Idol Sales News – Week Ending 12/14/08

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. 82 – David Cook ( 2.9 million) lw 99

Mariah Carey has the Top Christmas song at 20 followed by Brenda Lee at 27 (both these songs would be recurrent)

Good to see that LO has an 11% increase and is going up in airplay. It jumped to 21 on Mediabase Top 40 this morning and got a pretty big spin increase. It also entered the Top 10 on HAC. As long as it keeps plodding upward…I’ll take it!

Thanks, Kirsten.

LO will likely slide a bit on the mediabase charts on both HAC (briefly back to #11) and Top 40 (likely ending up at #23 for the week).

Still no Hot 200 news? Sigh.

David Cook’s sales have been great. I want his new CD to get more airplay, especially on some of his other songs. Unfortunately, these songs are not released as singles so the radio stations don’t have access to them. David Cook says he won’t be releasing any more singles while LO is doing so well. So continue to call in and request LO and TOML until David Cook sees fit to release more singles from his new CD.

I really hope Archie’s second single does well on radio. Crush was so huge that it might be hard to follow, but a lot of non-fans seem to like ALTNOY, so hopefully it will catch on.

Thanks Kirsten!
Glad to see LO growing slowly but surely..

Unfortunately, these songs are not released as singles so the radio stations donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have access to them.

Radio stations can play whatever the like whenever they like (provided it isn’t illegal and meets FCC regulations). If a song is available on iTunes or a CD or was played on a television show or whatever, they can play it so long as the note that they did and pay whoever it is that sorts out the royalty issues.

When we used to get the full Mediabase charts, we often saw radio stations spin an entire CD. Every once in a while, you will even get some random hit song that no label was pushing. Songs that neither David have released (“Touch My Hand”, “Permanent”, “Your Eyes Don’t Lie”, “Angels”, All the Idol songs) have been played on the radio.

Most radio stations just chose to play songs that have been released.

So continue to call in and request LO and TOML until David Cook sees fit to release more singles from his new CD.

Typically, the label makes that call.

lol Crush has a bullet again on AC….
nice sales for crush this week

—–

YEah Kirsten, stations can play what they want but most stations will play what others are playing…

just yesterday a station in gainsville FL played TMH… lol

I really hope Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s second single does well on radio. Crush was so huge that it might be hard to follow, but a lot of non-fans seem to like ALTNOY, so hopefully it will catch on.

It just entered the Top 100 on Pop, so at least it’s gaining (and beating it’s fellow add date single from Leona Lewis who is sitting at 111)

129 99 DAVID ARCHULETA A Little Too Not Over You 19/Jive/Zomba 42 23 19 0.343

yay for top 100! (im still calling it unmonitored smash, hahaha)

I think that ALTNOY will be a hit for Archie, and I don’t think it’s going to be the last hit from that cd either.

So continue to call in and request LO and TOML until David Cook sees fit to release more singles from his new CD.

Also, just as a reminder, I don’t allow discussions about calling radio stations for requests here on the blog…

I think that ALTNOY will be a hit for Archie, and I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s going to be the last hit from that cd either.

Yeah I can see Barriers being an excellent choice for a single too at some point.

Chiming in to say that I hope “A Little Too Not Over You” has great success. I love the song (and love several others on the album, also.)

Question(s) for those in the know: I have noticed that stations have played some of the songs on DA’s CD — but the label also submits singles for adds. Are they merely encouraging play of that particular song because they feel it has hit potential? And radio plays that song because, why? Is it less of a hassle for them to play that song over another from the album?

Did I just answer my own question, LOL, or is there more to it than what I stated?

Oh, heavens, yes. I’d vote for Barriers. That and YEDL or my favorites.

Most radio stations play the songs that are released as singles. They want to play the songs that are or will be hot, and those are most likely to be the songs released as singles.

Sorry, double post …

I’m expecting DA to have hit after hit after hit. I don’t think ALTNOY is as good as Crush, but I won’t be surprised if it does just as well as Crush or better. They’re similar enough that I would expect people who like one song to like the other.

