2008 Year End Idol Sales and Chart Wrap-up

Here’s a brief wrap of of the Idols on the year-end charts.

Ken Barnes of Idol Chatter has put together an amazing round up of numbers for all the Idols.   He’s sorted the Idols alphabetically, and listed their year-end stats for Billboard, Mediabase and Radio and Records.   Check it out HERE.

Ken is moving on from Idol blogging, but hopefully, he keeps up with at least some of the Idol sales numbers in another column.   The info has been invaluable for us Idol obsessives…

I’ve got my own Billboard end-of-year chart HERE, itsalleternal put together a nice Radio and Records chart HERE and thanks to Folkfan for a round-up of   various radio year-end countdowns HERE. Plus, Radio Disney’s Top 50, via Ozarka HERE.

Nielsen sent out their 2008 Year-End Music Industry Report in a press release. Here’s where the Idols stand in the reports various Top 10 lists:

  • Top Ten Selling Digital Albums of the Soundscan Era (7/4/2004-12/28/2008) – #4 – Daughtry, Daughtry – 346K
  • Top 10 Artist Airplay 2008 – #10 – Daughtry – 734K (detections)
  • Top Ten Selling Albums During 2008 Holiday Season #7 David Cook, David Cook – 811K
  • Top Ten Internet Albums 2008 (12/31/2007-12/28/2008) – #10 – David Cook, David Cook – 55K
  • Top Ten Selling Digital Songs 2008 – #9 – “No Air” Jordin Sparks w/ Chris Brown – 2, 612M
  • Top Ten Digital Tracks 2008 – #6 – “No Air” Jordin Sparks w/ Chris Brown – 2, 586M
  • Top Ten Selling Digital Artists 2008 – #10 – Jordin Sparks – 4, 918M
  • Top 10 Most Played Songs 2008 – #6   – “No Air” Jordin Sparks w/ Chris Brown – 365K (detections)
  • Top 10 Music Video Internet Streams -#8 – “No Air” – Jordin Sparks w/ Chris Brown – 4, 348M (streams)
  • Top 10 Internet Streamed Songs – #9 – “No Air” – Jordin Sparks w/ Chris Brown – 8, 160M

The big Idol chart story of 2008 is Jordin Sparks.   The sleeper Idol who came off the show with virtually no buzz not only had a massive hit with   “No Air”, but her two other singles, “Tattoo” and “One Step at a Time” were also hits, landing #72 and #63 on the year-end overall. Her album, Jordin Sparks is #64 overall.

Carrie Underwood did well (but not as well as Taylor Swift…) on the country charts–#1 singles artist (Billboard) and #1 Country Artist (R&R), but didn’t cross over quite as well as she did last year.   She was #13 overall this year vs #5 in 2007 (Billboard).

Daughtry didn’t release an album in 2008, but he still managed to maintain a presence on the charts: #1 Adult Top 40 (Billboard and R&R), #2 AC artist (Billboard), #1 AC artist; #1 Hot AC artist (Mediabase), #9 artist overall, #2 AC artist and #1 Hot AC artist (R&R).   That #4 spot for Daughtry on the Top Selling Digital Albums of the Soundscan Era is pretty sweet.

And, David Archuleta, David Cook, and Jennifer Hudson all got off to a promising start on the 2008 charts. I expect 2009 to be filled with chart success for all 3.

About mj santilli 34832 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!