’t sing as many songs.

Coronation Single Numbers:

1 Clay Aiken à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“This is the Nightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 393,000
2 Ruben Studdard à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Flying Without Wingsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  : 286,000
3. David Cook “Time of My Life”: 236,024
4 Kelly Clarkson à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A Moment Like Thisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  : 236,000
5 Taylor Hicks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Do I Make You Proudà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 228,418 (CS: 190,619)
6 Carrie Underwood à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Inside Your Heavenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 170,528 (CS: 131,504)
7 Fantasia à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I Believeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 142,141
8 Kris Allen “No Boundaries”: 134,458
9 Bo Bice: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Inside Your Heavenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 121,423 (CS: 108,158)
10 Katharine McPhee à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Somewhere Over the Rainbowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 74,965 (CS: 47,394)
11 Jordin Sparks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“This is My Nowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  74,303
12 Diana Degarmo à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Dreamsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : 65,000
13 Blake Lewis à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“You Give Love a Bad Nameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  70,133
14 Adam Lambert “No Boundaries”: 35,984

These data seem to be past week’s sales for digital download of individual songs. Wonder what the album sales are . Itunes have separate rankings for the songs, and for the albums and also for the music videos. It would be interesting how much total sales Season 8 has generated on all these three media types.

I know its recession and sales of almost anything has dropped by at least 20%.
Back to reality. Reality bites literally.

At least Adam and Kris gets some income from all that hard work and all that pressure and the stress. Gives the kids an incentive to push harder and be more aggressive in realizing their full potential. Great job Adam. Keep on Kris.

I hope Allison earns some more ,too. Love her.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s what happens once they are on their own, out of the AI bubble, that truly matters.

Yes. Thats how I feel as well. Once the tour is over and everyone gets their recording contract, the real fun begins!!!

I know weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re trying to not compare here but just to be clear, these numbers do not include the sales during the season right?

No. The above numbers do not include sales from the entire season.

David Cook: 942,000 (60% of S7 downloads, 15.7% of all US downloads).

In a week?? o_0

WOW.

I didn’t read AI blogs then so didn’t know the post-Idol sales totals..I knew David sold over a million during AI, but I never expected that he sold 942,000 in a week!

Thanks for the info, Kirsten and ladymadonna!

No, thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not true. Album sales are always reported as album sales and not converted into single sales.

But Adam’s and Kris’s compilation albums are not true albums and will not be reported to Soundscan as such. Therefore, I don’t see them charting separately or iTunes releasing the data of how many each “bundle” of songs sold. I do think each song from those albums was added to the song’s overall total.

No, thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not true. Album sales are always reported as album sales and not converted into single sales.

Is that true for iTunes compilation albums as well? I read elsewhere that these are just a fancy way to package singles, and that they do not count towards album sales… I guess we’ll see when Brian reports the full album sales for Idols, or if the BB200 leaks? I assumed this total already contained the sales from the iTunes albums, but that was based on the assumption that they weren’t real “albums”.

Comparing to last season, I think the only conclusion I take is that this season was never half as popular and loved as the season with the robotic kids. But weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve had other signs of thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

It looks like to me David Cook sold more. But Kris and Adam both sold more than Archie. Let’s face it, Kris got a crappy coronation song. Not that David Cook wasn’t hugley popular. I think most people at this point would consider him a stronger winner than Kris. But Kris may put out a kick ass album and then it could look different.

And finaly, so these numbers DO NOT include Adam’s and Kris’s album sales. Did they have these albums for S7? And if so, do we know those numbers?

Letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s face it, Kris got a crappy coronation song.

A coronation song, by definition, is crappy. Nobody loved Magic Rainbows at first. The Rainbow demanded respect and admiration (and damned if he didn’t get it).

Have I mentioned before that I hate my mouse? Yeah? Well have I mentioned it today?

For reasons like this, seasons are hard to compare. Do you sell more when people panic buy (buy now or youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll never get these songs, EVER!) or when they have an entire week to sell.

Oh, I completely agree that it’s impossible to make a direct comparison, which is why I provided that context. I absolutely believe the fact that Ryan announced a sales deadline on the pre-finale tracks last year contributed to the strong numbers put up last year. At the same time, this year’s songs had the benefit of riding the post-finale media wave, which surely reminded fans to get their butss to iTunes. Definitely apples and pears.

Keeping the Idol performance songs up through the summer tour is a smart money-making move, and it will be fun to track how sales accumulate over time for some of the bigger hits like Heartless and Mad World, which is not an ability we have had in the past.

But Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s compilation albums are not true albums and will not be reported to Soundscan as such.

Well, we’ll probably find out later today who is correct. No point in arguing.

I do know that when they sold EPs in Season 6 (a compilation of Blake or Jordin’s song), they were reported to Soundscan as albums (not as singles). I assumed the same would happen this year.

Did they have these albums for S7? And if so, do we know those numbers?

They did not. In Season 7 the songs for each contestant were the only thing selling and charting, no compilation of any kind. The songs from the season itself were taken down the night of the finale, the songs from the finale were taken down shortly afterwards (can’t remember now if it was a day later or until the end of that week). The only song you could still buy past that week was Magic Rainbow.

Nobody loved Magic Rainbows at first. The Rainbow demanded respect and admiration (and damned if he didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get it).

LOL and QFT.

Any idea how the Kris Allen iTunes Pass gets counted? No Boundaries came with that. Does it count as a single that gets “returned” when the full album is available in the fall (which is how I thought singles are counted that come with album pre-orders)?

David Cook: 942,000 (60% of S7 downloads, 15.7% of all US downloads).

In a week?? o_0

In three days.

I’m really happy about Permanent, not only because it says so much about David Cook, but because a good portion of those download sales have gone to charity.

LO got a nice boost toward platinum, too. Yea!

Keeping the Idol performance songs up through the summer tour is a smart money-making move, and it will be fun to track how sales accumulate over time for some of the bigger hits like Heartless and Mad World, which is not an ability we have had in the past.

