Idol Sales News – Week Ending 11/30/08

Please note 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). Before recurrents are removed:

No. 102 – David Cook ( 4.4 million) lw 134

From the Top 10 Streaming Chart:
No. 9 David Archuleta – Crush

Kirsten, what is the top 10 streaming chart? I haven’t heard of it before. Where is it found?

^I think is the people that listen online… like myspace…music on demand etc…

But I guess I should let Kirsten explain she is the Guru of the numbers…

Go Crush, go Davids, Go albums…

Thank you for the numbers Kirsten…

And, for those of us who like Christmas music, here are some stats on that (maybe it will make this thread a little more friendly today).

Top Airplay Christmas Song:
31 Brenda Lee “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”

Christmas Songs on the Download Chart:
29 Mariah Carey “All I Want For Christmas is You” 39,556 (94%; lw 20,437) Total: 1,000,778 (59) **NOW PLATINUM**
65 Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Eve/Sarajevo 12/24″ 20,725 (110%; lw 9,888) Total: 398,324 (109)
84 Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Christmas Canon” 15,696 (106%; lw 7,637) Total: 311,789 (145)
92 Brenda Lee “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” 14,222 (122%; lw 6,419) Total: 334,154 (181)
94 Nat King Cole “Christmas Song” 13,687 (122%; lw 6,174) Total: 241,120 (191)
99 Bobby Helms “Jingle Bell Rock” 13,305 (133%; lw 5,722) Total: 258,062 (OFF)
104 Dean Martin “Baby It’s Cold Outside” 12,847 (150%; lw 5,141) Total: 155,019 (OFF)
108 Enya “O Come, O Come, Emmanual” 12,572 (9%; lw 11,524) Total: 38,846 (95)
115 Bruce Springsteen “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town” 11,438 (140%; lw 4,756) Total: 210,045 (OFF)
120 Michael Buble “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow” 11,161 (109%; lw 5,348) Total: 161,775 (OFF)
122 Jose Feliciano “Feliz Navidad” 10,929 (144%; lw 4,478) Total: 277,269 (OFF)
128 Faith Hill “Where are You Christmas?” 10,428 (68%; lw 6,197) Total: 294,853 (189)
129 Bing Crosby “White Christmas” 10,426 (100%; lw 5,224) Total: 277,875 (OFF)
142 Burl Ives “Holly Jolly Christmas” 9,595 (135%; lw 4,075) Total: 196,222 (OFF)
157 Eartha Kitt “Santa Baby” 8,824 (98%; lw 4,456) Total: 259,867 (OFF)
174 George Micheal “Last Christmas” 8,171 (94%; lw 4,202) Total: 219,453 (OFF)
177 Elvis Presley “Blue Christmas” 8,129 (116%; lw 3,756) Total: 215,295 (OFF)
190 Andy Williams “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” 7,667 (108%; lw 3,692) Total: 154,528 (OFF)
194 Adam Sandler “Thaksgiving Song” 7,543 (189%; lw 2,607) Total: 109,878 (OFF)
195 Chris Brown “This Christmas” 7,489 (76%; lw 4,248) Total: 141,516 (OFF)

Kirsten, what is the top 10 streaming chart? I havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t heard of it before. Where is it found?

Just as cruzceleste explained, it’s a measure of the number of people who listen on-line. Sometimes the rankings leak.

Billboard figures that people listening on-line is an indication of how popular the song is. People wouldn’t spend their time listening to a song they do not like. So, the streaming chart contributes to the Hot 100 Chart. It counts for 5% of the total (airplay accounts for 55% and sales account for 40%).

Not all streaming sources are counted. The two major contributors to these stats are AOL and Yahoo! (they were the original ones). They need to figure out a way to count YouTube plays too, IMO (because that’s the first place I go to watch videos).

christmas music has taken over the AC charts… lol lol

btw I love love this one:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Eve/Sarajevo 12/24à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ³

BURL IVES FTW!!!!!!

I think that you can definitely see at least vaguely the impact that “complete your album”/preorders had on LO. Before the week that DCTR went on sale at itunes, it was right around #67 with about 21K in sales. The week after DCTR wen on sale, it’s at #67 with 20,300. The week that DCTR went on sale? 11K We don’t know the actual amount that complete your album affected things—we’d need the raw sales last week, which I suspect were a bit higher (although probably not startingly so) than 21K. But it does seem clear that LO took a hit last week.

^Well at least Cook’s album is kicking butt…that’s what really matters.

Billboard’s summary article is out, which includes placements for the top 20, and rounded numbers for some of them:

The chart:
1. Kanye West 450,000 (debut)
2. Taylor Swift 267,000 ( 23%)
3. GnR 261,000 (debut)
4. Beyonce 257,000 (-47%)
5. Ludacris 213,000 (debut)
6. Killers 193,000 (debut)
7. Nickelback
8. Twilight
9. Now 29
10. DCTR
11. HSM3
12. AC/DC
13. Il Divo
14. Barry Manilow 78,000 (debut)
15. Coldplay 77,000 (debut)
16. TI
17. Faith Hill
18 Enya
19. DATR
20. Pink

HDD was about 10K too low on Taylor Swift, about 6K too low on TI and GnR, about 3K too low on the Killers, about 2K too low on Beyonce, and about 6K too high on Coldplay. It was spot on for placement with two exceptions: Coldplay is #15, not #13, and DATR and Enya swapped places.