The only song I really like from his album is “Don’t Let Go” but so far, the singles aren’t making me change the station or anything. Do people think they’ll eventually release the Hand songs that they tested early on?

I’m still in the camp that feels that LO wasn’t a great choice on RCAs part, so I’m eager to see what happens when DC releases a new single.

Hi mj

Billboard 200 (2008 – 12 – 20) Link

10 David Cook (which has already passed the GOLD mark )

Billboard Top Internet Albums (2008 -12 -20) Link

9 David Cook

MTV.com article on the Top 200:

“American Idol” winner David Cook rounds out the top 10 with 103,500 converts to his self-titled debut.

It’s official: DC’s record is gold. (rounded total of 582,000). We’ll have to wait, likely until Ken releases sales numbers this afternoon, to see if JHud made gold this week—she was fairly close last week.

I have noticed that stations have played some of the songs on DAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s CD à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  but the label also submits singles for adds. Are they merely encouraging play of that particular song because they feel it has hit potential?

Yep. The label promo department will call them up with all sorts of reasons why they should play the single (e.g. it has excellent scores on some music survey, everybody else is playing it, the last song was a hit, blah, blah, blah). Of course, some will say that they also use payola to get the stations to play the song (well, if I’m using fan logic, it’s only payola when the other guy has a hit song. When it’s “my guy” that has the hit song, it’s a hit because the song and “my guy” are so AWESOME. Rinse and repeat).

And radio plays that song because, why? Is it less of a hassle for them to play that song over another from the album?

Radio stations are lemmings. Unless it’s some classic station, they want to be playing the new current hit in their format or they will look like they aren’t hip and with it.

I think YEDL would be a great single too. It’s one of those love em or hate em songs that seem to do well on the radio lol

lol Kirsten they need to keep up their coolness factor *puts on shades*

MTV.com article on the Top 200:

That’s actually a link to Billboard. Here is the MTV article.

Whoops. Too right-clicky this morning.

Thank you, Kirsten and Frogcooke. I dated a country music deejay for two years, back in the day, but the most he ever said about it was that he played the songs on his list, in order. LOL.

I dated a country music deejay for two years, back in the day, but the most he ever said about it was that he played the songs on his list, in order. LOL.

Deejays used to be much more influential than they are today. There was a time when a deejay could make somebody a hit by championing them. These days, the program manager/director makes the decision and the deejays play what they are told. Now, DJs are really just “on-air personalities”.

Oh, there is no need to worry about Archie having radio hits. That whole album is geared towards that very thing. That’s what Jive does. They will make sure he has a steady presence on radio. By this time next year, Archie will be Jordin with the multiple platinum singles.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m still in the camp that feels that LO wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t a great choice on RCAs part, so Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m eager to see what happens when DC releases a new single.

Watch LO become another Magic Rainbow, the song that won’t go away. LOL. It’s moving sssllllooowwww, just enough to keep it climbing and make the label think twice about moving on. That thing will hang around the middle of the Top 40 for weeks, mark my words. With plus 10 spincreases. Selling 20,000 a week. Driving everyone crazy while we wait for a new song. Because it’s EVIL.

I really hope Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s second single does well on radio. Crush was so huge that it might be hard to follow, but a lot of non-fans seem to like ALTNOY, so hopefully it will catch on.

I think ALTNOY has the potential to do better than Crush. It certainly has more of a chance to get rhythmic airplay (not that it’ll be a rhythmic hit, but even Crush got some rhythmic airplay, and ALTNOY is more rhythmic than Crush). If it does, that will really help its audience impressions and, ultimately, its sales. Plus, ALTNOY is a more mature song, and I can see it reaching a wider audience.

lol Crush has a bullet again on ACà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.
nice sales for crush this week

Crush is back on XM 20 on 20 voting list lol. Now if we can only get ALTNOY on there too.

its back on the xm 20 on 20? lol z100 gave it a spin today after having dropped it for over a week or two… so who knows what that was about…

That thing will hang around the middle of the Top 40 for weeks, mark my words. With plus 10 spincreases. Selling 20,000 a week. Driving everyone crazy while we wait for a new song. Because ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s EVIL.