I seem to recall that S7 is the only season that they pulled the songs from iTunes. You can still buy Mellissa McGee’s “What About Love” or Scott Savol’s “Against All Odds”. I’m not sure why they pulled the songs last year so quickly.

Pretty impressive considering music sales are down overall as is TV viewing – and radio stations are tanking.

Congrats to Kris and Adam … and David Cook! I’m disappointed that Allison doesn’t have more sales.

I wish I could get the Allison/Cyndi Lauper duet. It would be awesome if they recorded that and released it on her album!

You can’t compare last years numbers with this years people, there’s a recession on. People are hurting, there is much less disposable income and what there is of it is going into savings; People are just not buying as much as they did last year.
Sales across the board of consumer merchandise from cloths to movies to lawnmower are down. The only industry not affected by this recession, for some inexplicable reason, is computer gaming products.

I don’t believe comparing 2008 sales with 2009 will tell you anything than that the credit crunch is affecting peoples purchasing habits.

Any idea how the Kris Allen iTunes Pass gets counted? No Boundaries came with that. Does it count as a single that gets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“returnedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  when the full album is available in the fall (which is how I thought singles are counted that come with album pre-orders)?

Usually, that’s how it happens. You get charged 99 cents (or whatever) for the download now and when the album is delivered you get charged the full price minus whatever you purchased.

If you got charged the full price now, it probably counts as some kind of album.

Yesterday, we got a leak that “Heartless” had sold more singles than “No Boundaries”, so that’s probably an indication of how many “iTunes Passes” that were sold yesterday (now that “No Boundaries” now has a higher ranking). I suspect that just as a single, “No Boundaries” sold between 114K-125K, so the iPass probably sold between 9K and 20K

I think iTunes Pass buyers get charged the full $16.90 which includes No Boundaries (we need to find a nickname for that – Hurricanes?), the forthcoming debut album and exclusive videos from the tour, etc.

I think iTunes Pass buyers get charged the full $16.90 which includes No Boundaries (we need to find a nickname for that – Hurricanes?), the forthcoming debut album and exclusive videos from the tour, etc.

Interesting. Then I’m not sure what the rules are on that. They are constantly making SS have to think up new rules.

Thanks Kirsten and ladyM for the numbers.

I think part of the reason why S8 doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sell as much as S7 is that they didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sing as many songs.

Ah but while they did sing more songs per eppy later in the season, only one song per singer was chosen each week to make a studio version. For example, much to many fans dismay, we never got studio versions of Cookie’s Yo Face top three week or Baba O Riley rock week or All I Really Need Is You Neil Diamond week even though they arguably might have been more popular choices than IDWTMAT, HLTW, and I’m Alive, respectively. So I think it evens out?

Those numbers continue to be a mystery to us all?

Sadly, yes. I know many a number nerd who would give their left arm to have access to the weekly download numbers. The only difference between seasons 7 and 8 is that Rickey found the iTunes popularity bars more often last season. So while we don’t have sales numbers, we do know that Archie’s Imagine, Brooke’s Let It Be, Jason’s Hallelujah, and Cookie’s Billie Jean and Always Be My Baby, off the top of my head, were big sellers that at one time placed at or near the top of the entire iTunes chart. I think Michael Johns’ It’s All Wrong did well, too. This season we have the infamous iTunes popularity bars leak that placed Adam and Kris near the top and put MJ’s blog in the headlines, and I think it was a one time thing.

I’m so happy that Permanent broke 100K even with the initial iTunes screw up. I’m sure the response means a lot to Cook, and it’s such a good cause.

No shock that Kris and Adam are the big iTunes champs of this season. Good for both of them.

I am shocked, though, that 11,000 people bought Steve Martin’s banjo song? :smirk1_ee:

Man, I WISH they would give the sales numbers for the ENTIRE SEASON. I know Adam kicked everyone’s a$$ up and down the block this year when it came to single sales.

The question is, who rigged iTunes?

Woo: We got a leak on the album numbers:

No. 33 (debut) – Adam Lambert – 15,720
No. 50 (debut) – Kris Allen – 10,217

So, no, the album sales numbers were not added to the single numbers.

It also makes the single sales comparisons between seasons a little different. It’s not to say that everybody who purchased the albums would have purchased each and every one of the singles, but it does show that there was a strong interest in the AI songs this year as well.

Top 10 with over 100K? Awesome!!!
Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m so thrilled for David that such a personal song got such an overwhelming response.

Two points about that:

1. That 100K is in spite an eighteen hour Itunes delay in making the performance available and then hardly any obvious Itunes promo.

2. Over half of those are studio version downloads which people purchased since the live version wasn’t yet available or because they mistook which version was for charity. Color me skeptical that 19/RCA is going to fork over the money from the studio downloads to DC’s charity.

“I seem to recall that S7 is the only season that they pulled the songs from iTunes. You can still buy Mellissa McGeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“What About Loveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  or Scott Savolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Against All Oddsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not sure why they pulled the songs last year so quickly.”

im sure we could come up with a whole host of knollish reasons… lol but you know we wont go there…

Woo: We got a leak on the album numbers:

Where did you find that at?

11 Jordin Sparks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“This is My Nowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  74,303

Looks like the worst coronation sales by a winner ever. And guess what she kicked major ass with her first three platinum plus singles. Ditto Carrie Underwood who also has meh numbers.

It really all depends on their original music not the crap coronation singles and covers they do during the season. Although downloads do indicate popularity so color me surprised that Allison did just meh on the chart.

Kirsten May 27th, 2009 at 9:55 am

Woo: We got a leak on the album numbers:

No. 33 (debut) – Adam Lambert – 15,720
No. 50 (debut) – Kris Allen – 10,217

Thanks Kristen! You’re a goddess!

I know its recession and sales of almost anything has dropped by at least 20%.

But digital sales are up huge. I think something like 40% . I can’t find the report I read, but it is something like that. More people have iPods and downloading a lot more. They are doing this instead of buying albums, where sales are down around 25% again just in the last year.