Does this chart count for anything?
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/hotweb/aol_music.jsp

10. DCTR
19. DATR

Just to translate for those readers that do not read the David Cook Official website:

DCTR = David Cook The Record
DATR = David Archuleta The Record

From Billboard.com:

After debuting at No. 2 last week, Nickelback’s “Dark Horse” (Roadrunner) slips to No. 7 on a 46% decline to 178,000. Chop Shop/Atlantic’s soundtrack to the runaway hit film “Twilight” falls 6-8 with 162,000 ( 29%) while the multi-label “Now 29″ hits compilation earns a 26% sales increase to 145,000, slipping 7-9. David Cook’s self-titled 19 Recordings/RCA debut rounds out the top tier, descending 3-10 with 112,000 (-60%).

Does this chart count for anything?

Wow! What a great find. It’s not often that BB puts up actual numbers.

What that looks like is the audio streams for two weeks ago (it says it ends on Nov 13th which is odd becaues that is a Thurdsay). Although, those are only the ones from AOL, AOL is one of the big players so it’s great to see their numbers.

Thanks for bringing it here. It’s so great how everybody can contribute here.

I’ll put those numbers up in the top post.

David Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s self-titled 19 Recordings/RCA debut rounds out the top tier, descending 3-10 with 112,000 (-60%).

Hmmmmm…so another 4,000?

It is true. After posting the list at DCO, I did cut and paste it to bring over here. If y’all don’t like the acronyms, I could avoid doing such cross-posting in the future.

Thanks for the update from billboard, MJ.

Congratulations to both Davids, staying in the Top 10 and Top 20!

Kanye’s #’s have got to be disappointing some people- even with Black Friday weekend, a performance on the AMAs, and winning 2 awards there, he still sold less than half of what his last album did in its first week. Makes you appreciate the Davids totals even more.

If yà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like the acronyms, I could avoid doing such cross-posting in the future.

No, it’s fine. Thanks for bringing over the rankings. Any numbers are good numbers. I just figured that those that don’t read David Cook’s Offical site might be a little confused becaues those acronyms aren’t used as commonly over here. Just clarifying.

David Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s self-titled 19 Recordings/RCA debut rounds out the top tier, descending 3-10 with 112,000 (-60%).

Heh, I was worried the real stats would be lower than the HDD prediction, so I’m very happy to see DCTR gain 4K compared to what was rumourd.
392K total after two weeks is great in my book. I think it’s great in any book these days, really.

If yà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like the acronyms, I could avoid doing such cross-posting in the future.

Love the acronyms, especially since the light bulb came on for me last week, when I heard Cookie say something about THE RECORD. Hehe. Very innovative.

392K total after two weeks is great in my book

Yes, it is.

wow, crush is doing awesome as usual. awesome for archie bb. and phew, DCTR didn’t go down from the hdd predictions. i was worried about that!

Oh cool Kristen! I’m glad I found something useful. I found it by accident browsing through the BB site and I was all wtf!? I wonder how long that’s been around? I would have loved to have seen some older stream stats.

19. DATR

Can someone post the actual numbers for DATR? Did it stay at about 68K ( 8% from last week), 317K total for three weeks like HDD predicted yesterday?

I would have loved to have seen some older stream stats.

Same here. I’ve bookmarked it, so I can watch it over the coming weeks. I love being told about new stats, so thanks again!

Can someone post the actual numbers for DATR? Did it stay at about 68K ( 8% from last week), 317K total for three weeks like HDD predicted yesterday?

I think we have to wait for Ken Barnes to post the album numbers (they SS numbers often leak, but generally not until this evening or later). Ken usually posts in about 4 hours.

Interesting bit:

Billboard senior correspondent Ed Christman… “…In the history of SoundScan, pop artists generally don’t have big first weeks. The pop fan is more casual. They go out and get the album when they get the album. It’s fans of either metal bands or rap acts who are frantic for the record à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  salivating à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  that run out the first day to get the record. So, there are plenty of big albums that have gone on to sell 6 million records that didn’t sell 1 million the first week, and Britney falls into that pop category.”

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600552/20081202/spears_britney.jhtml

DCTR = David Cook The Record
DATR = David Archuleta The Record

I for one didn’t know what those acronyms stood for, so I appreciate Kirsten’s clarification. I had seen “DCTR” used many times in these threads. I assumed it was referring to David Cook’s album because of the context it was used in, but I never knew what the TR stood for. LOL! But now I do. Thanks!

Love the acronyms! especially since DC always refers to the album as The Record!
I also like puzzles so it’s interesting to me to figure out what the letters stand for. I never could figure out what YMMV meant until someone asked and was given the answer. Ah! The internet! Gotta love it!

From that article that frogcooke posted, it said the following:

“While 300,000 records might not sound like a lot for an artist as well-known as Spears, in this economic climate, it’s tremendous.”

So I guess if they think 300,000 is tremendous for Britney (a well known artist), then for Cook (a debut artist), his numbers for his first week really are amazing!

Yeah Mac 280k is good for cook lol I dont think anyone is saying otherwise.

Also I think since it’s talking about pop, 300k is great for a pop album sales.

