Update: David Cook is #1 on the Digital Album chart with 58,713 units - The most ever for a debut artist!
From Billboard:
Reigning “American Idol” champion David Cook’s self-titled 19 Recordings/RCA debut arrives at No. 3 with 280,000. That’s more than double the first-week numbers of 2007 champ Jordin Sparks’ self-titled debut, which sold 119,000 copies and has gone on to shift 956,000.
Terrific first week numbers, considering sales are down, according to Billboard, by 32% from the same week last year.
Kirsten has the stats in the Weekly Sales numbers thread HERE. She’ll be adding sales numbers for all the Idols as the day progresses.
Absolutely terrific first week numbers for David Cook. Congratulations, and Kudos!
ETA: Folkfan also has some nice stats re: David. Check them out HERE. David’s debut is the highest for a new artist, so far this year!
As always, Kirsten has the stats:
Idol Idol Winner, first week debuts David Cook is 5th:
1. Ruben - “Soulful†(Dec 9, 2003) - 416,569 (# 1)
2. Carrie - “Some Hearts†(November 15, 2005) - 314,549 (# 2)
3. Taylor - “Taylor Hicks†(Dec 12, 2006) - 298,199 (# 2)
4. Kelly - “Thankful†(April 15, 2003) - 297,000 (# 1)
5. David - “David Cook†(Nov 18, 2008) - 280,000 (#3)
6. Fantasia - “Free Yourself†(November 23, 2004) - 239,389 (#8)
7. Jordin - “Jordin Sparks†(November 20, 2007) - 119,119 (#10)
All Idol Debut Albums, first week. David is 7th:
1. Clay - “Measure of a Manâ€(Oct 14, 2003) - 612,859 (# 1)
2. Ruben - “Soulful†(Dec 9, 2003) - 416,569 (# 1)
3. Carrie - “Some Hearts†(November 15, 2005) - 314,549 (# 2)
4. Daughtry “Daughtry†(November 21, 2006) - 303,677 (#2)
5. Taylor - “Taylor Hicks†(Dec 12, 2006) - 298,199 (# 2)
6. Kelly - “Thankful†(April 15, 2003) - 297,000 (# 1)
7. David Cook - “David Cook†(November 18, 2008) - 280,000 (#3)
8. Fantasia - “Free Yourself†(November 23, 2004) - 239,389 (#8)
9. Bo - “The Real Thing†(December 13, 2005) - 226,976 (# 4)
10. Jennifer Hudson “Jennifer Hudson†(September 30, 2008) - 217,185 (#2)
11. David Archuleta - “David Archuleta†(November 11, 2008) - 182,927 (#2)
12. Jordin - “Jordin Sparks†(November 20, 2007) - 119,119 (#10)
13. Katharine - “Katharine McPhee†(January 30, 2007) - 115,761 (# 2)
14. Elliott Yamin “Elliott Yamin†(March 20, 2007)- 90,439 (#3)
15. Blake - “Audio Day Dreams†(December 4, 2007) - 98K (#10)
16. Kellie Pickler “Small Town Girl†(October 31, 2006) - 79,133 (#9)
17. Bucky Covington “Bucky Covington†(April 17, 2007) - 60,814 (#4)
18. Josh Gracin “Joshua Gracin†(June 15, 2004) - 57,048 (#11)
19. Justin - “Justin Guarini†(June 10, 2003) - 57,000 (# 20)
20. Kimberley - “One Love†(May 4, 2004) - 56,894 (# 16)
21. Diana - “Blue Skies†(December 7, 2004) - 47,000 ( # 52)
22. Tamyra - “Dreamer†(May 25, 2004) - 39,091 (# 23)
23. Mandisa - “True Beauty†(July 31, 2007) - 17,140 (# 43)
24. Phil - “Phil Stacey†(April 29, 2008) - 13,135 (# 43)
25. LaToya - “Love and Life†(September 20, 2005) - 12,546 (# 82)
26. Mario - “Mario Vasquez†(September 26, 2006)- 11,812 (# 80)
27. Kristy Lee - “Why Wait?†(September 14, 2008) - 9,548 (#49)
28. Constantine - “Constantine†(August 7, 2007) - 8,918 (# 75)
29. Constantine - “Pray for the Soul of Betty†(May 10, 2005) - 7,467 (# 129)
30. Paris - “Princess P†(May 8, 2007) - 6,320 (# 133)
31. Jasmine - “Jasmine Triasâ€(July 12, 2005) - 4,855
32. John Stevens - “Red†(June 28, 2005)- 4,349
33. Ace Young “Ace Young†(July 15, 2008) - 4,173 (#160)
34. Chris Sligh “Running Back To You†(May 6, 2008) - 4,073 (#190)
35. Jim Verraros - “Rollercoster†(April 26, 2005) - 1,571
36. Corey Clark - “Corey Clark†(June 21, 2005) - 557
37. Ayla Brown - “Forward†(October 17, 2006) - 300
I think the christmas shopping frenzy of this week can only help his sales numbers. So will releasing a new single (RCA, I’m looking at you)
@Thank you gingglesmo3
AWESOME! This is amazing! I’m so happy for Cook!