No. 33 (debut) – Adam Lambert – 15,720
No. 50 (debut) – Kris Allen – 10,217

Is that for the ‘best of season’ albums or whatever they’re called?

Where did you find that at?

LOL. Exact same source that leaks the digital numbers every week, so they have been proven to be a completely legit source. He sometimes leaks some album numbers when people are likely to be arguing about them.

Is that for the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹best of seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ albums or whatever theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re called?

Yes.

“2. Over half of those are studio version downloads which people purchased since the live version wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t yet available or because they mistook which version was for charity. Color me skeptical that 19/RCA is going to fork over the money from the studio downloads to DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s charity.”

if they know whats good for them they will….. Of course look who we’re talking about… RCA… lol

:clap_tb: Go Cookie!! I bet Dave will win best new artist this year at the Grammy’s. He’s doing kick butt on the charts and in sales.

Kirsten, thanks! This is very insightful – it’s so interesting to watch the sales, a true indicator of success. Kris and Adam are both doing very well – as I expected. Hey – you’re not on AT&T’s payroll, are ya? :wink_ee:

Yep, it would be awesome if we had access to STD (season to date) sales figures. I think we would see the same names at the top, but it would be cool.

No Boundaries (we need to find a nickname for that – Hurricanes?

A very funny person in Kris’ threads calls it “Natural Disasters”. :lol_tb:

2. Over half of those are studio version downloads which people purchased since the live version wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t yet available or because they mistook which version was for charity. Color me skeptical that 19/RCA is going to fork over the money from the studio downloads to DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s charity.

IMO, iTunes should help and fork over some money since it was held up on their end. And yes, it earned that much even if you could hardly see the little link to the charity single they had on the main page. But since the money wasn’t going to them, iTunes wasn’t interested in promoting the single.

No. 33 (debut) – Adam Lambert – 15,720
No. 50 (debut) – Kris Allen – 10,217

This makes both Adam’s and Kris’s total numbers much better for each song since this number can now be added to each song.

Two points about that

Well, I’m happy Permanent did so well for the great performance and what that song means to David and his fans. I don’t care right now how iTunes screwed up, iTunes screwes up a lot and when all is said and done, that didn’t stop the song from doing extremely well so I see no need for caveats. And maybe its just me, but I think most people buy a song because they want the song. Charity is great and the money went towards a good cause, but I don’t think charity alone is responsible for most of Permanent’s sales. Just MHO.

For me personally, if Permanent the live version didn’t go to charity, I wouldn’t have bought it since I don’t like the accompanying cheers and screaming in live versions.

I know that several of my friends ended up buying both the album version and live version of Permanent because they didn’t like the noises in the live version but said that the feeling in the live version is too raw and beautiful to miss out so they ended up buying both lol. YMMV.

Awww, I’m sad that Allison didn’t sell more. Less than Kristy Lee Cook? Really?

I think iTunes was a shiny new toy for Idol viewers last year and people just went nuts with it. Cook would have sold over a million downloads in a week if they had left all of his songs up after finale night. Clearly, that wasn’t a portent of his real world success, although he’s doing more than fine.

I think the lower sales across the board might have more to do with the novelty of being able to buy Idol iTunes recordings wearing off. TV viewership and singles purchases haven’t tanked THAT much (the #1 download this week sold over 200K).

When you considered that 28 million people watched the finale, those numbers for albums are an amazingly small percentage. Maybe .005%
And .05% for the coronation singles. Yikes.

“When you considered that 28 million people watched the finale, those numbers for albums are an amazingly small percentage. Maybe .005%
And .05% for the coronation singles.”

It is a bad song though. Maybe people just aren’t into this year as previous ones, OR they are waiting for their actual albums come out? I hope this isn’t a look in the the future of these contestants cause it ain’t pretty if it is.

A lot of these songs are old too, so people have already bought them. Thats the only other explanation I can come up with for the low numbers.

This makes both Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s total numbers much better for each song since this number can now be added to each song.

Album sales are separate to me though. Especially since the No Boundaries song is not included in the album.

Are people adding single and album numbers again? *sigh*

If I used this method, then Carrie has the highest selling coronation. “Inside Your Heaven” sold 6 million copies.

David Cook was a more popular winner than Kris Allen in the immediate aftermath of the finale, so it’s no surprise that ToML sold better than No Boundaries.

Hard to say anything beyond that.

LOL Tony!

If I used that method as well, David Cook would’ve sold over 2 million of Magic Rainbow. Heh.

I think iTunes was a shiny new toy for Idol viewers last year and people just went nuts with it. (snip) I think the lower sales across the board might have more to do with the novelty of being able to buy Idol iTunes recordings wearing off.

Really, I don’t get that reasoning. iTunes wasn’t a new toy entirely for Season 7, Season 6 also used iTunes to sell songs. Do we assume Idol viewers do not use iTunes for anything other than Idol donwloads? Otherwise there’s nothing novel about it.
Even if they only use iTunes for Idol downloads, I would guess after 3 months of having weekly downloads, most of the novelty was gone by the time S7 finale came around.

Do people download a song simply for the freshness of the concept, or because they want to own that certain song and replay it on their iPod?

BTW, on the flipside of that argument, you could very easily say that since people are better versed in using iTunes to buy Idol songs by now, that should’ve lead to larger numbers compared to years past, when technical difficulty/fear of a new technology would’ve kept people away. I don’t think that argument washes, either.

Well I think season six sold them straight on AI.com (not on iTunes) but I get and agree with what you said, Jolene.

Seeing that Kris and Adam managed to top Archie’s total downloads for the first week after AI makes me believe that people either loved loved loved Always Be My Baby/Billie Jean/Hello or David Cook was a freak of nature during his Idol run LOL jkjk.

I wish I could get the Allison/Cyndi Lauper duet. It would be awesome if they recorded that and released it on her album!

Yes, I’m really disappointed they don’t have that, the Queen duet or Permanent on video.

