On Thursday, The National Inclusion Project posted information about Dancing Like The Stars.  This annual fund-raiser is an innovative  and fun way to bring information about the project to the public and also raise some much needed funds for the organization.

The Arthur Murray Dance Studio and the Southern Women’s Show are partnering with The National Inclusion Project to help make this event a major success.

A group of local celebrities from the Raleigh area will be paired with dancers from the Arthur Murray Studios and will perform at the Southern Women’s Show on Saturday, April 27, 2013 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.

This exciting competition is filled with winners.  According to the National Inclusion Project:

They will be working hard to learn and perfect a dance that will earn your donations and help to ensure that no child sits on the sidelines! The “winner” is not the best dancer, but the celebrity who raises the most funds for the Project!

Please visit the website for the National Inclusion Project to read about the celebrities and dancers that will be participating in Dancing Like The Stars. You can also get the information how to make your vote count.  This event really sounds like lots of fun.  I wish I lived close enough to attend and join in the fun!  NATIONALINCLUSIONPROJECT

Chart Watch by Paul Grein is a popular Yahoo Music Blog.  Paul tries to keep his readers up-to-date on the American Idol news.  On Wednesday, Paul wrote about Phillip Phillips, the season 11 American Idol who sang the popular song Home.  This week the song became the best-selling song ever released by an American Idol alumnus. “Home” has sold 4,262,000 digital copies.   Congratulations !  That is a lot of singles!

In the article, Grein mentioned some other interesting numbers about American Idol and mentions Clay Aiken a few times. According to Grein:

The strong showing by “Home” is especially noteworthy because Idol’sratings have been trending down in recent years. At least 30 million viewers watched the season finale for four straight years (Seasons 4 through Season 7). Fewer than 30 million viewers have watched the season finale the last four years. According to Nielsen, 21.49 million viewers watched the season finale in May, which made it the least-watched finale in Idol history. (The most-watched finale was the Season 2 showdown between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, which was watched by 38.06 million viewers.)

Later Grein says:

Underwood continues to have the best-selling album ever released by anIdol alum. Her debut album, Some Hearts, has sold 7,308,000 copies since its release in 2005. It has held the title since July 2007, when it surpassed Clarkson’s sophomore album, Breakaway. Breakaway, in turn, took the title in July 2005 from Clay Aiken’s debut album, Measure Of A Man, which took it from Clarkson’s debut, Thankful, in December 2003.

Underwood has three of the top 10 best-selling albums by Idol alums. Clarkson and Aiken each have two.

Breakaway is in second place, with sales of 6,282,000. Here’s the rest of the all-time Idol top 10, in descending order: Daughtry’s debut album, Daughtry (4,938,000); Underwood’s sophomore album, Carnival Ride (3,318,000); Aiken’s Measure Of A Man (2,786,000); Clarkson’sThankful (2,772,000); Underwood’s third album, Play On (2,190,000); Fantasia’s debut, Free Yourself (1,839,000); Ruben Studdard’s debut, Soulful (1,792,000); and Aiken’s holiday album, Merry Christmas With Love (1,380,000).

It is always fun to see that Clay’s albums are still close to the top.  He is a talented musician and I hope that we will hear some more music from him soon.

Be sure and visit Chart Watch.  It is interesting to see all the information about American Idol sales.  CHARTWATCH

How about a couple of pictures?

Pictures of Clay are always good!!