LOL

Watch LO become another Magic Rainbow, the song that wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t go away.

I have a bad, bad feeling…..

Another billboard article on the top 200, with rankings for the top 20 and information on the trends of the market versus last week and versus this week last year.

David Cook sold 582K in 4 weeks and remained in the top 10, for weeks straight. Awesome. Thanks Kirsten, as always, for the numbers.

Any more confirmation about Kristy Lee Cook and her label, MJ? She was on last week’s GAC Top 20 Countdown and mentioned how happy she was to be on the countdown again, and how she is going to be out there trying to sell her record. Since this is the Sales thread, what are KLC’s YTD sales figures? Thanks!

ETA: But Gwendolyn D, don’t you know that Bad is the new Good. Hee. From your lips to God’s ears.

Glad Cookie has an asterisk by his name in that billboard article, that meant his CD had one of the greatest sales gains this week. WOOHOO!

But Gwendolyn D, donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t you know that Bad is the new Good. Hee.

Seriously?! Say it ain’t so!

Duly noted. Heh.

I actually found myself singing it yesterday, and I’m afraid to say I know all the lyrics. When the heck did that happen?!

Since this is the Sales thread, what are KLCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s YTD sales figures?

She has sold 25K of her CD so far (numbers for this week are not yet in). She sold 1K last week, so if she sales at the same rate this week, it would be around 26K

Since this is the Sales thread, what are KLCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s YTD sales figures?

She has sold 25K of her CD so far (numbers for this week are not yet in). She sold 1K last week, so if she sells at the same rate this week, it would be around 26K

That thing will hang around the middle of the Top 40 for weeks, mark my words. With plus 10 spincreases. Selling 20,000 a week. Driving everyone crazy while we wait for a new song. Because ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s EVIL.

Hee. I tend to think Magic Rainbow had the badass won’t ever die vibe. Light On, meanwhile, is just heading out on this awesome roadtrip, man, occasionally stopping to smoke a fattie and enjoy the scenery, not in too much of a hurry to go anywhere. Maybe it’s just me. Rainbow: :guns_tb: Light On: :smoke_tb:

Thanks Kirsten for the rapid reponse!

Wow, 25K for KLC YTD? That’s not very good, even for country. Ouch.

Light On, meanwhile, is just heading out on this awesome roadtrip, man, occasionally stopping to smoke a fattie and enjoy the scenery, not in too much of a hurry to go anywhere. Maybe ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s just me. :guns_tb:

LMAO!!!!!

Simon to LO: “What were you thinking, taking so long to move up the charts, not selling very many downloads? You don’t even look like you are trying”

LO to Simon: “I’m thinking Bob Marley, man!” :lol_tb:

I actually found myself singing it yesterday, and Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m afraid to say I know all the lyrics. When the heck did that happen?!

As noted above, DC’s songs are that insiduous. They slip under your skin and voila, you’re Cooked.

It just entered the Top 100 on Pop, so at least ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s gaining (and beating ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fellow add date single from Leona Lewis who is sitting at 111)

129 99 DAVID ARCHULETA A Little Too Not Over You 19/Jive/Zomba 42 23 19 0.343

That is so COOL considering ALTNOY’s impact date isn’t for another 3 weeks! Thanks for the news, Kirsten.

I think ALTNOY has the potential to do better than Crush. It certainly has more of a chance to get rhythmic airplay (not that ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll be a rhythmic hit, but even Crush got some rhythmic airplay, and ALTNOY is more rhythmic than Crush). If it does, that will really help its audience impressions and, ultimately, its sales. Plus, ALTNOY is a more mature song, and I can see it reaching a wider audience.