I’m so happy for Adam and Kris! If what Kris said about getting 18 cents per download is true, just basing on this week’s sales, these two boys have earned themselves a nice chunk of change.

We had the right top 2

Question – I heard that Kris’ “No Boundaries” was only sold as part of his ITunes Pass. Is that right?

Question – I heard that Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“No Boundariesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  was only sold as part of his ITunes Pass. Is that right?

No.

People can buy only the single and do not have to buy the iTunes Pass to be able to get the single.

widz May 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am

Question – I heard that Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“No Boundariesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  was only sold as part of his ITunes Pass. Is that right?

No.

People can buy only the single and do not have to buy the iTunes Pass to be able to get the single.

OK, thanks. So will we get the number of sales for Kris’ I Tunes Pass?

This is just for last week, right?

Wow. If it’s true they’re getting 18 cents a download, those kids are doing very very well.

Seeing that Kris and Adam managed to top Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s total downloads for the first week after AI makes me believe that people either loved loved loved Always Be My Baby/Billie Jean/Hello or David Cook was a freak of nature during his Idol run LOL jkjk.

Widz, I like both explanations.

frogcooke
May 27th, 2009 at 10:03 am
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“2. Over half of those are studio version downloads which people purchased since the live version wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t yet available or because they mistook which version was for charity. Color me skeptical that 19/RCA is going to fork over the money from the studio downloads to DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s charity.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

if they know whats good for them they willà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.. Of course look who weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re talking aboutà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ RCAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ lol

hmmm David never said anything but his proceeds would go to charity. He never said RCA’s proceeds would go. He never said iTunes proceeds would go. I don’t understand the loling at RCA. It seems to me they’ve supported David enough to make his the biggest selling debut album this chart year.

I think David has done amazing things to support his cause. I find lol’ing at any part of it distasteful. Mileage and all that.

I lol at everything, fyi. lol

(still miffed at the hack job of idol/19/rca/itunes/the martians who completely botched getting his charity single up leaving only the album version up for a while as the only download option.)

These numbers are not accurate. They do not include video sales and the total album #s sold is way off.

source phdude?

ETA: about the album #’s. Of course the vid sales aren’t included. We’re not talking about vid sales.

If what Kris said about getting 18 cents per download is true, just basing on this weekà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sales, these two boys have earned themselves a nice chunk of change.

Seriously?? I highly doubt that number. Most artist receive about .04 per download. Where/when did Kris mention .18/per download??? If this is true, established artists are getting screwed BIG TIME.

It’s been a hundred years since I saw that figure somewhere (you know how it goes when you are addicted to this stuff), so I can’t cite a source.

Maybe 8 cents a download makes a little more sense?

But if it’s true the big boys only make four cents, maybe it’s all just your basic internet rumor.

Soundscan numbers:

29 COOK*DAVID DAVID COOK 16,719 111 7,926 1,150,578
33 LAMBERT*ADAM SEASON 8 FAVORITE PERFORMANCES 15,720 0 – 15,720
36 STUDDARD*RUBEN LOVE IS 15,213 999 33 15,246
40 CLARKSON*KELLY ALL I EVER WANTED 13,273 -24 17,509 581,018
44 UNDERWOOD*CARRIE CARNIVAL RIDE 12,033 -5 12,604 2,864,087
50 ALLEN*KRIS SEASON 8 FAVORITE PERFORMANCES 10,217 0 – 10,217
89 DAUGHTRY DAUGHTRY 5,886 -19 7,226 4,450,098
90 PICKLER*KELLIE KELLIE PICKLER 5,870 26 4,653 221,898
133 YAMIN*ELLIOTT FIGHT FOR LOVE 3,930 -40 6,514 30,472
134 HUDSON*JENNIFER JENNIFER HUDSON 3,921 -20 4,919 735,133
193 ARCHULETA*DAVID DAVID ARCHULETA 2,826 -10 3,150 704,912

As one of the writers of Permanent David gets royalty from the song. Technically he could even donate his cut if he chooses to. Damn those numbers make me all teary eyed. I’m glad his powerful performance paid off.

Keep in mind magic rainbows first week numbers were the highest first week numbers for a coronation song, since I think Clay’s? So it’s a rare thing to get numbers like that. The success it ended up having the following months is a true freak of nature LOL These songs aren’t meant to define these artists. Hopefully whatever NB ends up selling for Kris in the longrun whether the sales end up soaring or what, hopefully his first real single won’t suck.

Nice to see so many AI alums charting on BB top 200

Seriously?? I highly doubt that number. Most artist receive about .04 per download. Where/when did Kris mention .18/per download??? If this is true, established artists are getting screwed BIG TIME.

Yes, when I first heard that it felt really iffy to me.
I think the rumor came after the hometown visit in Arkansas, Kris reportedly said that number.
Established artists earn way less and it is for their own material not for covering songs already recorded.

In my opinion there is a huge difference between these and last year’s numbers, even if you add the album’s sales. (and yeah, I doubt every person would have bought each and every single). Single’s sales are going way up, more people have Itunes, and we can’t forget there was an Idol party on Itunes, with all those blue banners, you couldn’t run from them. hat stuff helps sales.
I think this is very telling about the season. I’m not talking about their post idol careers, that’s a different matter. But every thing this season dropped, including popularity. I just don’t see how the changes helped the show. I think people connected more with the contestants in the old format, and that makes you care more.

As for Kris’s pass, we won’t get numbers, but it was lower than his album compilation, so it sold less than that. I think it did almost the same as Cook’s album on Itunes. So maybe if we get Cook’s digital numbers we can get an idea of how much the pass did.

29 COOK*DAVID DAVID COOK 16,719 111 7,926 1,150,578

Yay for 1.15M! I can’t deny it’s fun to see Dave on top of that list this week following the finale.

40 CLARKSON*KELLY ALL I EVER WANTED 13,273 -24 17,509 581,018

So Kelly’s last album was considered a flop after selling, what, around 700K? This album has had two very successful singles and yet it might not catch up to that “flop”. Yup, album sales are down the drain.

