Wednesday…it started out with a tweet from Clay Aiken:
Congratulations
@ScottyMcCreery Keep doing#NC proud. There’s clearly something right happening in@WCPSShttps://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/scotty-mccreery-ties-clay-aikens-american-idol-chart-record-191043613.html …#AmericanIdol#ICantHitThoseNotes
Of course, I had to find out what Yahoo had to say.
Yahoo Entertainment
Scotty McCreery ties Clay Aiken’s ‘American Idol’ chart record
By Paul Grein
Everybody knows that Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson are the most successful contestants ever to step onto the American Idol stage, but who’s the top male contender to appear on the show? There are several contenders for that title, but Scotty McCreery definitely belongs on the shortlist. He lands his fifth top 10 album this week, as Seasons Change enters the Billboard 200 at No. 7. Only one other male Idol contender, Clay Aiken, has amassed five top 10 albums.
Aiken hit the top 10 with his first four regular studio albums and a Christmas album. McCreery’s top 10 tally includes his first three regular studio albums, a Christmas album, and an EP, American Idol Season 10 Highlights: Scotty McCreery.
Which male Idol contestants are next in line? Chris Daughtry has had four top 10 albums, all fronting his band, Daughtry. Adam Lambert has had three. Ruben Studdard, David Cook, and Phillip Phillips each have two.
In case you’ve forgotten, McCreery was the Season 10 champ. Aiken was the runner-up in Season 2. Daughtry placed fourth in Season 5. Lambert was the runner-up in Season 8. Studdard was the Season 2 champ. Cook was the Season 7 champ. Phillips was the Season 11 champ.
Seasons Change enters Top Country Albums at No. 1, displacing Kane Brown’s Kane Brown (which spent nine weeks on top). It’s McCreery’s third No. 1 country album, following Clear as Day (which spent six weeks on top in 2011) and See You Tonight(which spent one week on top in 2013). It’s McCreery’s first album for indie label Triple Tigers, as well as his first album in five years.
I always like to see articles that mention Clay Aiken in a positive way…and this was a nice article. That being said, I wonder where the writer got these numbers? I have never seen the American Idol numbers added up this way before.
Usually, the numbers that compare the artists is the number of albums sold. According to Wikipedia, the following is the top Idol men:
- Chris Daughtry – 7,352,000
- Clay Aiken – 5,069,000
- Ruben Studdard – 2,644,000
- Scotty McCreery – 2,199,000
This list includes the new album by Ruben Studdard – Unconditional Love – dropped on Feb 4, 2018 and the new album by Scotty McCreery – dropped on March 16, 2018.
Of course, you can look at the album numbers in many ways. In 2003, CD albums were important. Today, more people download only the songs they like.
One other thing…The writer did mention Scotty’s EP in his numbers but did not mention Clay’s EP, All Is Well.
Please don’t think that I am unhappy with the numbers by Scotty. I am sure he is a talented young man and I hope he continues to be a successful singer. I just find the numbers interesting and I am not sure how the writer came to this conclusion!
The following are a few pictures of Clay singing. What a talented man!
Have a good day!