Crush is No. 20 on Rick Dee’s Top 40 Rhythmic this week. It was No. 17 the week before. So, yeah, it’s obviously getting rhythmic airplay.

LO to Simon: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m thinking Bob Marley, man!

:lol_tb: I think I saw Light On napping in a corner. But that doesn’t mean it’s a lazy song…it’s just not used to so much travel.

Ha ha, I’m loving this thread! So fun to read! Lovin’ the links to articles, lovin’ the hilarious comments.

So, I’ve speculated in the past that LO=”It’s a Wonderful Life”. I know, I know there are some out there that don’t like this movie. Anyway, when it first came out it was not popular at all, now it’s a Christmas Classic. Um, not that LO has anything to do with Christmas…but hopefully you get the idea…and of course all analogies break down eventually…but for right now at least, LOL, “that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” (tm someone…)

BTW, hubby says my analogy works better with TOML, perhaps…

Oh and BTW, is rhythmic similiar to R & B? IMO, DA definately has a nice R&B sound…

Album units, current chart week: 12.9 million units

DOWN 28% from same week, 2007: 18 million units

Wow. That’s a serious drop from last year. It’s amazing anyone is having good sales, at this point, if even the last few weeks of Christmas shopping are down that much.

Where are the stats for Archie’s album??

As noted above, DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s songs are that insiduous. They slip under your skin and voila, youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re Cooked.

Subliminal messages…. :hmm2_ee:

Oh and BTW, is rhythmic similiar to R & B? IMO, DA definately has a nice R&B soundà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

I really don’t know what “rhythmic” is. I assume that what Rick Dees refers to as “Radio Hits” is Pop 100, but I’m not sure what “Rhythmic” is. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable will come along and define it for us.

The numbers for only a limited set of records (top 10 and some interesting debuts) have been released. The numbers for the other records should be available later today.

Yeah, where are Archie’s stats? Have they not come out yet? He should be getting close to gold too.

BTW, hubby says my analogy works better with TOML, perhapsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

I actually agree with hubby on this one. LOL! Good analogy, cookcricket!

eta: Just saw Folkfan’s post. Thanks!

eta2: I thought “rhythmic” was just another euphemism for “urban” which is industry code for “stuff black people like”. LOL. So lots of top 40 stations really lean heavily on “black sounding” music, i.e. hip hop and r&B (because they think the kids always like the “stuff black people like”), so if you have a song that sounds like it could fit on that kind of playlist they’ll spin it.

Yahoo Chart Watch blog on this week’s Top 200, including the following quote:

10. David Cook, David Cook, 104,000. The album holds at #10 its fourth week in the top 10. This is the longest run in the top 10 for a debut album by an American Idol winner since Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts logged 25 weeks in the top 10 in 2005-2006. I know I said the last same thing week, but I figured David might like to read it again. This also matches Jennifer Hudson’s four-week run in the top 10 as the best recent showing by a debut album by an Idol contestant. “Light On” jumps to #48 on Hot Digital Songs.

Definition of Rhythmic – culled from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythmic_Contemporary

Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of dance, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. While most rhythmic stations’ playlists comprised that mentioned above, some tend to lean very urban with current hip-hop, urban pop and R&B hits that gain mainstream appeal. Rhythmic contemporary is usually the music played at clubs and school dances. They will not play music with a harder rock sound or songs that sound too adult for their taste, leaving those songs to the conventional top 40 stations.

Most of its core listeners makeup a multicultural mix of African-Americans, Hispanics, Caucasian Americans and Asian-Americans, that include a core group of teens, young adults (mostly 18-34) and young females in which most listeners live in or close to a major city.

