Idol Sales News – Week Ending 09/28/08

Please not that the above numbers are the Top 50 song from the download charts plus a few extra songs that have made à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“interestingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  gains in the top 200. Later today, Ken Barnes at Idol Chatter (USA Today) will come out with the full list of Idols in the top 200. We get data as it dribbles out.

Here is some of the airplay chart (this is a differential from last week so the numbers in brackets are gains or losses in millions of audience impressions since last week).

No. 14 – Jordin Sparks (-3.2 million)
No. 17 – Jennifer Hudson ( 4.4 million)
No. 41 – Daughtry ( 1.5 million)
No. 51 – David Archuleta ( 1.4 million)

Jennifer has the number 3 song on R&B airplay.

Oh, and WOW: No. 70 – Britney Spears ( 19.5 million). And for all those Perez Hilton fans, The Clap: 1,157. Don’t quit your day job.

Go Archie…. GOLD!!!!! Go Crush!!!
Thanks for the info…

Way to go on gold, Archie!

:clap_tb: Way to go, Archie…I guess he really is our “golden” boy! haha

Yay Archie and Crush! Congrats.

Wow at Britney’s ai!

I think Archie’s sales pace outweighs his actual airplay especially after seeing Britney’s airplay.

GOLD CRUSH!! Way to go Archie!!

In other news… Crush is currently #3 on AOL’s Top 11 Video Countdown. Congratulations, David! This calls for two thumbs up, Archie style… :thumbup_tb:

Congrats on the Gold, David!

FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC DAVID A!!!! The first GOLD…. what an astounding accomplishment…. the dude just keeps defying expectations, doesn’t he? :doh_tb: KUDOS all around for him, and the fans…… can’t wait to get my hands on his album on 11/11… Keep on Keeping on Crusher! :clap_tb:

I think Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sales pace outweighs his actual airplay

I agree. His airplay seems to be stalling right now. It will be interesting to see if the song has peaked at #14 on top 40. It seems like it has.

^^ I don’t believe it’s peaked. It’s normalizing this past week to its normal pace. Last week it had abnormally high spin increases that were strange for Crush. So if it normalizes, its daily updates will look bad. But it was just added to a Top 40 big market station this week (Houston). Big markets don’t add peaking songs.

^^ I luv you… thanks for being a sunshine…Jk…
But I hope his spins and sells keeps going up

It does look like Crush has stalled on Top 40 but I think it’s way too soon to say it’s peaked. I followed Jordin’s third single and it showed a similiar pattern.
Archie hasn’t sung the song live anywhere (except for a private event) or done any real promo for it. Unless, it starts sliding down the charts I think it’s taking a pause. That said, (and this is only my opinion) I don’t see Crush (or LO) becoming the monster hits that Jordin had with Tattoo or No Air.

However, Crush is already the biggest hit a runner up on Idol has had in years, so good work, Archie.

Wouldn’t Crush stall naturally anyway because of the glut of new singles from established artists entering the market right now? When the dust settles, I suspect it will do just fine. There are still some major markets that have not picked it up yet.

It does look like Crush has stalled on Top 40 but I think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s way too soon to say ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s peaked. I followed Jordinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s third single and it showed a similiar pattern.
Archie hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sung the song live anywhere (except for a private event) or done any real promo for it. Unless, it starts sliding down the charts I think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s taking a pause. That said, (and this is only my opinion) I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see Crush (or LO) becoming the monster hits that Jordin had with Tattoo or No Air.

Actually, Tattoo “stalled” majorly after it hit #14 on the Top 40. Its bullet decreased from over 600 to under 200. It moved down two spots to #16. And then it started rising again. It’s not just One Step at a Time that “stalled” for Jordin, it’s both. And Tattoo wound up going top 5 on Top 40. I’m not saying that’s where Crush will wind up, but there are a bunch of songs that do this (Leona’s Better In Time did it as well). It’s based on outside factors (like new entrants on the radio–Womanizer is taking up a lot of spins right now). Crush, however, is still increasing. Today it had 3 more spins than it had last Wednesday. That may not seem like a lot, but last Wednesday it had 140 more spins than the previous Wednesday. It’s all relative to what happened the week before.