133 YAMIN*ELLIOTT FIGHT FOR LOVE 3,930 -40 6,514 30,472

Elliott needs a new single.

I wish we knew how many single they sold all season long. I bet a ton as they have consistently been the 2 selling. I’m surprised there were still people that didn’t have Mad World. Most of their fans already had those songs so it’s great for them to still be selling.

Kris is doing great with NB. The win really helped him. He did show he was the rightful winner over Adam. So Kris is doing better than Cook was at this point? I think Kris will outsell Cook.

I think this is very telling about the season. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not talking about their post idol careers, thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a different matter. But every thing this season dropped, including popularity. I just donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see how the changes helped the show. I think people connected more with the contestants in the old format, and that makes you care more.

Remember, that last year people only had one week to download these songs. So fans had to buy the songs all in one week. This year, they have the entire summer. It might be better to wait until the end of the summer to judge the two seasons.

So Kris is doing better than Cook was at this point? I think Kris will outsell Cook.

No Kris is not even close to Cook’s sales last year, especially since most of Cook’s songs as well as all other AI7 songs were taken down after a few days. Only time will tell if Kris will outsell Cook, but he’s got a long way to go.

It might be better to wait until the end of the summer to judge the two seasons.

LOL Sorry, but you compare the sales of an entire summer to the sales of 4 days. One thing you can compare are the first week sales of the two coronation songs. And yeah, both of them suck and are cheesy (I find NB to be more radio friendly though), what sells them is popularity.
Most people do not wait to get those singles. Still, I’m not sure they’ll sell enough to make a difference. Maybe Heartless and Mad World will keep doing ok while these guys do the TV rounds and sing them on TV.
But yeah, it will be interesting to see how they do in the long run.

Over half of those are studio version downloads which people purchased since the live version wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t yet available or because they mistook which version was for charity. Color me skeptical that 19/RCA is going to fork over the money from the studio downloads to DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s charity

RCA Music Group just donated $10,000 to David Cook’s Race for Hope Team, bringing the current total to $126,330.00

So Kellyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s last album was considered a flop after selling, what, around 700K? This album has had two very successful singles and yet it might not catch up to that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“flopà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . Yup, album sales are down the drain.

She’ll catch up and probably even pass My December’s numbers I think, its just going to take longer than what we’re used to. In pop these days it seems like album sales don’t start taking off until single 2 or sometimes 3. Her second song is still climbing.

As for comparing last year with this year, I think enough has already been said on how difficult it is to do that. But, I do think instead of looking at raw numbers we should be thinking in terms of a strength of overall sales relative to the rest of the market as a rough estimate of the size of each contestant’s fanbases, in terms of willingness to part with actual money, in the days following idol. If they make a strong showing on the chart it could mean that person is in a position to open strong with their debut album and/or single, provided they hold on to a nice chunk of that fanbase over the summer. In that way, Adam and Kris are both looking pretty damn good to me.

On the other hand, Allison would need to get a successful single out in advance of her album, and/or not expect to break the bank with debut numbers without one, if these are any indication.

“No Kris is not even close to Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sales last year, especially since most of Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s songs as well as all other AI7 songs were taken down after a few days. Only time will tell if Kris will outsell Cook, but heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s got a long way to go.”

AI7 contestants also had more songs released to iTunes, they started singing two songs earlier and sang three staring with Top 4 I think.

AI7 contestants also had more songs released to iTunes, they started singing two songs earlier and sang three staring with Top 4 I think.

But they’d only release 1 per night last year, and this year they release everything they sang. I think Cook had 17, Archie had 16, and this year’s guys had 15. (Adam also had that extra song of his).

AI7 contestants also had more songs released to iTunes, they started singing two songs earlier and sang three staring with Top 4 I think.

They sang 2 songs each at top 4 and 5, then 3 at top 3, but only 1 song from each was available for sale. Many favorite AI7 performances never made it to Itunes because of that. There were no duets either.

So Kris is doing better than Cook was at this point? I think Kris will outsell Cook.

You haven’t read any of the comments, have you? LOL

RCA Music Group just donated $10,000 to DC’s team – Race for Hope (part of National Brain Tumor Society and Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure). Am not sure if this was to “make up” for the 15 hour time delay for the Permanent Charity single on iTunes or not. We’ll never know how much the album versus the charity version sold. But regardless, it was nice to see.

http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/Events/RFH-DC2009?px=1754121&pg=personal&fr_id=1340

While I’m delighted that RCA is contributing so much money to the cause tht David Cook holds near and dear to his heart, I’m a bit surprised. Nobody knows who’s fuck up it is. Some blame it on iTunes and some on RCA.

That RCA is donating to the cause is totally awesome to me, because as I see it, they totally didn’t have to. So is RCA (that meany corporation) paying the price for iTunes fuckup? We will never know. But the most awesome thing is that they think enough of David Cook to do so.

RCA Music Group just donated $10,000 to David Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Race for Hope Team, bringing the current total to $126,330.00

Awesome and completely unexpected. Go RCA! That’s wonderful.

It’s way, way too soon to predict that Kris will outsell Cookie! I hope Kris does well, and I hope Adam does well. And I hope Cook does phenomenally well (I’m a hopeless fan). Comparisons can be fun, if they are not mean-spirited, but let’s get real. These people are not gonna be competing against each other in the real world.

They sang 2 songs each at top 4 and 5, then 3 at top 3, but only 1 song from each was available for sale.

Okay, let’s do the math (IIRC)

Performance Versions:
Season 7: 3 Semi-Final Performances, 3 Final 2 Performances
Season 8: 1 Semi-Final Performance

Studio Versions:
Season 7: David Cook: 11, Archie: 10 (no studio version during Final 2 week)
Season 8: 13 Final performances (9 weeks with one song, 2 weeks with 2 songs (the repeat song during the Final 2 did not get a new release) 1 Duet

That Yields a total of:
Season 7: David Cook: 17 songs, David Archuletta 16 songs (one duplicate)
Season 8: 14 Songs plus 1 duet.