Since the format’s inception it has managed to carve its own niche by breaking such diverse acts such as Ludacris, Christina Aguilera, Akon, Britney Spears, Natalie, Shakira, Baby Bash, Fergie, Beyoncà © Knowles, Brandy Norwood, Danity Kane, Sean Paul, Eminem, Frankie J, Jennifer Lopez, Ciara, Jordin Sparks, T-Pain, Nelly Furtado, Timbaland and JoJo. It has also embraced other sub genres as well with the emergence of dancehall and reggaeton acts such as Daddy Yankee and Nina Sky, and welcomed artists from other genres that don’t fit the format into its inner circle, such as Amy Winehouse, Gnarls Barkley, Hilary Duff, Carrie Underwood, Lindsay Lohan, Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys, Daniel Bedingfield, Kylie Minogue, Enur, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Miley Cyrus, and Gym Class Heroes.

Happy Birthday David and best wishes for your gold album and already 82,000 towards the second 500,000 and platinum. Congrats too on LO reaching 21 on Top 40 and 10 on HAC. So proud of you.

10. David Cook, David Cook, 104,000. The album holds at #10 its fourth week in the top 10. This is the longest run in the top 10 for a debut album by an American Idol winner since Carrie Underwoodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Some Hearts logged 25 weeks in the top 10 in 2005-2006. I know I said the last same thing week, but I figured David might like to read it again. This also matches Jennifer Hudsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s four-week run in the top 10 as the best recent showing by a debut album by an Idol contestant. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Light Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  jumps to #48 on Hot Digital Songs.

This is so cool…Congrats David! =)

That’s great news. What a wonderful way to celebrate his birthday. I love that LO is showing it has a legs.

So Matt Lauer thought DC or Michael Phelps could’ve been in the running for Time’s Man of the Year? I’m sure he was facetious, but nonetheless it was funny. Yeah, much as I love DC, I can see why Time selected the first African American President elected to USA. Hee.

“This also matches Jennifer Hudsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s four-week run in the top 10 as the best recent showing by a debut album by an Idol contestant.” I also love the Jennifer Hudson’s record is doing so well. Good luck to her.

Thanks, Tinawina and Ggdoorsfan, for the definition. I got curious so I went to Ratethemusic.com and listened to the clips in the rhythmic genre. Many of the clips they played are also in the Top 40 genre. So apparently there’s a lot of overlapping.

Thanks for the yahoo charting article: “As of this week, Swift’s album has sold 1,519,000 copies, which makes it #5 for the year-to-date.”

Taylor’s album came out on November 11, right? I cannot believe she sold 1.5M units and heading for double platinum in 5 weeks. That is shockingly good.

Good job by all the AI peeps with records out there. I do hope KLC gets a chance to promote her record. She’s alot better than some of the stuff out there. She can sing. Julianne Haugh, not so much.

@Tinawina…

According to my calculation Archie should be at 430877 by now, he will need a 16% increase in his sells from this week to be gold by the next wednesday…

Thanks cruzceleste! That kind of increase is possible going into next week, everybody should see a healthy boost. But even if he doesn’t make it this week he’s sure to make it the next. Looks like we’ll be having another gold celebration soon.

I think sometimes people confuse rhythmic with urban. DA will get no urban airplay. lol. The definitions that people posted are good–in practice, some rhythmic stations lean more top 40 than urban and others vice versa, which is why DA probably won’t get any rhythmic hits (he won’t be played on the more urban rhythmic stations), but he’ll get some airplay simply because of his vocal style. ALTNOY is more rhythmic than Crush, but IMO, Barriers is more rhythmic than both. Barriers and Your Eyes Don’t Lie are the only two songs on DA’s album that I could see getting better than average rhythmic airplay.

Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album came out on November 11, right? I cannot believe she sold 1.5M units and heading for double platinum in 5 weeks. That is shockingly good.

And she’s predicted to take in another 350K next week.

BTW, holy moly that Josh Groban’s Noel is still selling so well. Christmas albums go catalog after one year, so he’s not eligible to chart on the BB 200, but he’s still selling tons each week–he would be at #4 if he were allowed to chart this week and, if it weren’t for Taylor, would probably be #1 next week. I think he’s in contention for biggest selling album of 2008.