So it’s very tough to say that Crush can’t be a “monster” hit like Tattoo when Tattoo pretty much did the same thing as Crush is doing now. The real question isn’t why Crush’s daily spin increases are so low this week, but why they were so very high last week. They shouldn’t have been given its average pace. That’s what is messing with its numbers.

Interesting post Soundscene. I forgot Tattoo had a similiar stall. Ditto: Leona. Crush is following a pattern on Top 40 but the downloads are still way ahead of where they should be. It could go platinum if the song can maintain or move up on the Top 40 charts in the next 7-8 weeks.

If it keeps pace or picks up sales in a specific week, I can see it going platinum some time in Nov..

Wow..I’m very impressive. Go Archie! 71,631 is way better than what I expected. As others said, crush needs more airplay though.

If it keeps pace or picks up sales in a specific week, I can see it going platinum some time in Nov..

I agree and I hope.

the dude just keeps defying expectations, doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t he?

I don’t think going gold is really defying expectations. Based on the success of Jordin’s singles, I think he’d be failing to live up to expectations if Crush doesn’t eventually go platinum at least a couple times.

I think heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d be failing to live up to expectations if Crush doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t eventually go platinum at least a couple times.

You have a strange expectation. On top of my head idol songs that went platinum at least a couple times: no air, before he cheats, bleeding love. Do you expect Crush as big as these songs?

The expectations for a runner up on Idol are to be dropped by the label within a year. If Archie can avoid that, he’s already exeeded my expectations. As I posted before I don’t think either Crush or LO will match the success of Jordin’s two singles. But Archie already has the biggest hit of any runner up on Top 40 and if he can go platinum, he’ll match Clay Aiken’s single sales. Clay’s album sales are another story and again I think that will be tough for both Davids in the current dismal music market.

The expectations for a runner up on Idol are to be dropped by the label within a year.

Yes. I am curious since the expectation for a runner up single is at least two million. What is the expectation for a winner’s single? How many should a winner sell to avoid we announcing a failure for him?

I just hope radio picks up for Archie because if it doesn’t then it seems that would be the only reason for Crush not to go further. His sales are good, I know that he has been the top requested song on my station for weeks and listening to Open House Party, it was said that he was the top requested song there. Clearly the song is wanted by the public… so why don’t some of these markets add him? Weird to me.

I think LO will have an easier time in this since TOML did so well for just being a coronation single. He doesn’t have to be “introduced”.

*Simon voice* In the grand scheme of things, I’ll call Archie a success so far!

Yes. I am curious since the expectation for a runner up single is at least two million. What is the expectation for a winnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s single? How many should a winner sell to avoid we announcing a failure for him?

I think he was just trying the say that since they are following a similar song selection and marketing plan as what was used for Jordin, that the label will measure Archie by Jordin’s success. Not that I agree, but I don’t think it was a dig at Archie per se.

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think going gold is really defying expectations. Based on the success of Jordinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s singles, I think heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d be failing to live up to expectations if Crush doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t eventually go platinum at least a couple times.

I see what noctem seizure is saying, from the standpoint that Archie is on Jive, seems to have even more support than Jordin did, is singing essentially the same song, and had a much faster start out of the gate with a #2 Hot 100 debut. Jordin also somehow managed to win with no apparent fanbase, lol, which we know Archie has.

I think Archie will easily go platinum and this single is already a big success. When do people think he will release his “No Air”? Late November?

I think he was just trying the say that since they are following a similar song selection and marketing plan as what was used for Jordin, that the label will measure Archie by Jordinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s success. Not that I agree, but I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think it was a dig at Archie per se.

If so, what a failure Jordin is! Since she is a winner but her first single Tattoo hasn’t gone platinum at least a couple times even now. I wonder why Jive hasn’t dropped her yet.

I see what noctem seizure is saying, from the standpoint that Archie is on Jive, seems to have even more support than Jordin did, is singing essentially the same song, and had a much faster start out of the gate with a #2 Hot 100 debut. Jordin also somehow managed to win with no apparent fanbase, lol, which we know Archie has.

I think Archie will easily go platinum and this single is already a big success. When do people think he will release his à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“No Airà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ? Late November?