^^ Wow Froggie is really a interesting article, thanks for posting

10. COOK*DAVID DAVID COOK 111,623 -60 279,578 391,435
19. ARCHULETA*DAVID DAVID ARCHULETA 66,175 0 66,417 315,716

Numbers for the Davids. (I should be finishing my paper for class, lol)

So I guess if they think 300,000 is tremendous for Britney (a well known artist), then for Cook (a debut artist), his numbers for his first week really are amazing!

LOL. Let’s not put words in Ed Christman’s mouth. He said that it was terrific for Britney because she is a pop artist. The article also say that Ken Trakin from Hits thinks Kanye’s numbers wern’t as high as they should be.

So, if you put Cook in Brit’s category (whatever that category she may be – pop stars that shave their heads?) then he did MEGA AWESOME. If you put him in Kanye’s category (you probably need your head examined), he did pretty good.

As tinawina pointed out in the Mediabase thread, comparing artists is hard. These experts get paid good money for their opinions and even they sometimes get it wrong. I am not a fan of Britney. I don’t get her appeal at all. But after the DISASTEROUS couple of years she’s had and the damage she has done to her own persona, I think that 300K is awesome for her. Kanye, well, it was a little disappointing (Kanye is so going to beat on MJs. Join the line-up Kanye). I wish Britney all the luck in the world in straightening out her life.

280K for Cook is also awesome. I don’t think you have to filter it through the lens of Britney to think that. I think everybody acknowledges that 280K is great.

Thanks for bringing the article over frogcooke because it points out that the music industry is not homogeneous and that there are different ways to evaluate the success of an album. These articles are always interesting.

DCTR = David Cook The Record
DATR = David Archuleta The Record

Shouldn’t DA’s album be DATA, though, for “Album” instead of “Record”? The Cookies call DCTR that because we used to call it THE Record (at least we did on TWoP) before it was known to be self titled.
I guess DATR was named the same by association? LOL

Thanks tony!

Thanks Tony!

Thanks, Tony! This is a lot earlier than I anticipated seeing the exact numbers.

Shouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t DAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album be DATA, though, for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Albumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  instead of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Recordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ?

LOL. That would be a fun acronym. I was just translating, but I like DATA.

lol at DATA… lol does it have a positronic(sp?) net?

Thank you Tony

Here is where I reveal myself to be a Britney fan LOL I think 300k for her is pretty incredible, if she sells more even better. Girl has been through hell and back the last couple of years and I feared for a while she lost a lot of fans due to her very public mental breakdown. The fact that she could sell that many her first week as a pop artist and as someone really trying to relaunch her career in this lousy economy, I think it’s great. I like Kanye too as an artist and I find this is his weakest CD and I’m still a little surprised by his numbers. I thought he would have at least sold more than 500,000. He must be bitching up a storm.

Nice article and all, I can understand what they’re saying but to me it seems more like it was written to justify Brit’s sales and why they might not be as big as some people would expect. I feel like the media is jumping in a positive Britney train, like trying to give her a break or something. Sasha Fierce is also Pop and sold almost 500K in her first week, in a week with probably lower sales than Brit’s first week.

Seems like HHD was a bit off, but still pretty good for both Davids.
Thanks for all the numbers and links everyone.

I like Kanye too and I find this is his weakest CD and Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m still a little surprised by his numbers. I thought he would have at least sold more than 500,000.

Guess he can’t be Elvis….

lol at DATAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ lol does it have a positronic(sp?) net?

Points for the TNG reference!!!

I admit, I watched the Britney special on MTV this weekend :redface_wp: I’m kind of rooting for her to have a comeback, if only for the sake of her kids. Some of the snippets of songs they played sounded catchy, I might have to check it out. Anyway glad she’s looking to open well.

Kanye’s numbers actually don’t surprise me, he’s seemed very lowkey since his mom died. Certainly there hasn’t been the hype around this cd like there was around Graduation (remember that whole “rivalry” with 50 Cent and who would outsell who that week? I think that drove a lot of those mega sales). Plus Love Lockdown was just not that great a song imo…the followup that came out recently is better.

Great numbers for both Davids, good job DA holding steady this week Let’s hope they stay stable through the holiday shopping season and hoping for a couple of Gold records by the end of the year…

I like DATA too…made me think StarTrek

paper done

10 COOK*DAVID DAVID COOK 111,623 -60 279,578 391,435
19 ARCHULETA*DAVID DAVID ARCHULETA 66,175 0 66,417 315,716
56 UNDERWOOD*CARRIE CARNIVAL RIDE 21,199 29 16,459 2,470,017
62 HUDSON*JENNIFER JENNIFER HUDSON 18,786 -11 20,996 474,418
109 DAUGHTRY DAUGHTRY 8,815 36 6,477 4,295,459
140 PICKLER*KELLIE KELLIE PICKLER 7,103 16 6,104 114,111

Am I missing anyone? (Jordin’s still off the chart, apparently)

Thanks again Tony!

Look at JHud, steadily working her way to gold.

I try not to compare artists I like to Britney. It would either result in me bashing the quality of her music or wanting to bash my head against the wall if she outperforms one of my favorites. [I am, you might say, not a fan.]

I still think that MJs has time to increase the fortifications before Kanye turns his attention away from Stephen Colbert and over to us. I mean, Colbert suggested last night that his Xmas record topping Kanye was necessary in order to prevent Kanye’s head from getting so large that it literally exploded. I actually didn’t like the Colbert Xmas special, and I’m tempted to buy the soundtrack just because of this little stunt.