^Yeah I know that he could make it to the week of Monday 29th… but It ´ll be really cool that he could make it before the 28th, if you know what I mean ;D …

cruz, Archie birthday gold FTW!!!! LOL. That would be so sweet if they could both go gold for their birthdays.

Love to see that David Cook has the company of Taylor Swift, Nickelback and AC/DC for the highest Top 10 sales gains this week, over Britney Spears, Beyonce and Kanye West. Also beat out all the new releases this week. Looking really solid.

Looks like DC should definitely be out of the Top 10 next week with a bunch of debuts coming up, but I hope his 85-100K sales can hold up. If they do, he’ll easily top 700K before during these last two weeks of the year (didn’t Ken Barnes or someone predict that his album sales would probably max out at 700K?)

Ken Barnes at IdolChatter has Archie’s album stats now:

“David Archuleta also got a bit of a sales bounce, up 6% to 59,000 as his album slipped 19-21 on the chart. Total is 430,000, and it should be a good sales week next week, so he could pass 500,000 then; if not, certainly by the end of the year.”

The complete Album Sales Post from Ken Barnes, Appearantly both DC and Jennifer Hudson went Gold this week! Congrats to both!

For the third straight week, David Cook holds down the No. 10 position on the Billboard album chart, but he had to step up his sales to do it. In a good week for sales overall (up 14%), his increased 19% to 104,000, for a total of 582,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan, blasting over the half-million mark.

Jennifer was up 8% in sales to 15,000, for a total of 504,000, hitting the half-million milestone as well, but dropping 72-81 on the chart.

Thanks again for all the info and perspetive as always, Kirsten and MJ! I learn something about the wacky (see baffling) world of music charts every week.

Kristy Lee lost a record deal but gained 500 sales, selling 1,500 to bring her total to 27,000.

Pulled that from Ken Barnes. Wow, so I guess it happened. Sad.

MJ, do you think he’s using you as the source?

Ken Barnes had rather dire predictions for the Rainbow if memory serves. I’d say that he has a good read on the Idol beat, but as for predicting record sales? Not so sure. Didn’t he like Blake’s album more than Jordin’s and predict higher sales? Yeah, his track record hasn’t been hot.

On the Download Chart…

I’m surprised to see no numbers for Michael Johns’ single.

Oh, and FolkFan – the requests paid off – we get an update on TOML.

ETA: LOL, just had another look and saw you’re already on top of this.

If they do, heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll easily top 700K before during these last two weeks of the year (didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t Ken Barnes or someone predict that his album sales would probably max out at 700K?)

There was someone from USA today that predicted he would max out at 500K, only if he released a new single before Christmas, but it wasn’t Ken… if it’s the same comment I’m thinking.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m surprised to see no numbers for Michael Johnsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ single.

I think if someone asks Ken he can try to get the numbers.

ETA: Argghh… I keep messing up Ken’s name.

There was someone from USA today that predicted he would max out at 500K, only if he released a new single before Christmas, but it wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t Kenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ if ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the same comment Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m thinking.

Must have missed that one. Better that I see it now when I can just smile and move on.

So, could anyone tell me how much of an increase David will need in order to pass the 700K mark this week? I think it just might be within reach, but I’m not sure how likely it is.
I’d like to see him reach the January slump in the best possible position so he’d be able to reach Platinum fairly quickly and avoid the Chinese water torture that is Jordin’s slowwwwwwww progression towards that mark.

Jolene, David Cook will need sales of 118,000 to get to 700,000 this week. By my calculations, that would require a sales increase of 13.5%, which is within the realm of possibilities since DCTR had an 18% increase this week, with a average of 14% for overall sales.

but I hope his 85-100K sales can hold up. If they do, heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll easily top 700K before during these last two weeks of the year (didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t Ken Barnes or someone predict that his album sales would probably max out at 700K?)

It’s the last shopping weekend before Christmas. I’m not confident he’ll see the kind of increase this coming week to put him at 700k but I can’t see him dropping down below 85k.