I think, and hope, that Crush has still a little of steam on its own before realeasing the next single… IÂ ´m intrigue about the apareance of David in the Open House Party, expected by the end of octuber, it seem that the audience of this program is big and could help it in sells…

About the markets, I hope top 40 markets continue to add the song, I read an Archie fan said that Kansas radio station said it will never play Crush, for obvious reasons that we all know (not fan war start intended) but I really think the song is good, and people outside the fanbase like it, so I hope it ´s continue to do good in the next weeks, or at his fans are doing counting,only 40 more days until the album…

If so, what a failure Jordin is! Since she is a winner but her first single Tattoo hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t gone platinum at least a couple times even now. I wonder why Jive hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t dropped her yet.

Again, it don’t think it’s meant as in insult to Archie. Archie is doing great, Jordin is selling like hotcakes, peace rainbows and puppies and all that. LOL.

Anyway, I think Arch is definitely going to go platinum, Crush seems really strong. I am curious to hear the rest of his album though. I wonder if it really is going to be just like Jordin’s. Not that that’s bad.

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think going gold is really defying expectations. Based on the success of Jordinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s singles, I think heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d be failing to live up to expectations if Crush doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t eventually go platinum at least a couple times.

Considering that this is the kid who was deemed as too awkward or not “edgy” or cool enough to achieve any pop music success, I’d say he’s defying some expectations. I doubt those who felt that way about him ever expected his first single to sell over 500K downloads in seven weeks. I remember some of the same doubts being raised about Jordin’s potential last season after she won. I raise my hand as one of the doubters, and she has certainly proved me wrong!

Here’s some news regarding next weeks’ sales:

http://hitsdailydouble.com/news/newsPage.cgi?news07275

Arista/RMG Oscar winner Jennifer Hudsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s self-titled debut is on target for between 215-225k right now, but an appearance on Oprah tomorrow (10/2), even though she wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be performing, could jack those numbers even higher. At any rate, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a lock for #2 on the heels of her Top 5 R&B single, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Spotlight.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

They have Kellie trending toward 40K in sales.

I was just curious. Does everyone think that OSAAT has been that successful? I think her first two singles were, but OSAAT only has sold a little over 700,000. It has been on the radio a really long time and is currently at number 3 on Top 40. It just seems with all that airplay, it should have sold a lot more. It seemed successful at getting airplay, but not sales. Maybe I have no concept of what success is anymore! I have no idea how many “units” should be moved.

Those are some great numbers for Jennifer! Congratulations to her. Thanks for posting that cheese.

Any news on KLC albums sells?

If so, what a failure Jordin is! Since she is a winner but her first single Tattoo hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t gone platinum at least a couple times even now. I wonder why Jive hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t dropped her yet.

No need to get defensive and sarcastic. Angry posts will be deleted. Constant disregard of the guidelines = banning.

Yes. I am curious since the expectation for a runner up single is at least two million. What is the expectation for a winnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s single? How many should a winner sell to avoid we announcing a failure for him?

Well, since rock, by the rule, doesn’t tend to move as many singles, I don’t think that’s the right question to ask. Rock sells more albums. Unfortunately, this will leads Cook straight into the Daughtry comparison, and I don’t think he will be able to compare there, in terms of moving album units.

But, getting back to Archie, he by any account was immensely more popular coming off of Idol than Jordin was, and since, from what we’ve seen so far, he’s going to be an identical type of artist on the same label (with more label support initially), I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect Jordin’s sales figures.

You have a strange expectation. On top of my head idol songs that went platinum at least a couple times: no air, before he cheats, bleeding love. Do you expect Crush as big as these songs?

Tattoo hasn’t gone double platinum? I stand corrected on that point, then.

“Arista/RMG Oscar winner Jennifer Hudsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s self-titled debut is on target for between 215-225k right now”

My jaw just hit the floor. I can’t believe how great Jennifer Hudson’s numbers are especially since Spotlight really hasn’t done much as a single (saleswise). It’s possible the album won’t have “legs” but this is an awesome start for her. (I don’t think INO sold 3 million downloads. I don’t think any single has sold that many but No Air at 2.5 mil or so is in the top 5 of all time) An artist can be a huge success and not match those numbers.