BB charts are great. I’ve been following David on Billboard Buzz100 and he had been in 50-60s or higher constantly in the past months. Today he is again at top 50.

http://billboard.cgmsearch.com/billboardBuzz_1.html

Acronyms FTW! In light of DCTR, I think he should call the band DCTB (David Cook the Band), but then I can’t choose…

FYI, Many ancient languages didn’t use vowels, which I find quite interesting in today’s virtual online world speak, but then YMMV and we wouldn’t be able to LOL on the internet if this were ancient times. Sorry for the OT.

Yeah Mac 280k is good for cook lol I dont think anyone is saying otherwise.

Sorry if you misunderstood me. I didn’t mean to imply anyone was saying otherwise. I was just expressing my own happiness with Cook’s numbers! Both Davids are doing great.

ah ok Mac and yeah they are both doing great!

DCTR is listed as POP on iTunes. Just throwing that out there to add to the quagmire of Britney comparisons. In other news, yay Cook! And nice job, other Idol people! Overall, it’s good to see the Davids holding their own in a crappy economic climate. Must slightly suck to be season 7 winner and runner up rather than, say, season 2.

A casual aside…Have any of you guys ever tried arguing the validity of BCS rankings on a college football message board? THis discussion is so civil by comparison. (My alma mater has one loss and has won it’s conference’s championship, yet is ranked below a few other one loss teams who have yet to win their conference title. Why? “Style points”, for one, which we used to call running up the score pre-BCS, and it never used to be a positive thing. :rolleyes_tb:. Frickin frackin BCS mumble mumble…)

I think we called DC’s album THE Record because DC himself kept using that term “record”. Must be a Midwest thing because I would be calling it an album myself. I’m a West Coaster, so maybe it’s a regional thing?

On the Billboard article:
“In the history of SoundScan, pop artists generally donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have big first weeks. The pop fan is more casual. They go out and get the album when they get the album.”

I agree with leome and others upthread who are reading the article as a big old excuse for why Britney is not selling more. I mean just two weeks ago, we had Beyonce selling a lot more than Britney. And I get that Britney’s had the meltdown and all, but she’s been getting TONS of publicity lately — most of it very positive — so I thought a lot more of her fans would come out and support her album. I’m not a big fan (even pre-breakdown) so I’d really prefer it if she just went away. But I’m sure I’m in the minority.

I have a question. If an album has been out for over 1 year and it falls out of the Billboard 200, can it re-enter the chart? I know that once an album has been out for 18 months and it falls below #100 it goes to the catolog chart, but what about if it has only been out for 12 months and it falls off the Billboard 200? Thanks!

I would have loved to have seen some older stream stats.

Same here. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve bookmarked it, so I can watch it over the coming weeks. I love being told about new stats, so thanks again!

Kirsten, you wanted some older stream stats. Here are some stats that someone else screencapped.

Sept. 25, 2008

Oct. 2, 2008

Thank you jan! How long has that chart been around? And holy crap at LO’s early streams :shock_tb:

I think we called DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album THE Record because DC himself kept using that term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“recordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ .

Yup, that’s why. That’s the reason I was scratching my head over DATR.
Personally English isn’t my first language, so I really didn’t know the use of “record” was less common until I saw DC fans comment on his use of it.
Of course, now for most of us it’s the ONLY appropriate way to refer to it, so I guess therein lies some irony.

I know that once an album has been out for 18 months and it falls below #100 it goes to the catolog chart, but what about if it has only been out for 12 months and it falls off the Billboard 200?

I’m a little puzzled by the recurrent rules for the Top 200. As you can see above, Daughtry has been at 109 for the past couple of weeks and it certainly has been out longer than 18 months (the rule was recently chagne from 2 years to 18 months, but now it is even out longer than 2 years). I think there is some rule about how your singles are doing that can keep you from going to catalogue.

I think if you fall of the Billboard 200, all you have to do is sell enough to get back on it if you have not been out for 18 months. I’ve seen CDs slide back and forth across that boundary.

So, yes please, if somebody knows the recurrent rules for the BB200 chart, please post.

Kirsten, you wanted some older stream stats. Here are some stats that someone else screencapped.

Thanks jan! Always great to see the stats.

Here are some stats tony posted elsewhere about the Sales of those albums in the top 200:

Number of Units moved by the Top 200 this week: 5,499,461
Number of Units moved by the Top 200 last week: 4,133,652 (up 33%)
Number of Units moved by the Top 200 this year: 95,871,360 (5.7% of albums sold this year in the top 200)

I mean just two weeks ago, we had Beyonce selling a lot more than Britney.

I can’t believe I’m defending Britney, but Brit and Bee are not totally in the same genre. Beyonce crosses over between pop and R&B and the article was careful to point out that different genres follow different sales patterns. Britney doesn’t get any play on R&B (much to the disgust of some of her fans that are chart watchers).

Different genres follow different sales patterns. For instance, a country album could sell very well and it’s singles do great on the radio, but those singles don’t sell all that well unless they cross-over. The albums will also tend to sell better at Walmart than they will sell at Amazon. It doesn’t mean there is something hinky with the Country numbers. It doesn’t mean that Carrie is a flop if her singles don’t all go double platinum. It doesn’t mean that people are making excuses for country. It doesn’t even mean that people hate your Idol. It just means that different genres have to be evaluated a little differently.