ETA: he’s #1 again on Vibe Raters:

A.I. Winner Top 10 bound at HAC! Adds: KHKS, KQCH, WBVD, WHKF, WRQX, WSTR. Building strong at Mainstream Top 40 260 increase in spins this week. Strong sales continue on debut album! Video impacting now! Press: Blender and RS. CD in stores now. Retail: Approaching 600K. Mgmt: Simon Fuller and Iain Pirie/19 Ent.

FYI Taylor is on track for 350k my GOD! That girl is a machine.

Oh and this is interesting
http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=1060363
Mediabase release their year end airplay charts. Pertinent to AI’ers..

Zomba also snagged 11.1 percent of radio airplay in 2008 by crushing the competition at Top 40. The label had a 15.4 percent chart share in the format, and also placed 2nd at Urban AC, 3rd at Urban, and 4th at Rhythmic, AC and Hot AC. Major acts on Zomba include Usher, Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Jordin Sparks, Three Days Grace and P!nk.

In the #5 spot on the Mediabase chart is the RCA Music Group, which had a 10.1 percent piece of the pie. The group was 1st at AC, 2nd at Hot AC, 3rd at Alternative and Urban AC, and 5th at Top 40. The artists that led the charge included Daughtry, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys, Jazmine Sullivan, Leona Lewis and David Cook.

Apologies if this has been covered already (I can’t begin to keep up with you terrifically prolific people…oooh, say that three times fast….)

Anyway, I was wondering if LO’s legs might have something to do with the AI commercial. You know…someone sees it, does a, “What’s that song?” and ends up buying it. Because I’ve never thought LO was much more than OK, but when I see that commercial and it cuts to him in full chorus with the kliegs and everything, I get chills.

Anyway, I was wondering if LOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s legs might have something to do with the AI commercial.

It’s certainly not hurting his sales. It’s a well produced commercial. It’s airing all over the schedule (getting him those all important audience impressions and exposure to new audiences). I wouldn’t be shocked to learn it’s moving a few units. It would be price prohibitive for the label to buy that kind of advertising, so it’s good that somebody else is footing the bill. There is no downside that I can see for Cookie. Promo is promo and it’s always nice to get some.

Back from work so I can actually post—yes, I was very glad that Ken granted my request and updated us on Magic Rainbow’s performance. I was a bit concerned that “Complete the Record” may have taken away enough sales from Magic Rainbow to drop it to less than 1 million sold, so I now feel better.

Nice find on the radio share, Trina.

Yeah, I don’t think DC will be able to hold on to top 10 next week either. I think he could stay in the top 15, and certainly the top 20. But, of next week’s debuts, at the very least, I can definitely see both Fall Out Boy and the All American Rejects debuting in the top 10. Keyshia Cole could too, and maybe even Jamie Foxx. I’m not sure about Plies – not too familiar with him. It’s a pretty big week for debuts. Not huuuuuge names, but solid sellers.

I think the AI commercial is probably helping LO’s sales, as is its increased radio play. And yeah… I also see this song as the song that won’t go away. Heh. At least it’s growing some legs!

Yes, barring DC having a major surge, it looks like there would be at least four debuts ahead of it: Keyshia Cole, Jamie Foxx, Fall Out Boy, and Anthony Hamilton. http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/newsPage.cgi?news07386m01

MJ, do you think heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s using you as the source?

No. Ken Barnes has his own sources.

The Kristy Lee news had been confirmed already by other reliable news sources.

Yes, but I feel like you broke the news about KLC. Well you did for me. So hats off you, MJ. I really do feel for her. I guess I was just being blindly optimist hoping that they’d reconsider. Then again, maybe the Label just saw other data about lack of future growth and then with such measely sales…I wish her the best. Hope she didn’t unpack.

Wow, I way underestimated Jamie Foxx. I knew Keyshia Cole was popular but JF, didn’t know that his music was so popular.

