Idol Related Sales Numbers after the jump (Billboard issue date 09/06/08)
Digital Download Numbers
6 David Archuleta “Crush” 89,472 (-46%; lw 166,247) Total: 255,719 (1)
16 Jordin Sparks “One Step at a Time” 58,494 (8%; lw 54,252) Total: 491,528 (18)
45 David Cook “Time of My Life” 29,343 (-32%; lw 43,170) Total: 822,001 (27)
57 Jordin Sparks “No Air” 23K (-13%; lw 26K) Total: 2.41M (52)
60 Carrie Underwood “Just a Dream” 22K (25%; lw 17,856 ) Total: 91,871 (79)
95 Carre Underwood “Last Name” 15K (-6%; lw 15K) Total: 529K (96)
149 Jennifer Hudson “Spotlight” 9,417 (7%; lw 8,834) Total: 78,272 (156)
161 Daughtry “What About Now” 8,626 (24%; lw 6,955) Total: 300,633 (OFF)
Idol related Downloads
22 Leona Lewis “Better in Time” 51,829 (20%; lw 43,309) Total: 379,181 (26)
41 Leona Lewis “Bleeding Love” 32,156 (-8%; lw 34,766) Total: 3,057,883 (35)
Off Chart:
Kristy Lee Cook “15 Minutes of Shame” 600 (lw 9000) Total: 1600
Album Numbers
35 Carrie Underwood “Carnival Ride” 11,223 (-1%; lw 11,364) Total: 2,298,379 (38)
78 Daughtry “Daughtry” 6,963 (-0%; lw 6,988) Total: 4,193,092 (70)
80 Jordin Sparks “Jordin Sparks 6,874 (-0; lw 6,896) Total: 891,567 (71)
Idol Related Albums
18 Leona Lewis “Spirit” 21,906 (-6%; lw 23,225) Total: 1,018,668 (15)
185 Reba McEntire “Reba Duets 3,480 (-11%; lw 3,921) Total: 1,445,027 (160)
Off Chart
Carrie Underwood “Some Hearts” 5,000 (lw 6,000) Total: 6.52M
Bucky Covington “Bucky Covington” 1,500 (lw 1,400) Total: 361K
Kelly Clarkson “Breakaway” 1,400 (lw 1,400) Total: 6.01M
Josh Gracin “We Weren’t Crazy” 900 (lw 1,200) Total: 62K
Kellie Pickler “Small Town Girl” 1,000 (lw 1,200) Total: 782K
Clay Aiken “On My Way Here” 800 (lw 900) Total: 150K
Taylor Hicks “Early Works” 600 (2,300) Total: 2.9K
Kelly Clarkson “My December 400 (lw 400) Total: 773K
Kelly Clarkson “Thankful” 300 (lw 400) Total: 2.71M
Chris Sligh “Running Back To You” 300 (400) Total: 10K
Mandissa “True Beauty” 300 (lw 300) Total: 96K
Elliott Yamin “Elliott Yamin” 300 (lw 400) Total: 515K
Ace Young “Ace Young” 300 (lw 500) Total: 7k
Fantasia “Fantasia” 200 (lw 200) 516K
Bo Bice “See The Light” 200 (200) Total: 60K
Phil Stacey “Phil Stacye” (200) Total: 35K
Blake Lewis “Audio Day Dream” 200 (lw 300) Total: 302K
Katharine McPhee 100 (lw 100) Total: 373K
Clay Aiken “Thousand Different Ways” 100 (lw 100): 528K
Jon Peter Lewis “Break the Silence Total: 500
Rounded numbers from Ken Barnes at Idol Chatter
Please post numbers as you find them. Thanks.
Related Posts
Archie’s preorder was up for a while, and was doing fairly well, but then disappeared when the single went up. I have no clue why.
Regarding Amazon: I don’t know how they determine their numbers, but they change hourly. Cook was 94 last hour and he’s now 64, so there is some funky math going on there.
I read a while ago that Amazon is about 6% of the music sales. So any Amazon pre-order numbers can only be seen as a representative sample. I do believe that it is a good sign that DC has been doing so well with the pre-orders, but the real test will come when the album actually exists.
Kirsten FTMFW!
Kirsten you slay me!!
That Clive mail has me hurtin’! 
What’s next - Jive funded Archie “big box” warehouses, modeled after Sam’s Club or BJ’s, where the fans can purchase his releases by the gross! No, Metric ton! Fanatic fans, come on down! roflmsao!!!!
