This week’s Idol Billboard Update HERE!
The Highlights:
- Well, well! Look who’s at the top of the Idol Chart this week. Is it Daughtry, Daughtry? Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood? Nope, NOPE! It’s Jordin Sparks, Jordin Sparks, climbing from 29 to 25 this week. Not all is rosy, however. Although her chart position is up, her sales decreased -28% from last week. Her hit with Chris Brown “No Air”, is sitting at #5 on the Hot 100–it’s highest chart position on the chart yet. It debuts on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart this week at #37. She and Chris will sing their single on next week’s special Thursday results show. Perhaps pushing album sales into the positive and the album and single further up the charts? We shall see. The digital single is nearly platinum–to date it’s sold 972,406.
- Carrie Underwood’s next single, “Last Name” hits the Hot 100 Bubbling Under Chart at #8. It’s currently #21 on the the Hot Country Songs chart.
- Chris Sligh’s single “Empty Me” is moving up the Christian charts. On the Hot Christian Adult Contemporary chart it climbs from 26-20. On the Hot Christian Songs chart–from 24-20. Congratulations on making the Top 20 on both charts, Chris!
- Chris Cornell’s version of “Billie Jean” debuts on the Hot Canadian Digital Chart at #72. It’s #100 on the digital chart. Fun Fact: 54% of the “Billie Jean†Downloads Chris has ever sold were sold this week.
Click the links to purchase at iTunes…
Sales numbers compiled by Kirsten.
Photo: Jordin Sparks at the 2008 Kids Choice Awards
i cant wait for jordin and chris to sing no air on IGB- i hope they kill it. maybe it will reach #1 or 1 million copies sold after that…she deserves it.
Jordan better give a BIG thankyou to Chirs Brown for that isngle. I watched to video and she seems so young in appearance to him. Jordan does act like an 18 or 17 but a young one which is good but in the business you also have to be mature.
Do we have any iea who appears live and who is taped for IGB?
Well, yeah, sure I’d imagine that the popularity of “No Air” can be attributed to Chris Brown in part. He’s pretty huge. And I’m sure that was part of the purpose of adding him to the song. However, Jordin didn’t do so bad with that little song called “Tattoo” either.
I’m hard pressed to imagine Jordin as not mature. She doesn’t even look young to me. And everything I’ve seen, she’s handled with grace and maturity. Maybe I’m not seeing the same things, but she’s always seemed poised beyond her years, to me.
Jordan is just missing something for me she seems like someone acting mature and not natural. I compare her to Miley Cyrus who seems allot more confortable at 15 and Lisa Tucker whom make Jordan seem quite young. Jordan was known to judges before this season like Daivid A, also after 5 being young was a good thing can we say Disney success . This began the soo young and soo good pimping of Jordan which turned me off big time. Jordan always will be a good technical singer but I feel nothing ,the one wich started the “just 17″ and what product Ai can turn out.
LU-IGA according to the main AI board was being taped Sunday..well thats what it said fro people who wanted to buy tickets when it was .
Lu, “No Air” was taped after the show the other night. I know a lot of the other stuff is being taped tonight. That probably became even more important once Ellen backed out as host.
I apologize to mjers that was overboard..just find it wierd and the wtf question the only one that realizes this? Jordan was a semi-plant(was known beforehand) won last year and this year in the finale 5 it could be all plants except for David C. American Idol pull the sheep over the viewers eye ..Good for mjers this will be the last year I watch Ai ever and wondering if the some viewers are sheep?
Oh come on poporange. I usually read your posts with humor snd a certain amount of tongue in cheek but this is just over the top. All plants but David C? Jordin immature? Unbelievable! I actually worried about Jordin because of her poise and maturity. She always skewed old for me and was so glad to see her seen so young and bouncy when she sang with Ruben at the finale last year. I even posted that it was the first time that I saw that part of her and I liked it.
I know alot of us are weary of the manipulations and machinations of the show, but for the most part are we really sheep or a step ahead of them most of the time. Most of us here are actually well informed and the ‘normal’ viewing public certainly doesn’t take it as seriously as you seem to be taking it. This isn’t a debate on global warming or the war in Iraq, it’s aTeevee show!
And this pimping thing just riles me. Jordin pimped, yeah, after all of the other true contenders bit the dust. That girl was not expected to win early on, she was indeed the dark horse. Yeah, they kept repeating the only 17 thing, but I do remember Lakisha being the one to beat, Chris was touted as the next JT, fresh, hip and cool, then there was do no wrong Melinda……I guess I am watching another show entirely……
Me too. She always came across much older than she actually was when performing. But off camera, she was pretty much a normal 17 year old, which was pretty refreshing.