Plus I think selling albums still counts for something. It’s not all singles (see JHud).

from the standpoint that Archie is on Jive, seems to have even more support than Jordin did, is singing essentially the same song, and had a much faster start out of the gate with a #2 Hot 100 debut.

Really? I’m curious about this notion that Archie has more support than Jordin. I got the impression Archie had pretty good support, but debuted on #2 mostly on the strength of his sales, whereas Tattoo didn’t seem to have strong sales off the bat, and yet Jive kept at it and was shoving it down our throats until it slowly caught (sorry, I don’t like that song, so I recall getting annoyed with it being played on my local Top 40 station incessantly). I am new to all this chart talk, so pardon my ignorance, but I remember hearing Tattoo a lot when it was first out, and it kept up for a while. It’s proven to be doing well now, but I remember being surprised back then that Jive/19 was willing to push that single on us so hard and to keep at it when it wasn’t selling. In contrast, Crush has been out for over a month, sold well right away, and I’ve only caught it on my local Top 40 station once– during the syndicated Seacrest show on the weekend– and I listen to the radio quite often. I know this is extremely anecdotal, so I may just be one of those major markets that are slow to add Crush, but I’m just curious to hear what people think about the label support for Jordin vs. Archie at this early point. For the record, I like both Jordin and Archie’s voices, but I think Crush is a much better song than Tattoo. Tattoo’s lyrics make me cringe.

Arista/RMG Oscar winner Jennifer Hudsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s self-titled debut is on target for between 215-225k right now, but an appearance on Oprah tomorrow (10/2), even though she wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be performing, could jack those numbers even higher. At any rate, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a lock for #2 on the heels of her Top 5 R&B single, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Spotlight.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Wow, that’s a great start! I’m so happy for Jen. I’m not the biggest fan of Spotlight (it’s just “aight” for me, and there are much better songs on her album IMO), but I’m glad to see the single doing so well.

more download numbers from Idol Chatter and based on my figuring over the last several weeks Jordin’s No Air is now the biggest download by an Idol passing Carrie’s Before He Cheats by at least 5K . Carrie’s song is not listed here but as of last week Jordin was about 2K away and this week outsold it by at least 7K putting it in the lead.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/2008/10/crush-continues.html?loc=interstitialskip

I’m not particularly fond of “Spotlight”, but JHud’s “something for everyone” album approach just might be key here.

Any news on KLC albums sells?

According to Ken Barnes, around 4000 for a grand total of 13000.
EEP

That’s rough. I hope that things will pick up for KLC eventually.

Very hard to compare Archie and Jordin. She won Idol but came off the show with a very small fan base. This was reflected in “meh” first week sales of Tattoo and the album. But Jive was very patient with her and she’s a true new artist. Archie didn’t win but came off a bigger season with a much bigger fanbase reflected in his outstanding first week sales for Crush.

I prefer Archie’s voice to Jordin but I think Tattoo is a better song. They both came off Idol as self proclaimed 17 year old virgins so they have that in common.

Good for Jordin’s No Air. I patiently will wait for “Freeze” to release and beat it AND “Bleeding Love”.

I patiently will wait for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Freezeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  to release

Is that going to be Jordin’s next single? I hope so. That is my favorite song on her album. I think that song will do great!

I think “Permanent Monday” is Jordin’s next single.

At its current pace, TOML should go platinum in 6 weeks. But it may go platinum in 4-5 weeks if Light On bumps its sales (which I believe it will do).

From the various calculations I’ve seen done by Archie’s fans, Crush would have to sell 50K per week to go platinum by Thanksgiving, and about 72K per week to go platinum by the time his album drops. I don’t think that will happen–I expect Crush to sell around 60K this week. But platinum by the end of November is a good estimate, December if there’s some slow down.

Kristy Lee is getting roughed up. I have only seen her on one TV show and it was a local morning news show. If they want her to succeed she needs more pub than that.

I keep up with this stuff and I didn’t even realize Kristy’s Cd was out til a week later. This CD is wrought with great music. It will be a total shame if she doesn’t outsell Bucky, Kelly and Josh because this CD is way better than any of those 3. And I actually like this CD better than Carrie’s “Carnival Ride”. In fact there is a Carrie song on it. See if you can guess which one without looking.

I fear there is a very predjudical view of Kristy and that is a damn shame. She is great and I will be at her first concert….if she even gets that chance.