Ok, Kirsten, we have somewhat opposite perspectives on the discussion in this thread , but that was friggin’ funny!
With regards to the Billboard lists, I am now really questioning the wisdom of Jive’s strategy. Archie’s drop from #2 to #15, after only one week, seems very precipitous. In fact, he’s lucky he didn’t get to #1, or that could be some kind of a record.
And the thing is, it’s NOT his fault! The sole responsibility lies with his record company. In Kirsten’s comic turn above, she depicted the Jive CEO being concerned that DA didn’t have enough radio adds.
If Jive had simply waited to until they had the spins, not only would Archie likely hit #1, but he would have had staying power to boot. Now, at the very least, he has to endure some bad headlines for a week or two.
But, it also seems possible to me that the plunge could also affect his adds and spins going forward, if radio directors (etc.) conclude that the single has already peaked and is in decline.
Also, I think, arguably, it hurts all the Idols because it reinforces the perception of the things we discussed in this thread– Idol artist releases, bolstered by their crazy Idol fans who buy like mad, but have other no fans outside of that, so once those sales dry up, they are left with nothing.
Anyway, it’s possible Archie will climb back near the top, although that would be a seriously volatile chart progression. But, if he doesn’t rise back up again, then I think Jive’s plan has to be seriously questioned.
Jive has been doing great.
No, it is a common progression for a digitally released song. It will climb back up.
I don’t know whether it is true, but a while back someone posted a comment saying they had contacted Amazon as to why DA’s album was no longer available and they wrote back telling them the amount they had for sale sold out. Maybe they didn’t order as many as Cooks?
Once the tour is over and Archie is on every talk show singing it, along with a video, I don’t doubt for a second that it’ll go back up. It might get to #1 yet.
I don’t know if it’s the outside perspective or something, but I’m very realistic about Archie’s chances for success, and they’re very very good. It’s a no brainer really - he has the huge devoted fanbase from Idol, who hasn’t gone anywhere, and might have even intensified since the finale, he has a record company which knows how to market and sell him, and he has catchy pop tunes. In today’s market - he’s set.
I’ll be alot calmer about David Cook’s odds when I have release dates and the slightest inkling about how commercial his sound is. He had quite some time to grow and change since Analog Heart.
If he were to make and album full of songs like his arrangements of ABMB and AIRNIY, he’d be golden (or, platinumed, whatever), but he’s not going in that direction, so it’s more of a crapshoot.
Just establishing myself, once again, as a confident DCook fan.
Oh, how I wish the producers would have released his sales numbers from throughout the season.
Methinks they’re hiding a big secret…..
“Anyway, it’s possible Archie will climb back near the top, although that would be a seriously volatile chart progression. But, if he doesn’t rise back up again, then I think Jive’s plan has to be seriously questioned. ”
A response found in another forum summarizes far better than I ever could:
“The big debut was a great thing. Great promotion for the song. Helped get it on the radar.
The way of singles is a marathon not a race. The point of the first single is album promotion, and the album’s not coming out for a little while yet. “Crush” hitting number 2 last week was unexpected and unusual. Most of the songs it is competing against in the top 20 have either been out significantly longer or are coming from very established artists getting significant airplay just cause of who they are, as in the case of Pink and T.I. (although his song was released seven weeks ago).
Look at how stagnant the chart is. So many of these songs barely budge from where they were before. It’s just slow and steady until the peak. I mean, just look at “Disturbia”. It’s the very epitome of steady steady steady. You’d think everyone who wanted to buy it would have bought it by now but nope. It just stays perched, along with songs like “Forever”. And what will keep them there is airplay, which is the most significant thing. These radio stations are going to keep playing the same songs. The same can happen for “Crush”. It can be that kind of song. It’s already top 30 radio without being sent to most stations………..
Most people have simply not heard this song. New York is the only large market giving it any play. Everyone is waiting for September 2nd and beyond, and if the song had debuted at number 50 or whatever then we’d all understand that it’s waiting for the timely bumps every other song has already had. Well it still is!
Archie fans have been immersed in this song for a couple of months. We’ve been talking about it since it showed up on ASCAP. For us it feels like a long time. In the life of “Crush”, it’s been out three weeks although actually, most singles start getting tracked by the “official release” date, which is either the Itunes/sales date or the Adds date. So “Crush” has been out for two weeks and most radio stations still pay it little mind as is typical. That first week (when it shot to the top of the countdowns of the biggest station in the biggest market in the United States), that was a bonus, a sneak peak.”