So, they did release fewer songs this year, but I’m not sure it was significant.

lol Kirsten, they didn’t release fewer songs last year as I see it….just fewer releases of the same song. But numbers can be construed however a person chooses them to be. I think you show that fact best. Ultimately, there’s no comparison that is perfect. We can all take the numbers and *sings* bend them shake them any way we want them* to where our favorite shines.

Ultimately, I’m totally delighted that my ultimate Idol shines brightly within the season 8 finale. It takes nothing away, however, from the finalists this year. Damn, they are awesome!

Re: Elliott. I still don’t think it’s time to give up on his first single as a potential sales tool for the album.

It continues its slow climb up the charts (which is the only kind of climb and indie is likely to ever ever have in the pop world) and has just passed the 60-spins-per-day mark, with no current signs of stalling or backsliding.

If it keeps picking up spins at the current rate it should move into the top 50 soon, and it’s only after reaching that critical mass that indies are able to really take off, unlike major-label stuff, which can take off from the first moment, so far as I can tell.

So we really won’t know for maybe a couple of weeks yet whether the song is going to become a top-40 hit — in which case it will help sell the album — or whether it actually is time to go back to the drawing board and grab a new one.

I’m sure they’re reluctant to do that because Elliott and his group have put a ton of energy and cash into traveling around the country pushing Fight for Love, and it would be tough to have to start all over again pushing another song. The song’s also got some very good notice in a couple of high places in the radio-consultant world, and won a lot of faceoffs with other songs around the country, so they have evidence that it probably has the goods to gain audience support, if enough people hear it. I’m still hoping (and requesting, to the extent I can, since it’s not been played even once in my area of the country, so far as I can tell!) If they do try another single, it’ll probably have to wait a month or so anyway, because Elliott’s doing a tour of Japan in June.

For everybody fretting over Kris’s and Adam’s and Cookie’s and Archie’s futures, well, there are a lot of good points made about how difficult it all is. But it ain’t nothing to the difficulty of somebody going the indie route, like Elliott. They — and their fans — can just all thank their lucky stars that they’ve got major-label contracts and the boost that gives (even though it’s clearly no guarantee, either). Even without a guarantee, though, they can concentrate more on putting good music onto their albums, secure in the knowledge that they’ll at least be the beneficiaries of enough promotion — like network-tv appearances — and payola in whatever form that’s taking today to get at least some boost up the chart, at least bypassing the struggling indies on the way.

Seriously?? I highly doubt that number. Most artist receive about .04 per download. Where/when did Kris mention .18/per download??? If this is true, established artists are getting screwed BIG TIME.

Kris was asked in a radio interview (homecoming) and that was his answer. 18 cents per download.

LOL Sorry, but you compare the sales of an entire summer to the sales of 4 days. One thing you can compare are the first week sales of the two coronation songs. And yeah, both of them suck and are cheesy (I find NB to be more radio friendly though), what sells them is popularity.
Most people do not wait to get those singles. Still, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not sure theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll sell enough to make a difference. Maybe Heartless and Mad World will keep doing ok while these guys do the TV rounds and sing them on TV.
But yeah, it will be interesting to see how they do in the long run.

LOL! It really is apples and oranges. All I am saying is that you can’t judge the first week of sales for S7 and S8 the same. If there are only a few days to purchase the songs before they disappear, there will be a rush to buy them. If you have all summer to purchase them, why rush to get them this week?

BUT, having said that, this season’s contestants will benefit from the songs being available for the whole summer. I’m sure as Adam and Kris go on more shows, they will get a bump on ITUNE sales. Also, they should get a bump on sales from the AI tour.

As far as coronation songs, I think it depends on personal taste. I like Magic Rainbow better. Magic Rainbow was also used in the Olympics and I think was a more popular song. Also, Cook’s win did seem like a magical moment, and I think people wanted to remember that and bought the single. Unfortunately, Kris’s win didn’t have that kind of drama. Plus alot of people hate Kara and I think that might cloud some people’s feelings on the song.

(9 weeks with one song, 2 weeks with 2 songs)

I didn’t follow this season closely. They had both songs on iTunes for the weeks in which there were multiples? Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have Yo’ Face, All I Really Need is You and Baba O’Reily as iTunes studio versions. Dammit, I’m still not over that.

Last year was also the first year for AI tunes being availalbe on iTunes during the season, was it not. So people are just catching onto that possibility I would argue.

Digitial downloads as a whole are increasing exponentially every year whilst CD sales have declined. Though not for Eminem I see this week.

I remember that Billboard amended its ranking formula last fall to give digitial downloads a higher weighting due to that increase.

I’d have loved the AIRNIY and Baba on iTunes. I honestly feel that Cook did all he could with the face song. It’s ulimately a freaking boring song that is repetitive. Cook freaking nailed the verse he sang. I seriously doubt he could have done more with it. I just don’t find the song conducive to making each and every verse more and more amazing. I think the face song is one where he made his statement perfectly and any more wouldn’t have served him well.

AIRNIY, on the other hand, and Baba O’Reilly could have been amazing with a studio version. I still think AIRNIY would have gotten more acclaim if not for Jasongate. I can’t complain all that much because I love I’m Alive.

The problem I have is with Hungry Like the Wolf being the sudio version. It was admittedly (by David) a late choice. Why the hell did they release that as studio?

I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t follow this season closely. They had both songs on iTunes for the weeks in which there were multiples?

Yes. This year, they released studio versions of everything but the semi-final rounds.

I remember that Billboard amended its ranking formula last fall to give digitial downloads a higher weighting due to that increase.

The ranking formula for the Hot 100? They actually decreased the weighting of sales due to the increase of digital downloads (radio airplay was starting to have little effect so they needed to fix that).

Okay I have no sense of time or paraphrasing today
August 3, 2007
Music industry bible Billboard is changing the formula it uses to define hit songs to include tunes listened to and videos watched online at Yahoo! and AOL.