I don’t agree with that one bit. Melinda was always there as a contender, and even though Blake probably truly never had a chance in hell to win, I’d think he was pretty much seen as a competitor to her. I agree that the judges really got on her train midway through the top 12, but once they did, the pimping never ceased.
Examples: Jordin NEVER had to sing first in the top 12 until top 3 week. She got the pimp spot twice before even top 5, and effusive praise even for mediocre performances, and excuses for bad ones (”Living on a Prayer” - “Oh, you’re just 17, it’s okay.”). If that’s not pimping, or shielding, or “propping up”, I don’t know what is.
The “omg 17!!11!1!1!!” every. effing. WEEK. annoyed me too, but that season is in the books, Jordin won, is on the way to becoming pretty successful, and is a great representative for the show. Sometimes you just gotta live with it.
I don’t think David C is the only “non plant” left this season, either. Brooke and Jason weren’t signed to major labels and didn’t compete on other singing-based reality shows, either.
Ummmmm….Maybe I’m wrong but is Syesha considered a plant as well??
Plants??-
MJ
Carly
Little D
KLC
Non-plants???-
DC
Syesha??
Brooke
Jason
I think by my calculations, it breaks out pretty even. The thing that sticks out in my mind though is the pimping of said plants in the beginning of the show.
Hey please correct me if I’m wrong. It won’t be the first time and certainly won’t be the last….. :)
Yes, Bax. She was on a show on ABC called “The One”. It was ABC’s attempt at an answer to AI, but it only lasted a couple weeks before getting cancelled. So her “plant” status is kinda iffy. But, she’s been in Ford commercials as well. (hmmm…)
Sarah- Ah Ha….Did not know that. Thanks for the heads up. So it looks like DC, Brooke and Jason are the true non-plants this season.
Being on other shows is nothing new - one old show alone (Popstars) produced several eventual AI contestants…
I like Jordin’s hair in the photo. It doesn’t look so puffy as usual.
Sorry I think but I do not care what you think of my opinions anymore. This cite I got trashed big time and not a contestnts..Truthfully I think Jordan is ok but Ai is hypcocritcal that suddenly it is ok to be young.I will live with that and no the “plant’ state about came from vftw which allot were having a stink about early on now it is not..I think it is wierd..I had trouble now it is ok..
Were not on the list now were …david Cook and maybe Brook
Jason Castro was on a tv show briefy but it does not matter.
I nolonger care .
Nobody is trashing you. They are disagreeing with you, and that is allowed. Keep your comments on topic, please. Leave the personal stuff out of the conversation.
He was not competing on a tv show though. It was a reality show, but he was basically just the boyfriend of the girl who was trying to make it in the music industry, IIRC. The reality shows that David and Syesha were on were singing-based competition reality shows, and they were contestants.
Musically speaking, especially in a “lead singer” capacity, he’s probably the least experienced of all of the top 12.
What exactly is a plant? Are the ones with record deals in the past a plant, but those with cds out not plants? Or is it assumed that the people didn’t wait on line and have to audition and or were drafted? What exactly constitutes a plant. In my estimation on Jason wouldn’t be a plant, and then if Syesha is a plant because of an obsure Ford commercial and the one, which only one person watched, wouldn’t Jason be a plant because of his tv exposure?
Poporange, I am sorry if your feelings were hurt, but this par for the course. Not everyone agrees with everything that other folk write. We are just individuals with differing opinions. Not a big deal.
Dare I admit that I Netflixed Cheyenne and watched the whole thing one weekend when the weather was crummy? LOL. Jason was her “love interest” on the show. They did show him drumming with his band when they opened for her once. That’s about it as far as music is concerned. I read his band and Cheyenne had the same manager in Texas and that’s how he got on the show. I believe it was before he started singing, so I’m not sure that’s the same as previous records deals, etc.
Honestly, the only “plant” that really bothered me at first was Carly, and mostly because of the Randy Jackson connection and the $2 million dollar deal. That doesn’t bother me so much anymore. It’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out for her. There’s a desperation about her that is both off-putting and endearing. I’m not sure that makes sense. LOL.
The MJ song-stealing thing was also troublesome, but not from a “plant” perspective. The early pimpage on some of them annoyed me and I’m not sure some of them would still be around without it, but that’s really hard to say.
I think Jason is the only one left with virtually no airtime prior to top 24. His de-pimping has already started, but I’m hoping he can still make top 5.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that AI is typically not the cinderella story I thought it was. TPTB will do what they think they need to create buzz and increase viewership. It’s a business. If their winner doesn’t seem to hit it in the mainstream, they move on. Again, it’s a business.