Man, the Davids are totally kicking butt! YAY!
We can only hope! ;)
Actual (unrounded number) Sorry, I don’t have anyone else’s
279,578
Just wanted to add my Woots
and Yays 
at DC’s sales numbers. I am beyond excited and happy for him. Here’s hoping that next week’s sales will be just as awesome. He’s David Cook! He always surpasses expectations!! 
Awesome David. Lovin the record myself so glad to see others agree. I can’t wait to see him sing these songs live. I am jonesing for a live A Daily AntheM. As well as many others.
Daenarys” -the Little Rainbow That Could goes platinum. Hugz my happy song.”
Speaking of the Rainbow, and another DC record for the day:
David Cook’s reign on the Adult Contemporary chart with “The Time of My Life” (19/RCA) has gone into double digits, making him one of 15 solo male artists to rule this survey for 10 weeks or more since the chart began in 1961.
Cook is the only male artist to have a song advance to No. 1 on the AC chart in 2008. The last song by a solo male to top this survey was Josh Groban’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” which began a three-week stay on the throne the week of Dec. 22, 2007.
source: Billboard.com
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart_beat/bonus.jsp?JSESSIONID=QsVnJthQQhLh8hhlzVzKkZh8GCTbJhy3Tnkyn2KYtxFNKhk77yB2!-182491207
Impressive - no matter how you look at it.
SashaB, thank you for that link. I had wondered when Chart Beat would pop up. I find it irksome that Fred Bronson insists on focusing on DC and DA’s relative chart positions, without taking into accounts differences in the chart weeks that their products debuted. I guess he is a chart guy and wants to focus on chart positions, though, so maybe that should not be too surprising.
In any event, DC has another #1 on the billboard charts, and Magic Rainbow’s reign on AC is even more impressive than we’d realized. Which is cool.
That NEVER happened. The Daughtry CD did not sell for lower than $9.99 in 2006. And it’s unlikely for RCA to do it for the 2nd week of a debut.
Amazon’s having a huge music sale for black Friday that’s already started and includes a ton of recent releases both for CDs and MP3s, but DC isn’t included in the price slashes. (Pretty great sale– use MJ’s link if you take advantage). Also, based on the few black Friday ads I’ve seen, I haven’t seen the DC’s record slashed anywhere. I saw a couple ads of it on “sale” for 9.99/9.98, but that’s not really a sale compared to the 7.99, 6.99 and lower prices for some other new releases that I remember seeing (Taylor Swift, Beyonce among them, I think).
