Today, the sales numbers for the latest American Idol’s were released. Each year, the winner and runner-up of American Idol release a single and it is always interesting to see and compare the different results each year.
Winner, Kris Allen and runner-up, Adam Lambert are now a part of the number’s game.
The following charts have three numbers that are important. First, is the total number sold in the first week of release. The second number shows the highest placement ever reached on the Top 100 and the number in parenthesis is the placement for the debut week.
The following numbers are from Idollive.net
Winners
1) Ruben Studdard, “Flying Without Wings / Superstar” – 286,000* – #2 (#2)
2) David Cook, “The Time of My Life” – 236,024 – #3 (#3)
3) Kelly Clarkson, “A Moment Like This / Before Your Love” – 236,000* – #1 (#52)
4) Taylor Hicks, “Do I Make You Proud / Takin’ It to the Streets” – 190,147* – #1 (#1)
5) Fantasia, “I Believe / Chain of Fools / Summertime” – 142,141* – #1 (#1)
6) Kris Allen, “No Boundaries” – 134,458 – #11 (#11)
7) Carrie Underwood, “Inside Your Heaven / Independence Day” – 131,504* – #1 (#1)
8 ) Jordin Sparks, “This Is My Now” – 74,303 – #15 (#15)
Runners-Up
1) Clay Aiken, “This Is The Night / Bridge over Troubled Water” – 393,000* – #1 (#1)
2) Adam Lambert, “Mad World” – 114,763 – #19 (#19)
3) Bo Bice, “Inside Your Heaven / Vehicle” – 108,158* – #2 (#2)
4) David Archuleta, “Imagine” – 71,178 – #36 (#36)
5) Blake Lewis, “You Give Love a Bad Name” – 70,133 – #18 (#18)
6) Diana DeGarmo, “Dreams / Don’t Cry Out Loud / I Believe” – 65,000* – #14 (#14)
7) Katharine McPhee, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow / My Destiny” – 47,394* – #12 (#12)
Adam Lambert’s highest-selling track, “Mad World,” stands at #2 when compared to the other six singles’ debut week sales. However, if digital sales are included, Bo Bice’s “Inside Your Heaven / Vehicle” has a total of 121,423 downloads, which puts him ahead of Adam.
Kris Allen has the second-lowest debut on the chart for any winner and Adam’s highest-charting single is also the second-lowest debut for any runner up on the chart.
Last week, it was reported that the finale of Season 8 of American Idol had the second lowest audience numbers, ahead on only Season 1 which was a summer replacement show. Perhaps the numbers for Kris and Adam are influenced by a smaller audience.
There are many factors that play a role in the numbers game….immediate download ability, price differences and the popularity of the song are some of the variables that should be taken into consideration. However, the numbers are an interesting way to compare each season and their idols.
Clay Aiken is a winner in 2 ways. He is the top selling runner-up and also the top seller of both winners and runner-ups.
Let us hope that the “coronation” song that is chosen next year will help the winner and perhaps the numbers will go up.