Idol Sales News – Week Ending 07/20/08

No Magic Rainbow? I just saw it climbing the Itunes charts again from 52 to 41, I think.

Curses. I was hoping TOML would eek back into the top-50 again so we could get SoundScan leaks in the morning and not have to wait for Ken’s rounded figures this afternoon. It’s been hovering between #40-45 on iTunes for the past few days, so maybe we’ll get some joy for next week’s reporting period…

Jordin and Jhud are seeing some nice upward movement though.

Thanks Kirsten!

Me, too, ladymadonna.

Possibly silly question: do album purchases affect singles numbers? As an example, let’s say hypothetically, that Cookie puts out a great single in September/October, and I buy it. He then outs out a great record in October/November, which includes the single on it, and I buy that, too. Does that subsequent album purchase count at all toward the single’s numbers?

(I have NO idea how that particular hypothetical happened to come to mind.)

I just don’t understand this. If TOML is below #50, why is Jhud’s on there at 182 and Leona Lewis at 55? There’s gotta be something I’m missing here. Sorry I’m new at this.

I just donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand this. If TOML is below #50, why is Jhudà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s on there at 182 and Leona Lewis at 55? Thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s gotta be something Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m missing here

I think I need to create a FAQ

There is a person who leaks download numbers on Wednesday morning. He choses to leak only the top 50 and songs in the top 200 he personally considers interesting (usually songs that have had a sudden surge or artists that get a lot of buzz on the board to which he posts). So, that is why there are big missing gaps. Leona and Jennifer had big jumps, so he thought they were interesting and posted their numbers. People in pretty much a steady-state like Cookie, don’t get posted unless they are in the top 50.

Possibly silly question: do album purchases affect singles numbers? As an example, letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s say hypothetically, that Cookie puts out a great single in September/October, and I buy it. He then outs out a great record in October/November, which includes the single on it, and I buy that, too. Does that subsequent album purchase count at all toward the singleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s numbers?

No. You have to buy the individual track for it to count towards his single numbers. The download of the album will count towards his album SS numbers.

And while we are discussing download numbers, yes, buying the track multiple times counts. Fred from BB addressed this last year. Provided you buy no more than N copies (he alluded it to being 8-10) in a week, each sales count. The same applies to albums. If you go in and buy 5 copies, each sale counts. If you go buy 100 copies at once, it counts as 1 copy. SoundScan considers that to be an attempt to manipulate the numbers.

This is just to get the facts out there. This is not to encourage bulk buying. I’ve seen SEVERAL attempts by groups of fans to try to run up the numbers for an album/track and I’ve not detected any success. There are just not enough people out there that are that invested that they would spend money on something like that. So, save your money for a concert ticket or whatever.

Please note, I’m not accusing the OP of wanting to bulk buy. It’s just that the topic often gets onto that tangent and I just wanted to get the facts and my theories out there while I was thinking about it. Cheers!

Just am curious — “Do I Make You Proud” sold about 600,000 physical singles, right? Or am I off?

And where is “Magic Rainbows” compared to that at the moment?

Per Pulse:

9 50 51 52 COOK*DAVID TIME OF MY LIFE 24,395 ( 1) 2 4,548 6 64,245

That’s a TINY decrease because I think he sold 25,000 last week.

Seems like TOML has sold 664,245 which is more than Taylor. The good news is Cook has a radio hit and is selling downloads based on radio play even for that crappy song. So unlike their other male winners, his stuff will get played on the radio. Looking good for Cook. Although, Taylor’s numbers are pretty decent for a guy who the radio treated like poison – even pretty competitive with a song high up on the HAC and AC chart.

I can’t imagine AI will ever have winner again who isn’t already ready to get radio play from day one. They can’t afford to waste all that time and money on someone who doesn’t sound radio ready.

Nevermind, I answered my own question.

9 50 51 52 COOK*DAVID TIME OF MY LIFE 24,395 ( 1) 2 4,548 6 64,245

Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a TINY decrease because I think he sold 25,000 last week.

Trina,

That is a decrease but it isn’t by much. Yes, last week according to Ken Barnes the numbers were around 25K in sales. He still hasn’t posted the download #’s yet.

Speaking of Ken Barnes, here is the complete list of AI album sales #’s HERE.

Ken rounds his numbers, so last week he reported sales of 25,000 but the exact figure from SoundScan was 24,548. So this week’s 24,395 represents a decline of less than 1% from last week. Looks like airplay is indeed starting to bolster sales – a benefit that most of the past coronation songs have not had. Looks like David Cook has a bona fide hit on his hands.

Here are the download #’s from Ken Barnes HERE.

Here is the blurb about TOML:

David C.’s The Time of My Life is stable, dropping a notch, 51-52, on the chart and selling 24,000, down just 1%, for a total of 664,000.

Taylor’s song got minimal airplay. Guess they didn’t want to do the payola to promote his album like they should have, or could have. You can’t blame it all on Taylor. I think he got crapped on.

Thanks, Kirsten