Billboard associate director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo said 50 streams of a song from AOL and Yahoo! is the equivalent of one download or 1,000 radio plays.

The bulk of the Hot 100à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s weighting is still radio airplay (55 percent) and music downloads purchased through the likes of Appleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s iTunes (40 percent).

Just to be clear, that was a reduction in the weight of sales in the formula. Back in 2006, sales counted for twice what radio airplay did (earlier that year, 100K would get you Digital Gold and 200K would get you Digital Platinum), because sales were so bad of singles (only Idol CD singles really sold and iTunes was still just getting off the ground). Streaming counted for nothing. Each adjustment of the Hot 100 formula has decreased the weighting of sales because they are becomming so monstrous. Flo Rida went Gold in one week.

The Hot 100 is supposed to reflect a balance between what is popular on the radio and what is popular in sales (not always the same thing). They can’t let either factor get too out of line or then only sales or airplay matter. But, it’s also why it will be hard for a coronation single to ever top the Hot 100 like they used to automatically do. They come into their first week with almost no airplay.

Kirsten, what does the number in parenthesis after the total stand for again? Sorry, I have never been and probably never will be any good at figuring out all these figures.

The Hot 100 is supposed to reflect a balance between what is popular on the radio and what is popular in sales (not always the same thing). They canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t let either factor get too out of line or then only sales or airplay matter.

Actually the use of both sales and airplay is the reason why I have always considered the US singles chart to be largely bogus, because it is open to manipulation. The only chart worth considering is the sales chart, because it reflects what people are actually prepared to pay, a true measure of popularity. The airplay is decided by relatively such a small number of people so that it is largely meaningless as a measure of popularity.

In the UK, the official Top 40 chart measures only the sales. There is a rival chart with a shorter history that includes airplay, but even that chart will be abandoning airplay to include only downloads.

Kirsten, what does the number in parenthesis after the total stand for again?

Position on the chart last week.

It’s so hard to judge the sales because alot of people have lime wire and other programs that let you download for free. Also, alot of live performance videos have been downloaded from you tube. Hopefully, all of the Idols make alot of money from the ITunes sales, they’ve worked hard and deserve it!

No Kris is not even close to Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sales last year, especially since most of Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s songs as well as all other AI7 songs were taken down after a few days.

This.
Kris and Adam’s total sales together are less than David Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s total sales last year (942,000), with less days counting.

Overall, season 7 sales beat season 8 by miles. Only top 4 in season 8 sold download singles, and the rest of them were not. meanwhile season 7 had 9 finalists sold some singles even Chikezie who get eliminated earlier.

Note here: This sales only for a week sales after the winner of AI announced. For people to bought earlier eliminated contestants songs, mean that they were memorable.

Look like this season only 4 people are memorable to Idol audiences at home.

Like it or not, even if Kris and Adam combined all of their total singles sales, cannot beat David Cook total. No wonder DC had so many singles in Hot 100 Billboard the next week after he was crowned.

This Billboard article gives info on where both of them place on the Hot 100
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/idols-inundate-hot-100-but-glee-gloats-with-1003977092.story

Kris gets 5 entries, Adam 4.

Very interesting what Hazahel says above about the UK charts: “In the UK, the official Top 40 chart measures only the sales. There is a rival chart with a shorter history that includes airplay, but even that chart will be abandoning airplay to include only downloads.”

We’re so used to people finding out about songs and learning to like them from radio play — the earworm factor, a proud tradition for decades — that it’s hard to imagine it playing no role on the charts. That would be a big switch. Wonder how it changes the role of radio generally, how people get to know new music, etc. Any thoughts on that?

Weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re so used to people finding out about songs and learning to like them from radio play à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  the earworm factor, a proud tradition for decades à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  that ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s hard to imagine it playing no role on the charts. That would be a big switch. Wonder how it changes the role of radio generally, how people get to know new music, etc. Any thoughts on that?

I don’t think it would play that big of a role. The public doesn’t consume these charts as much as music industry types do. There would just be 2 different charts… one for sales and one for airplay. Record companies might adjust their strategies to get to #1 or one format or another, for bragging rights and the marketing opportunities that come with that. But that’s about it.

Kris’s NB is 4 on the billboards? I think that’s okay.I may be reading the chart wrong.I didnt think it would be that high? I was expecting it to be like 11 or 15 on the charts.

Good job Adam for his album sale! He’s been doing well.

I prefer the UK system whereby Radio airplay counts much less in the formulation of the chart. Radio airplay already drives sales to a great extent, so why give it even more power by including it as a large percentage of the chart position?

An artist who manages to sell well despite relatively poor airplay when compared to others in a given genre (Kellie P for example) doesn’t want to be kicked twice by including a huge airplay factor in the chart calculation.

Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s NB is 4 on the billboards?

NB is #11 on the BB Hot 100. It’s #4 only on the download chart, which doesn’t take airplay into account.

For comparison, Last year TOML was #3 on the BB Hot 100, and #1 on the download chart.

So while album sales have dropped way off this year, it doesn’t look like download sales have increased much, if at all, to compensate, does it? Or is that just me.

Here are last year’s Idol closing download stats
1 David Cook à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Time of My Lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  236,024 (NEW) Total: 236,024
7 David Cook à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Dream Bigà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  111,052 (NEW) Total: 111,052
9 David Cook à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I Still Havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t Found What Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m Looking Forà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  97,868 (NEW) Total: 97,868
10 Jordin Sparks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“No Airà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  87,518 (2%; lw 85,455) Total: 1,866,343 (7)
14 David Cook à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The World I Knowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  79,907 (NEW) Total: 79,907

And this year, Kris comes in at #4 with about 138,000 — which is probably similar or even a smidgen lower than what the #4 download total was in the comparable week last year, extrapolating from the Idol-related numbers that we have.

Yikes. No wonder the music industry is in a tailspin. The argument that downloads are now replacing hard-copy sales doesn’t even hold water (unless you count illegal, free downloads, I suppose) — and the recession makes a difference, too, of course. But for that argument to really hold water, download sales would actually have to be up a bit, wouldn’t it?