And only 60-65K for AAR? Weird, I thought they’d sell better than that. Also thought that FOB would have a better opening week. Interesting.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m surprised to see no numbers for Michael Johnsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ single.

Oh yeah, both Micheal Johns and Jason Castro have a new song out last week, IIRC?

AAR, 60-65K? Man… They were just celebrating their last album went double platinum. Jamie Foxx, 210-230k… I’m shocked.

FOB, whoever decided to push back the album should take responsibility for this.

About FOB, how bad is it? And DCTR will be around #12-14?

HDD as FOB at 125-135K which seems low. Altogether, 4 or 5 debuts are expected to have sales above 100K, so David will probably not do much better than 15 (assuming that sales for Britney, Beyonce, Kanye, Nickelback, Twilight, HSM, AC/DC etc. continue to sell better than DC)

That’s definitely low for FOB but HDD did say they may see an boost due to the 3.99 deal on Amazon. The rapper Plie is on track for 95k-105k and if DC gets even a small boost he might end up ranking higher than him.

Looks like “David Archuleta” is going to be selling for $9.99 or less at Wal*Mart and Best Buy this weekend, so he might get the 70,000 he needs to reach gold for his birthday.

Here are Elliott’s numbers, per Ken Barnes:

“No. 2 among the off-chart Idols this week is none other than Elliott, whose My Kind of Holiday zoomed from 2,000 to 2,700 for a total of 11,000. His first album sold 300, up from 200, for a total of 518,000.”

Wal-Mart sale the week of Christmas is big. Wal-Mart has been bringing in tons of consumers this holiday season—I think it’s basically kicking all of the other retailers’ butts.

Here are Elliottà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s numbers, per Ken Barnes

Thanks lucy. I don’t know if I was blind or Ken added them later. I’ll add them to the post.

Wal-Mart has been bringing in tons of consumers this holiday seasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ I think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s basically kicking all of the other retailersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ butts.

Yup. A recent article in Reuters reported that “Walmart has as many shoppers this weekend as JC Penney, Sears, Target and Toys-R-Us combined”

“Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s largest retailer, attracted approximately two-thirds of U.S. shoppers this past weekend, the survey found.”

“The nearest competitors were Sears Holdings Corp, with 19.6 percent, J.C. Penney Co Inc at 18.1 percent and Target Corp at 17.9 percent.

Toys “R” Us Inc attracted 12.1 percent of shoppers last weekend.”

Based on Walmart’s domination of Christmas sales, they actually managed to improve the forecast for overall retail activity for this Christmas.

Damn—all I’d seen was an article saying that Taylor Swift was expected to benefit from Wal-Mart’s dominance this season, because that’s a source of strength for her sales. Nothing with any stats. Wow.

Wal-Mart is kicking serious butt this season (relatively speaking) and Taylor Swift is reaping much of the benefits. I’m glad they’ve put DA’s album on sale there. That should help. His deluxe album is having a minor resurgence on iTunes, moving up from 32-33 to 19 on the pop chart. That probably doesn’t represent too much of an increase in sales, but since iTunes generally doesn’t benefit from pre-Christmas shopping, I’m thinking the airplay ALTNOY is getting is starting to help. It’s around #28 on Radio Disney already (Crush is still in the top 5–I gracefully bow to Disney which is probably keeping Crush in the top 50 on iTunes), and a couple of non-monitored stations have already been playing it a lot. Luckily, a few monitored stations have started to play it as well. I think that’s enough to boost the album up on the pop chart. Hopefully, ALTNOY can work some magic during the January sales slump and keep DA’s sales relatively steady.

Cheese- How did you know DA’s album was going on sale? I took my Target add in yesterday to match their sale price ($11.88) for my nephews and it rang up for $9.97. I was pleasantly surprised, but there were very few Cd’s there. That is annoying. No one can buy it if it is not there.

Cheese- How did you know DAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album was going on sale?

There were a bunch of sales circulars with my Thursday morning Washington Post. I guess the sales will change again on Sunday – these prices were advertised through Saturday.