That was actually covered in a follow-up memo
To: Tom Corson (EVP and GM RCA Music Group)
Tom Carrabba (EVP and GM Jive/Zomba Group)
Simon Fuller (Executive, 19E Label Group)
From: Clive Davis (BMG Visionary)
Subject: Re: Fans are Not Motivated
New plan. I was just watching a documentary about seal hunting (note to assistant: Where can I get one of those clubs?) and I came up with a new idea to rile up the fans.
It has come to my attention that when we act in a predictable way, people don’t get antsy. And if they aren’t antsy, they aren’t cranky. And if they aren’t cranky, they won’t become unbalanced and start attacking each other. What the world needs is more unbalanced people and to do that, we have to throw our game plan off-kilter. We have to look crazy to attract crazies!
So, Tom, what I want you to get rid of the release date for the one that likes to scream all those sappy 80s songs (please tell me he isn’t creating another 80s mixed tape? I still have indigestion from the last one. Try to hook him up with somebody from the last decade at least. Diane has a new song you should look at. She keeps muttering about releasing those pictures of me in the toga with the goat so at least give her a call). Everybody knows we’d be morons to release that CD any other week than the one before Black Friday, but if we remove the release date they fans will start thinking the release date could be anything. Maybe even January. As if I’m that stupid. And, whatever you do, don’t give them a single. Haha! Keep them on their toes. Can you leak some story about how we’ve got him recording something from that insane Swedish chick who wrote “My Destiny”? Too much? Okay, I guess there are limits.
Meanwhile, other Tom, you get those interent book guys to not allow pre-orders at all for that little kid who sings all those “meaning” songs (what’s up with him? Make sure he gets some bubblegum pop. I still have that ulcer from Kelly’s last album. I don’t want any meaning songs! Superficial! That’s what sells. Gas is $5 a gallon. Nobody wants reality. Reality sucks. See if Miley has any left-overs we can scoop up. Just remember to change the pronouns this time). The fans will go nuts! They’ll probably chew off their own arms. Then, when we release it for pre-order and it will zoom up to number one and the other kid’s fans will chew off their arms! You’ll be able to tell who the Idol fans are from all the chewed off arms. Oh, what a perfect world! Just make sure that they still have one arm left so they can still hold their credit cards. We don’t want to piss off Walmart.
Get moving. I want a full scale mental health crisis before the end of the week!
Clive
PS Fuller, don’t send me that guy with the long hair to park cars anymore. He keeps doing Marley impersonations and confusing the crap out of the Jonas Brothers.
“With regards to the Billboard lists, I am now really questioning the wisdom of Jive’s strategy. Archie’s drop from #2 to #15, after only one week, seems very precipitous. ”
It’s not that uncommon. It’s what happens to most AI coronation singles. I’m too lazy to check but I bet the other singles released that day by Chris Brown and Taylor Swift showed a similiar trajectory.What was unusual was that a brand new song with very limited radio play made it to #1 on iTunes. That never happens.
Look when you start at #1 on iTunes, there really is only one direction left to you. :)
If there are “bad headlines” about Archie, they will only be coming from bloggers and journalists who have no idea how Billboard works, or how “Crush” got to #2 in the first place (through sales). First, a drop from #2 to #15 is not anything unusual, nor would a drop from #1 to #15 be a record, especially for a single in its second week of digital sales. “Dreamer” and “Change” dropped much farther this week after high placements on iTunes the same week “Crush” was released. They have no airplay, so it’s not a surprise.
“Crush” isn’t the first single to hit high sales coming out of the gate, only to see them fall about 40-50% the following week. It’s unusual that a debut single from a new artist hits #2 in its first week out, but I think we can agree that his popularity on AI helped him there, coupled with the limited airplay he had and the promotion he got from being #1 on iTunes. If you asked anybody in the know at Billboard whether Jive should be worried, they would probably laugh. “Crush” wasn’t supposed to be at #2. It’s not supposed to be at #15 now. It’s supposed to be middling about in the 30s or 40s right about now. That it’s much higher than that is a bonus.
While many singles make the slow climb up the Hot 100, certain singles take a jerkier path. #2-15-30-25-22-12-4-3-5… you get the idea. There’s really no worry that his drop to #15 will affect his radio airplay or the perception of the song. People who control radio playlists aren’t ignorant of how the charts work. They know why “Crush” fell, and they’ll know why it will fall more next week. That won’t affect how Jive will push the song, nor will it prevent stations from adding the song. Jive is probably thrilled with how “Crush” is doing, and probably see its placement on the Hot 100 these past couple of weeks as merely another way to get word out about the song. Once “Crush” settles down and true promotion begins, it’ll likely take the traditional slow, steady climb up the chart that most singles take.