I reviewed Kristy’s “Why Wait” on my site http://www.idolheaded.com and gave it very high marks. Check it out.

As for Jordin, my favorite song on the CD is “Permanent Monday”. I do hope they make it a single.

I hope Arista and 19M do something for her, she is nice, and I like her voice… Go Kristy…

Hot 100 (leaked top 50 other interesting movers)–

15 20 DAVID ARCHULETA CRUSH
19 21 JORDIN SPARKS ONE STEP AT A TIME
43 43 CARRIE UNDERWOOD JUST A DREAM
48 49 DAVID COOK THE TIME OF MY LIFE
55 54 DAUGHTRY WHAT ABOUT NOW

R&B 100

4 3 HUDSON*JENNIFER SPOTLIGHT-REMIXES

I was hoping Archie would stay in the top 20 and he did. lol. And look at TOML still being in the top 50.

Interestingly, Crush was bumped down to #17 on iTunes because of the several new releases this week (without them, it would be #12). But it just moved up to #16 just now. So even with all the new releases, it’s still rising today. It’s a fighter.

and listening to Open House Party, it was said that he was the top requested song there.

That’s great news. OHP plays on a lot of radio stations around the country and “Crush” can get hundreds of plays Saturdays and Sundays from OHP. The more requests, the more times it will be played each show and the higher “Crush” will go up on the airplay charts. Archie fans need to keep requesting at OHP because that is one of the easiest ways to get hundreds of plays on the weekends. If it gets 3 or 4 spins each night on OHP, it would really spike total plays on the charts.

I’m pleasantly surprised that Jennifer Hudson’s sales are predicted to be so high next week. Good for her.

@Soundscene:
It ´s like watching Rocky, but the one in wich Rocky did win…

^^ LOL. I don’t know which one Rocky won–not the first one.

Thanks soundscene. I agree, it’s a good showing for Crush to stay in the top 20 after last week’s big spike in sales. It was poised for a bigger drop but managed to hang on. I’m going to predict that Crush’s airplay takes a big jump in the next cycle, even with the onset of Womanizer, Better than Ever, I Don’t Care, etc. Big market stations seem to be adding or poised to add (I even heard our Top 40 station in Seattle finally advertise David Archuleta in the same breath with Britney, Christina and Fall Out Boy). With added airplay, some live promos (like today’s satellite interviews), and another jump in sales as a result, I’m going to predict it hits Top 10 in three weeks.

seattle – really?? That’s exciting news! I had been worried that Crush might be stalling but if its finally reaching Seattle….wooo! Many people have mentioned that it is not playing yet in California. Wonder if this might be the rumored double-secret strategy by Jive to have it peak just at the right time…

It makes me so happy to see how well David is doing. I was so CRUSHED for him at the end of Idol esp in the last three weeks, I’m glad to see how things are going for him and that he’s looking to be a very successful runner-up

Well, a HAC station and an AC station in Fresno just started playing Crush today. A couple of top 40 Houston stations are playing it in medium rotation this week (#6 market). The Boston station that cut its spins in half a few weeks back has started playing it in medium-heavy rotation again (9-10 times a day). Boston is the #10 market. A new NC top 40 station (#25 market) started playing it today and KHKS, the Dallas KISS station has it playing in medium rotation (#5 market). Z100 in NY has it playing about 4-5 times a day now. That’s a drop from its initial airplay, but that station drops songs and brings them back all the time. Plus, apparently Crush was #1 or #2 (can’t remember) on a Sacramento top 40 station countdown. It’s slowly working its way west.

I think today’s press release about iCarly, the front page ad for Crush’s video on AOL Music, the Yahoo! Entertainment story about the corn maze and all of David’s radio interviews today and tomorrow are the beginning of promotion. Call it a “mini” promo before the massive promo closer to the album release (although I’m not sure of the corn maze was just a happy/weird coincidence).

So the next few days may still see a bit of a lull in the daily radio spin increase numbers, but ultimately I think this song is on track to do very well. It still has about a month and a half before the album drops to reach heavy rotation.

KLC’s album is pretty good. i of course don’t like it better than carnival ride or SH but definetly better than phil, josh, bucky, and pickler