I doubt that senior staff of Hits and Billboard are going to risk their reputations to make Britney look good. They could just no comment. Brit has had a terrible couple of years. I think she’s being evaluated given her circumstances. I wish her luck.

^I guess that’s why it’s so important to note what genre different artists are in when discussing sales numbers.

On a different note, one of the Billboard articles noted that this week’s numbers was down 0.7% from the same week last year. I hadn’t focused on it, but I saw a post elsewhere that noted that this compares 2008′s Black Friday week with 2007′s week after Black Friday. Ouch.

Does anyone know what the usuall drop off is between BF and the week following? Is there a known percentage like there is with 1st to 2nd week sales etc.?

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/22500/week-ending-nov-30-2008-wests-numbers-head-south/

Blog on this week’s sales numbers.

A twitter update from Kanye West…

LOL!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, MJ! That literally made me LOL. Really loud.

^lol at Kanye West… MJ or Kirsten, do you think you will get a shot out like that…

^lol at Kanye Westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ MJ or Kirsten, do you think you will get a shot out like thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

I think we are so FAR below his radar, that he won’t even wonder who we are because he will never hear of us.

LOL at Kanye. He has the best fueds and reactions.

I know this is a sales thread, and not a radio thread, but whatever. lol. DA has his first official top 10 on AC–Crush is #10 the Adult Contemporary Tracks Chart (the Nielson chart that Billboard publishes). Probably won’t last long as they are allowing new Christmas songs to chart and Carrie’s “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” is coming up fast. AC gets ridiculous with Christmas songs each December. No Christmas recurrents are charting, though, which is good for DC because he fell to #2 on the mediabase chart because of Josh Groban, but he stays at #1 on the Nielson-based BB chart because Groban doesn’t qualify to chart this year.

Thanks for that link FolkFan.

This is encouraging:

“It’s the first debut album by an American Idol contestant to log two or more weeks in the top 10 since Daughtry, which was released two years ago. Since then, debut albums by Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis and David Archuleta all logged a single week in the top 10.”

A twitter update from Kanye Westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

LOL!

:lol_tb:

Does anyone know what the usuall drop off is between BF and the week following? Is there a known percentage like there is with 1st to 2nd week sales etc.?

I don’t know if there is any usual this year in week-to-week numbers.

Here is what they were like last year:

Thanksgiving Week minus 1: 11.72 million units
Thanksgiving Week: 13.96 million units (19%)
Thanksgiving Week plus 1: 12.26 million units (-12.1%)
Thanksgiving Week plus 2: 14.45 million units (17.9%)
Thanksgiving Week plus 3: 17.98 million units (24.4%)
Thanksgiving Week plus 4: 25.57 million units (42%)
Christmas Week (fell on a Tuesday): 14.51 million (-43.2%)

Ken Barnes has the complete Idol album numbers up.

I was wondering whether these sales figures are only US or worldwide? I ask because I noticed that both David’s albums are available in the UK (web and retail stores). I’m sure they are also available in other countries as well.

I was wondering whether these sales figures are only US or worldwide? I ask because I noticed that both Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s albums are available in the UK (web and retail stores). Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sure they are also available in other countries as well.

Just the US. There are worldwide charts, and some countries release their own charts. I think DA’s album was just released to physical stores in the UK this past week. Not sure about DC’s. Jive started pushing Jordin in the UK a few months back, so I don’t expect a push for DA for a little while.

LMAO at Kanye.

Sorry dude, I gotta go Team Colbert. Bwah.

Light On is really doing well and for Tuesday, LO averaged 24 spins an hour — that equates to 576 spins. Remember the days when we thought 100 was great, and the celebration when we hit 200 and how we had to stop counting at 300 because it was too much to keep up with? Now we’re closing in on 600 spins a day. LO had nearly 4000 spins on Top 40 and HAC combined this week on All Access/Mediabase. I heard LO on the radio 14 times today.

In mediabase on HAC it is 11 and on Top 40 No. 30. Slow and steady is what makes the hit. It was the right single and I always knew it.

DCTR is still at No. 20 on itunes and 4 on pop and holding steady as ever and is keeping his positions steady at all other venues. Remember there has been a 30% decrease on sales of cd’s from last year and still he has attained 400,000 in two weeks. Daughtry was 450,000 in two weeks.

David I am so proud to be a fan of yours. I love the album and so do all my friends and family.

Thanks soundscene. I’d be curious to see the reception in terms of early non-US sales given that AI7 was broadcast all over the place and both DA and DC seemed to get a great reception from fans across the world.

These are only USA figures or ordered from Amazon.com any others extras will show up on World charts. Britain delivered to me on 27 November 2008.

Kanye West’s twitter made my day!

Ken Barnes just outed himself as an Archie.

Ken Barnes just outed himself as an Archie.

LOL. I love all these conspiracies on the net that people are closet Archie’s.

Yes, it’s true. There is a secret organization out to promote Archie! We even have our own secret hand shake. And we induct new members with a secret rite. Obviously, because it is a secret rite, I can’t tell you about it, but let’s just say that it involves oreo cookies and a glass of milk, but it’s not as sinister as it sounds. Ken Barnes sent me a coded message two weeks ago on his very Idol Chatter blog. That is how we know he is one of us. Most people thought it was an innocent quoting of sources, but if you were a cryptographer, you would have easily been able to read what he was REALLY saying (hint, it involved Triple DES). What many do not know is that Obama is our Manchurian candidate. Expect to start seeing phrases from Archie’s songs start popping up in Obama’s speeches (just you watch, the “Touch My Hand” quote will stun the audience). We are also in the process of gaining control of the nations telecommunication satellites. Do not be alarmed. We come in peace.