But, being the biased Elliott fan that I am, I do think that the show took a person with little to no singing experience and transformed him into a recording star. Elliott’s journey embodies the cinderella story I like even though he didn’t win.
The MJ/Carly/David A thing still bothers me and I wont pull for any of them. But if one of them wins? Oh well - it’s a tv show.
Back when this season started the whole plant thing bothered me, especially Carly’s MCA 2 million dollar deal. Then the thing about MJ and the song stealing drama and his deal with Maverick, I was prepared to hate them both just based on those things but now both won me over. Sure they still get relentlessly pimped but I can’t help but like them.
Lu, Elliott may not have won, but he’s still a success story. The show does create opportunities for these kids that they would never have had otherwise. I’m not one to hate on 19 or Clive, even if they are manipulative. The smart kids will figure out how to use the show as they show uses them.
Back to Jason and Cheyenne, I doubt he had more than 15 total minutes on the show. I didn’t count, but he was mentioned more than he was shown. LOL.
Michael’s personality is what’s won me over. I’ve always liked his voice, and didn’t think the “song stealing” thing was such a big deal, personally. Just at the beginning of the competition, he seemed a little detached at the beginning. But I think he just needed a good swift kick in the ass, and now he’s at least acting like he’s really enjoying himself. :)
I can’t deny Carly’s voice, and she started to gain some ground with me a little, but the desperation she’s showing has caused her to lose that the past few weeks. At least in the group performances she seems like she’s having fun.
Every contestant left had either released an album or was on TV prior to AI.
Albums prior to AI:
Carly, KLC, Brooke, Michael, David C
TV experience prior to AI:
Jason (MTV) , David A (Star Search), Syesha (The One, tv commercials)
Contestants have to fill out an extensive application for AI when they try out, don’t they? IMO AI researched these 8 and could tell that they would have contestants with some confidence.
Debbie, the AI stage manager even mentions it:
” From the Top 24, this was a really good group of kids. And they’re fun to be around and they’re nice and they are a little more comfortable. They all have a little more of an idea of what they want to do, which is great. They have a sense of themselves.†”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/04/idol-tracker-me.html
After all the criticism of last year’s group, IMO they did not want to leave it to chance and selected the performers with the best ability to handle being on stage and the pressure. In that regard, the remaining 8 are all plants.
Let the games begin! Or, rather, continue!
I looked at Film’s myspace page today and not only do they have Michael’s picture on their site and talk about him, they mention the following:
——–
“Micheal Lee (now going by Michael Johns) is a contestant of American Idol Season 7. Mike auditioned in San Diego and got through easily. (Not surprisingly!). You can check out his audition here. Rumour has it that Mike made his way pretty far in the competition. He sang in cover bands for years in Atlanta before (and after) his stint in Film, so this competition might as well have been made for him. Michael Lee Johns already has a fan site going: The Aussie Possie! - make sure you add them as a friend and stay tuned as we work together to help Michael go all the way!
After Michael Johns left Film he joined The Rising. He used 2 Film songs (Q — renamed to So Alive” and “Coming Down”) but unfortunately got dropped before the cd was ever released. You can’t buy The Rising’s CD, but.. you can still get a copy of those songs (exactly the same version) on Film’s EP “rolling”, available from Amazon or iTunes. ”
——–
Sounds fairly amicable to me!
So I guess it’s pick the plant we love/hate the most. Frankly I can’t like or dislike someone because he or she had a dream that they want to pursue. As long as it doesn’t include any illegal activity good on them. I just base my choices on do I enjoy their singing or not. Truly there were no real Cinderella stories as far as I am concerned. If Ramiele had gone further she probably would have been the closest thing to a Cinderella story, period.
I don’t see how Jason could be considered a plant. According to his AI video, he had only sang in public 5 times before he auditioned for the show. He was a drummer in his band, he did not sing. AI did not show him at all until he made Top 24. He was cannon fodder but he dodged the hit by giving good performances.
I’m thrilled for Jordin. She has sold a boatload of singles. Maybe after she starts touring with Alicia Keys her CD sales will go up too. I wish her well. After all, she’s only 18.
It’s amazing how Country Music radio embraces all of Carrie’s released songs. Must be great to be her.
Well not for me because I just don’t care that much. I watch now strictly for entertainment and so I can participate in the office coffee chat. Also, I have to participate in discussions here! :)
Well I don’t know about this year because it’s hard to keep up with who had a lable and who was on which tv show. I do think there have been some Cinderella stories in the past even though they didn’t win.