Wonder how much farther down it can go.

Shouldnt RCA or Jive whatever Kris’s record deal is be promoting NB?

Shouldnt RCA or Jive whatever Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s record deal is be promoting NB?

Doesn’t singing the damn song on every talk show known to man, and then singing it to about 10,000 people every night all summer long count as promotion? It’s been out less than a week, what more would you have them do? I’d rather see him get a real single out by August and let this one die anyway.

KrisAllen1 wrote:
Shouldnt RCA or Jive whatever Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s record deal is be promoting NB?

Promotion today tends to mean going on the big network tv shows and singing there, doesn’t it? Early Show, Today Show, Tonight Show, etc. — so far as I can tell by who appears to sing on those shows and when, that’s about as big as promotion gets in the recording industry. And that’s what Kris is up to.

I wonder if NB is getting radio-play.I havent heard it much on the radio.I only
hear it when Kris performs it.

So I wonder if NB will go up or down with sales.I wonder if NB is the first single to ever flop on the first week.

There is no way ring of fire got only 14,000 downloads so this is just from last week

An artist who manages to sell well despite relatively poor airplay when compared to others in a given genre (Kellie P for example) doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t want to be kicked twice by including a huge airplay factor in the chart calculation.

That’s just it isn’t it? Adding airplay is just an extra unfair (and easily manipulated) factor in the calculation of chart position. If a song is popular, it will sell, and that should be the only thing that counts. I can never understand how a song getting played on radio can be any kind of measure of popularity except in the very broadest and most vague term (the whole audience impression/spin number thing as any kind of absolute measure is just nonsense to me), and the whole idea that airplay should count towards any measure of popularity is to me absurd. If the airplay drives the sales of a song, then that’s fine. But if heavy airplay of a song doesn’t drives the sales of a song much, that would mean that the song is not that popular, and it would be completely wrong to use airplay to bolster the song’s chart position.

question at one point adam was selling more singles then kelly clarkson now she is at 1.83 million singles sold Adam has been this consist all year. So I Guarantee you combined he has over 3,000,000 million total singles sold

oh and of course Kris’s 2nd highest selling song is a cover of an autotone anthem from 2008 less then 1 year ago.

And isn’t the winners first single suppose to sell more then another contestants cover from during the year. A cover is a cover but the winner’s single is a song they will become known by so big deal if it sells more then any adam performance that is why it is called a single and and the term for mad world is “studio recording”. Something that is recorded in a studio to try to make more money for idol.

The only true comparison would be season total sales, which we’ll never have. Even then, it would not be fair comparison since S8 songs will be up much longer, different number of songs, etc. I guess TOML and NB too.

I never downloaded anything last year, so I still hold out (slim) hope that IDol does “albums” for all alumns at some point.

Digital sales are actually up significantly this year overall. Hard copy album sales are way down though.

The only chart worth considering is the sales chart, because it reflects what people are actually prepared to pay, a true measure of popularity.

This completely ignores album sales impact on single sales. I don’t think that is a fair representation of popularity. If 1M people already own the song, of course they won’t buy the single again. That is why pre-album singles tend to sell big, then the next few taper off drastically. just look at Kelly.

Jimbo i dont think the winner has to sell more than anyone else in that season.
Didnt Clay sell out Ruben? Did Daughty sell out Taylor?

Jimbo, ..im really tired today and my eyes hurt, but did you say in your post that you thought adam sold over 3 million in downloads this year? Is that what you meant? You actually think that?

Yeah, I would not be stressing over a coronation song. It really doesn’t matter to Kris’ long term prospects. It’s not even a good song! Worry about him upcoming album and first real single if anything.

Jolene May 27th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

Oh, what I wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t give to have Yoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Face, All I Really Need is You and Baba Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Reily as iTunes studio versions. Dammit, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m still not over that.

You, me and every Cook fan there is. I was so mad that we didn’t get ‘Yo Face’, studio version to download. I’m still not over that either. TPTB=Fail

Another addition to the Hot 100

– 84 DAVID COOK COME BACK TO ME

Speaking of charts, Elliott’s Fight for Love HAS finally entered the top 50 on one radioplay chart. He’s now #49 on the Nielsen/BDS chart, which uses audience impressions (number of listeners, based on which stations are playing and when) in addition to spins to calculate. The widely used chart uses only spins, but he’s hovering right on the edge of their Top 50, too, and he is continually gaining spins — so that one, the more or less “official” radioplay top 50 is not far away!

The thing is, saying that he needs a new single doesn’t really work based on his indie status. Because he’s indie and not major, there’s very very little that his label can do to give him the initial boost. His rise depends very very very very heavily on requests — and, of course, you don’t get requests unless people have already heard the song. It’s a Catch 22. So if you miss hearing Elliott — shoot a phone call or email or text to your local Top 40 djs, and ask them to play the song! As an indie, that’s the only tool he has to get to the top. But he’s closing in!

Obviously, Elliott’s album sales are underwhelming compared to his first, I’d say the sophomore Idol slump is the biggest problem. Everybody off Idol has sold less with each successive album. Kelly Clarkson used to be the exception but that’s sadly not true anymore. So even winners with major label support aren’t immune.

Fortunately for Elliott, while US sales are poor, his album is doing fine in Japan where he has the benefit of a major label supporting him. Going indie might work right after Idol but three seasons later, it’s really tough to make it without the promo. That said, lots of good songs on the album and FFL is still showing signs of life, so I’m feeling optimistic the total sales numbers will slowly but surely grow.

Jimbo i dont think the winner has to sell more than anyone else in that season.
Didnt Clay sell out Ruben? Did Daughtry sell out Taylor?

Clay outsold Ruben. Daughtry outsold Taylor by a mile. Even Kellie Pickler outsold Taylor.

More Soundscan numbers:

JONES*LAKISHA 1415 … 1425 debut
DOOLITTLE*MELINDA 754 … 47813 9