The world is not divided into Archies and Cookies. If both guys have super successful albums, they will sell 6 million each. That means that there will be like 300 million Americans that own neither album (what is the US population these days anyway?).

Ken Barnes is the head music editor for an international newspaper. I don’t think he’s playing favourites. He didn’t even really say anything pro or against anybody today, so I’m kind of surprised at this claim. Hopefully, the OP is just joking around based on all the other nonsense that has been floating around recently. If people were Archies, they would probably be open about it and they would actually own the album. I would take people at their word.

ROFL Kirsten. Yeah, I think the OP was a joke.

It is, Kristen. Your post is awesome as always.

I am completely smitten. I will offer you a super calculator if you go with me.

And we induct new members with a secret rite. Obviously, because it is a secret rite, I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t tell you about it, but letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s just say that it involves oreo cookies and a glass of milk, but ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not as sinister as it sounds.

What many do not know is that Obama is our Manchurian candidate. Expect to start seeing phrases from Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s songs start popping up in Obamaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s speeches (just you watch, the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Touch My Handà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  quote will stun the audience). We are also in the process of gaining control of the nations telecommunication satellites. Do not be alarmed. We come in peace.

this just lol….specially the part about the Obama ´s speeches…

I may be wrong, but I think domi is an Archie, so I sort of doubt that was an accusation… LOL

LOL Kirsten, very creative. ^^^

I will sheepishly admit to reading some of Ken’s past work and taking away the very distinct impression that he likes Archie’s music more than he likes Cook’s. Let’s be fair though, nearly everyone likes one David’s music better than the other’s even if a person likes them both — not surprising given the difference in the types, styles, genres. That is not to say his work is biased, just comparatively tinted.

But then again, these shade gradations are only truly visable through Cookie eyes, so it would not surprise me if they were invisible to you.

:devil_tb:

LOL j/k and btw, in Ken’s album numbers blog today, I didn’t see it so much as I have in the past. As always, YMMV.

ETA: Speaking of color… color me the sucker who fell for it! Oops… Oh well, itsgotta happen sometime or another!

I think we called DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album THE Record because DC himself kept using that term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“recordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . Must be a Midwest thing because I would be calling it an album myself. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m a West Coaster, so maybe ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a regional thing?

Weirdly enough, I think it might actually be partially a British thing. I always hear/read the 19A-Z people referring to albums as records (especially Simon). But who knows, really. lol.

A twitter update from Kanye Westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

LOL!

LOL. And that really did make me lol. I love Kanye. He totally cracks me up.

Congrats Idols on the sales! Now, let’s just keep it up!

Speaking of Ken, he’s got his downloads post up here.

Ken Barnes just outed himself as an Archie.

I guess I didn’t see anything wrong with what Ken posted, and I am a Cook fan.

So ALNTOY sold 25k so far

So ALNTOY sold 25k so far

I like that start. It’s going to have a regular rise on iTunes, not a “Crush” rise.

ALTNOY is going for radio adds next Tuesday, although we know that may not mean much, especially at this time of year.

LOL at Kanye’s Twitter.

Okay, ‘fess up. How many bought Colbert’s album this afternoon? (I couldn’t resist buying it. I’m a lifetime member of Colbert Nation!)

No Christmas recurrents are charting, though, which is good for DC because he fell to #2 on the mediabase chart because of Josh Groban, but he stays at #1 on the Nielson-based BB chart because Groban doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t qualify to chart this year.

Is this because Groban’s song is a recurrent, or is there some other reason he’s not eligible? Good news for TOML, anyway, if it gives it another week at #1.

“Expect to start seeing phrases from Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s songs start popping up in Obamaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s speeches (just you watch, the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Touch My Handà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  quote will stun the audience)”

I can’t believe nobody has picked up that Obama’s “Yes We Can” is a not-so-coded response to the future Archie hit “You Can.”

I guess I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see anything wrong with what Ken posted, and I am a Cook fan. What did he say that was controversial?

Seemed to be a sarcastic post to kinda make fan of Cook fans or something… I kinda lost the joke, I’ve never heard anything bad about Ken. Other than that I don’t think Ken said anything wrong, besides a couple of wrong facts noted by an Archie fan in his article.

No numbers again for Time Of My Life…

Is this because Grobanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s song is a recurrent, or is there some other reason heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not eligible? Good news for TOML, anyway, if it gives it another week at #1.

Well, I assume it’s a recurrent (I’m just using that term; whether it technically is or not, it was released more than a year ago). It doesn’t show up on Nielson’s chart but it has a very strong showing on mediabase. There’s actually a bunch of older Christmas songs that Nielson aren’t allowing to chart. Otherwise the Nielson chart would look like it got whacked with a 200 pound Christmas wreath like the mediabase chart does.

I am completely smitten. I will offer you a super calculator if you go with me.

Now we are talking. Just name the place.

“Now we are talking. Just name the place.”

OMG! *Happy Dance*

What we have is so speshel, people can be jellis-oh.

Is this because Grobanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s song is a recurrent, or is there some other reason heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not eligible?

Christmas songs go recurrent after one year. I think it’s an attempt to try to filter out the Christmas deluge every year. Otherwise, Burl Ives would still be charting (love the guy, but he’s not exactly current).