And so, just like he crashed into my living room on TV during Idol, David Cook crashes into…EVERYTHING, it sounds like, this month. Just WOW. YAY! YIPPEE! I am thrilled, absolutely ecstatic, for him. I love this record more each time I listen to it. That would be mumbly-mumbly times so far, starting whenever it was up for listening on iheartmusic and continuing with my own lovely CD. And download. Had to get those exclusive tracks, ya know. Gawd. It is indeed a roller coaster ride. And last night, I was exhausted after listening and cried myself to sleep…OK getting too fangirly now. I just lurv him and his music and his band and and and I’m out of words. Oh wait - THANK YOU, David Cook, for sharing, for everything. And damn you and the Magic Rainbows and Avalanches and Lies and the Barbasol and the Permanence and the anthems…you know what I mean.
Way to Go David! What an accomplishment! Thank you for the article Sasha.
He can now add the above to his list which also includes this:
“The seventh season winner of the popular TV series rewrites chart history in a number of ways this week. Those 11 charted songs on the Hot 100 give Cook the highest number of titles on the survey in a single week since the Beatles placed 14 songs on the list in 1964″
I was a big Taylor fan and even I will say Taylor’s cd sucked bigtime a$$. The sucky cd is what hurt Taylor for the most part.
David Cook’s cd is pretty dang much awesome. I can’t remember the last time I bought a cd where I loved multiple songs. IMHO there are several hits on DC’s.
I had no idea Fuller personally managed David. Wow.
FolkFan
LMAO! ^^^^^^One of the first things I noticed about him, that and that he had REALLY BIG Feet!
*shrieks*
WHAT?! When did this info come out? I feel so out of the loop this week because I don’t have as much access to the net as usual.
I am so. glad. that I am going to actually be here during Christmas! Gonna talk to my Disney family and friends tonight! :D
Anyway, YAY at sales numbers!! Congrats Cook and all my fellow fans. :) And WOW at that press release. Good stuff.
Sirius1 radio interview. Can’t remember the whole question, but he mentions that since both he and his girlfriend have busy schedules, they tend to stay in, have dinners, and lately he tried baking (whereupon I spat coffee at my laptop). That’s when he described himself as a bad a s s (in a whisper LOL).
Re Magic Rainbow - I feel vindicated in being a total of maybe 5 people who FLOVE that song right out of the gate. We were NOT insane. Heehee.
I’m with you daenarys, maybe number four, who loved Magic Rainbow from the first minute I heard it and still love it. Of course now I also love Declaration, Lie, Avalanche, Permanent, Come Back to Me, Barbasol, Mr. Sensitive, I Did it For You, etc., etc., too. Congratulations to David Cook for a fantastic debut album with multiple hit songs. Can’t wait for the tour, and for the love of God, please release a new single soon.
Unrounded Idol figures:
3 COOK*DAVID DAVID COOK 279,578 234 999 279,812
11 ARCHULETA*DAVID DAVID ARCHULETA 66,417 182,927 -64 249,541
47 HUDSON*JENNIFER JENNIFER HUDSON 20,996 21,575 -3 455,632
57 UNDERWOOD*CARRIE CARNIVAL RIDE 16,459 21,098 -22 2,448,818
109 DAUGHTRY DAUGHTRY 6,477 6,362 2 4,286,670
115 PICKLER*KELLIE KELLIE PICKLER 6,104 8,761 -30 107,008
Thanks Tony!
The numbers in the numbers thread are now updated.
I’ve heard that the only other Idols that Fuller personally manages are Daughtry and Carrie. I’m not sure if that’s true but it’s pretty impressive that he’s personally managing DC.
And — focusing on the chart positions is silly, when it’s obvious that DC had a much tougher week with more competition than DA did. What place would DA have been in this past week with 183,000 sales? Not #2 for sure. The chart position is relative to who else is competing that week, so it’s like comparing apples to oranges to compare one week to another.
Good luck to them all.
Posters get a chance or two, but then, once I get a sense that my guidelines are being ignored, I ban.
Read my guidelines if you haven’t already.
http://mjsbigblog.com/?page_id=1172
I’m a little late in the conversation but wanted to say I’m happy for DC. I did buy his cd through iTunes on Fri. because Walmart didn’t have it on sale and I could finish it off for $9 because I already had his single. I’ve heard the first few songs and liked them. I think it should do well.