Seemed to be a sarcastic post to kinda make fan of Cook fans or something

No. No. 99.99% fans of Cook are sane. Nice people. I would never make fun of another fan base. But, there is a tiny segment of crazy, militant Cook fans who have recently started seeing closet Archie’s behind every post that does not praise Cookie (just to be safe: Cookie is awesome. And so is Kanye), so I was just pointing out how that’s a little unreasonable. I imagine that most Cookie’s would agree that the closet Archie hunt is a little bizarre. Right? Most Idol fans are sane. There are few crazy ones in every fanbase.

Anyway, turned out that was not the case in this particular case (probably helps that MJ runs a tight ship and doesn’t let these things get out of hand on this site), but I got to have fun dreaming up what a secret rite in an underground Archie society would be like. I shall have to make one up for the underground Cookie society too. For some reason, I think it involves beer and popcorn.

Anyway, turned out that was not the case in this particular case

Well, IDK, but as a Cook fan, I too saw nothing wrong with what Ken wrote. I guess I won’t get my crazy militant membership card in the mail? LOL

I honestly never saw people blaming anyone for being a closet Archie, I’ve been missing out, obviously.
Most Archies I know are proud and very much out of the closet. So are most Cookies.

No. No. 99.99% fans of Cook are sane. Nice people. I would never make fun of another fan base. But, there are a tiny segment of crazy, militant Cook fans who have recently started seeing closet Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s behind every post that does not praise Cookie (just to be safe: Cookie is awesome. And so is Kanye), so I was just pointing out how thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a little unreasonable. I imagine that most Cookieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s would agree that the closet Archie hunt is a little bizarre. Right? Most Idol fans are sane. There are few crazy ones in every fanbase.

Kanye is not awesome!
LOL yeah, I actually knew what you meant and I agree, I think it’s in every fanbase. And I know some don’t like you, so it probably becomes a bit personal for you, which I’m sure can be a bit frustrating. So I think I understand where you coming from.
But I’ve never heard anything about Ken, that’s why this time I just wasn’t getting it. Ken has actually said some nice things about Cook. It’s not like Cook fans can complain much about the media. For the most part the press is pretty good, they could be a lot worst.
(sorry for the OT MJ)

I shall have to make one up for the underground Cookie society too. For some reason, I think it involves beer and popcorn.

I believe Cheez-its are the snack food of choice. :wink_wp:

domi Dec 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm

LOL. I love all these conspiracies on the net that people are closet Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s.

It was like a game of tee ball. Set it up, knock it out. haha (tm DA)

Oh, and a David Cook secret ritual involving food? Would depend on whether you were trying to impress a trainer (salmon and asparagus) or not (taquitos, beer, and cheez-its).

Kanye is not awesome!

Shh….keep it down. Kanye probably has interns who scour the internet looking for references to his name. Why do you think he has an unusual spelling for his name?

For the most part the press is pretty good, they could be a lot worst.

I think that the press is good because he deserves it. He’s talented, he’s in a popular genre and he creates interesting arrangements. He also has a great voice.

Ken has been accused of a lot of things over the years. You should have seen when the Season 6 download stats came out. Some fans wanted MJ to set him straight. Like he isn’t the source for half our stats. Ken has his favourites, but he does a good job of balancing that and reporting the facts (considering part of his blog is intended to be personal opinions on performances). Some people also don’t like his opinions. You should have seen how he got fried when he mentioned that he was a Grammy voter and he didn’t think Carrie counts as a new artist.

I believe Cheez-its are the snack food of choice.

Hmmm…I like Cheez-its. Where do I sign up for the secret Cookie society?

Some Hot 100 numbers have come out:

LW TW
23 27 DAVID ARCHULETA CRUSH
25 33 HUDSON*JENNIFER SPOTLIGHT-REMIXES
36 44 CARRIE UNDERWOOD JUST A DREAM
91 60 DAVID COOK LIGHT ON

Those were all that I saw on there.

Nice jump for LO! So I guess last week’s numbers were affected by the “preorder now and get the single” deal.

eta: oh, Kanye. I would have taken part in the Colbert coordinated buy-a-thon today if I weren’t broke from buying moving boxes (those things’ are freakin expensive)

Huh? I read the USA Today blog and I’m not sure why the defensive posturing of it is warranted. It seemed innocuous from all sides.

The twitter link is funny. Thanks for bringing that over.

Colbert hasn’t managed to hit #1 on the itunes chart, but it is at #3—one spot ahead of Kanye West.

Colbert hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t managed to hit #1 on the itunes chart, but it is at #3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ one spot ahead of Kanye West.

OMG, Kanye is gonna be pissed. Think he’ll blame us? LOL! It would be a coup for MJ’s. I mean quoted in the national news is one thing, but a feud with Kanye would be HUGE!

Yay, what a breath of fresh air this thread has been! Gotta love a happy thread! Good numbers, christmas songs, acronyms, twitter, secret societies and snack foods of choice FTW! It’s great when we can ALL SING ALONG (TM, A Daily AntheM)!

ROFLMBO @ Kanye.

Colbert FTW.

Oh, and I hope I’m not too late to weigh in on the Record thing. Wouldn’t that be a Retro thing? Maybe? Maybe British and Retro? I remember back from top 3 week in one of the hometown interviews that he liked retro, because there was a cassette tape on one of hometown names for his fans…LOL, I’m surprised my brain has room for much more in life.

thanks for all the work people, a request, is there any way to get the magic rainbow numbers for this week and last?

Great news for David Cook! So very close to 400K, with lots more great sales weeks to come.

tomsuzuki: I asked Ken Barnes, but haven’t heard back. Given the Rainbow’s placement on itunes and Amazon relative to ths DC songs that Ken did report on, I can’t imagine that it didn’t sell as many copies as those other songs.

LOL @ Colbert. But I really can’t imagine buying his album. Great marketing ploy by him though, should be pretty telling when all is said and done!

FolkFan: I would think Magic Rainbows numbers are affected by “complete my album,” on itunes. It counts as well as Light On for David Cook. If you have downloaded both singles you can complete your album for $8.01. Given that ToML is only selling in the thousands these days and that the album is still selling well on itunes, that may be affecting sales numbers.

tomsuzuki….just go to Idol Chatter and email Ken Barnes with your question. I emailed him last week to inquire about ALTNOY downloads the week prior, and he answered me by putting them in his post today. He got my name wrong though, I emailed him under judynohio and in the article he called me jaclynohio, lol. Anyway, even though they got my name wrong, hope they got the numbers right! lol (Archie has sold 25,000 downloads of ALTNOY to date)

Ken Barnes posted that…

What About Now, as mentioned above, is at 486,000. What I Want has sold 112,000. Feels Like Tonight’s total is 588,000. Over You is over a million, 1.1 million, to be more precise. Home has sold 1.60 million. And It’s Not Over, thanks to a couple of big-selling versions, has totaled a bit more than 3 million; the main version is at 1.9 million. Overall, he’s the top male Idol in the category of downloads, in the 7 million neighborhood.

Does anyone know what the additional versions were? Could it really have sold more than 3 million?

That was part of my point—I think that last week, it went into negative numbers, but this week, it should have recovered and I’d think it would have positive numbers. Unless he sold enough David Cook this week on itunes to people who had previously bought the Rainbow…. It’s possible—he was generally around Stephen Colbert this week on itunes, and Colbert’s numbers (if all generated on itunes) might have been enough to offset all of the Rainbow’s sales this week. I still suspect that there should have been net positive numbers this week, but I guess that it’s possible.

Best Buy is going to have DC’s album on sale next week for $9.99. Hope that will help with sales!

USA TODAY also had this post about Daughtry.
Overall, he’s the top male Idol in the category of downloads, in the 7 million neighborhood.

That is very cool.
Glad to see so many idols doing well.

Does anyone know what the additional versions were? Could it really have sold more than 3 million?

the single, cd and an acoustic version

the single, cd and an acoustic version

Usually, the first two would be reported under a single entry. They are on the SS reports we see leaked.

I’ve often wondered about that—if someone puts out an acoustic version of a song previously released by that same artist as non-acoustic, is it treated as a separate song? Or counted with the non-acoustic version as a single song?

Usually, the first two would be reported under a single entry. They are on the SS reports we see leaked.

I know. Someone asked what different versions and those are the ones I remember on itunes.

thanks for all the answers, will look to usatoday for the answers.

Yes, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s true. There is a secret organization out to promote Archie! We even have our own secret hand shake. And we induct new members with a secret rite. Obviously, because it is a secret rite, I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t tell you about it, but letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s just say that it involves oreo cookies and a glass of milk, but ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not as sinister as it sounds. Ken Barnes sent me a coded message two weeks ago on his very Idol Chatter blog. That is how we know he is one of us. Most people thought it was an innocent quoting of sources, but if you were a cryptographer, you would have easily been able to read what he was REALLY saying (hint, it involved Triple DES). What many do not know is that Obama is our Manchurian candidate. Expect to start seeing phrases from Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s songs start popping up in Obamaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s speeches (just you watch, the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Touch My Handà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  quote will stun the audience). We are also in the process of gaining control of the nations telecommunication satellites. Do not be alarmed. We come in peace.

I am sorry, Kirsten, but you have disclosed way too much information. I am compelled to report you to the mother ship.

O/T but since we were talking about Britney’s sales yesterday. HDD is now projecting 450k for her. Much higher than that initial article yesterday. Kickass numbers!

HDD has up their projections:

YOUR WEAKEND TOP 10 CHART PREVIEW: As we head into the home stretch of the sales week, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s all about the resurgent Britney Spears, whose Circus (Jive/ZLG) has far exceeded expectations and now appears headed toward 470-490k. Just what the doctor orderedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ a feel-good story heading into the holidays. The only other debut that will make the leader board is Akonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Freedom (SRC/Universal Motown), which should wind up at #8 with a projected 90-95. Otherwise ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll be the usual suspects: #3 Taylor Swift (Big Machine), 170-180k; #4 Beyonce (Music World/Columbia), 160-170k; #5 Kanye West (Roc-a-Fella/IDJ), 150-160k; #6 Twilight (Chop Shop/Atlantic), 120-130k; #7 Nickelback (Roadrunner), 110-120k; #9 Now 29 (UMe) 85-90k; and #10 a dust-up between David Cook (19/RCA/RMG) and High School Musical 3 (Walt Disney), both trending toward 80-85k. Speaking of trends, next weekà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Top 10 will break the recent pattern of domination by one or two labels and will instead be spread among 10 different ones.

I hope he manages another week in the Top 10!