Further, there is no guarantee that waiting would have allowed “Crush” to go to #1. One of the reasons he was able to get to #2 is because the top of the Hot 100 is weak right now. “Disturbia” has about half the number of spins as “Forever,” but sells like hotcakes. Anything that outsells “Disturbia” has a shot at #1 (like T.I. managed this week), even if the airplay isn’t there yet. If Jive had waited, the top of the chart might have been a lot stronger, preventing “Crush” from even getting to #2.
But there are no physical copies of either album. Are they talking about the label’s decision about how many albums they are going to print and send off to Amazon? Because I would think Jive is planning on printing more albums than just the number that can be sold in a couple weeks on pre-order. Besides, the pre-order has been down for a long time. If Jive was going to adjust the number it will send off to Amazon, they would have done so by now.
Kirsten…. you’re hazardous to my health!!
Guts have burst, the last of my azz has been laughed off - must find that Cigna health card…. may need medical attention if this continues - PLEASE CONTINUE! 
Kirsten,
That last memo was made of WIN, but this is my favorite part of all:
What sounscene said.
Expect Cook to be handled exactly like Daughtry. Which makes perfect sense.
His job will be sell albums not single downloads.
And Soundscene, as always….
Kirsten… LOLOLOL.
If you’re going to cut and paste from another forum or blog, could you please provide a link? Would you like to see your words on another forum or blog without attribution? I wouldn’t.
It’s simply proper netiquette.
ETA:
I definitely allow and encourage linking, even if it’s to another Idol blog. Linking is good! :).
No problem MJ … I wasn’t sure if you allowed that here… thanks 4 the heads up!
I’ll be a SME on netetiquette before long
The amazon thing: I think Jive took down the pre-order button. They don’t want us order there. Maybe they want us to buy in itunes, maybe they cut a special deal with Walmart, who knows? David has a personal connection with his fans. They won’t forget to buy his album even if it is not up for pre-order.
Kirsten your memos are hilarious! As I’m reading them I’m imagining Clive barking off these memos to his assistant in the voice of J. Jonah Jameson (?). The Editor of the newspaper in “Spiderman”.
I must say, I am very, very impressed with the intelligent discussion in this thread. I’ve learned a lot. Well done everyone.
Kirsten’s memos are awesome, but adding J. Jonah Jameson’s voice as suggested by cookcricket makes them even better.
btw… Crush is back to #4 overall, #3 pop on Amazon at the moment… Not sure why, could swore he was in the teens… o.O;
Perhaps they combined the 2 pages they had for the song??
LK08 and Soundscene…………..
Regarding: “I don’t know whether it is true, but a while back someone posted a comment saying they had contacted Amazon as to why DA’s album was no longer available and they wrote back telling them the amount they had for sale sold out. Maybe they didn’t order as many as Cooks?”
That was in regards to Taylor Hick’s album EW. It was up for preorder then taken down, and customer service replied to a fan’s inquiry that the amount they had for sale sold out. (which was erroneous of course). But I do know that was Taylor’s album.
Now, about David Archuleta and Amazon…..
Archie’s album was available for preorder for a couple of weeks. The very day Amazon put his picture up with the preorder, the ability to preorder went away. Instead, Archie’s album got grouped with the ones that say “Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available.” He originally was ranking on an average from 100 to 200 at Amazon. Currently, his ranking, after this HUGE technical glitch, is a 36,000 . Just today I noticed Archuleta’s album went back to being available for preorder. Finally, Amazon figured out their mistake. Now, why I know this to be fact is that I have been corresponding with Amazon about the matter. Good to see they corrected their error.
tada!
Yepper! The album is now available for pre-orders…
thanks for the good follow up JudyOhio!
COMMENTS ON THE LETTER
To: Tom Corson (EVP and GM RCA Music Group)
Tom Carrabba (EVP and GM Jive/Zomba Group)
Simon Fuller (Executive, 19E Label Group)
From: Clive Davis (BMG Visionary)
Subject: Re: Fans are Not Motivated
New plan. I was just watching a documentary about seal hunting (note to assistant: Where can I get one of those clubs?) and I came up with a new idea to rile up the fans.
It has come to my attention that when we act in a predictable way, people don’t get antsy. And if they aren’t antsy, they aren’t cranky. And if they aren’t cranky, they won’t become unbalanced and start attacking each other. What the world needs is more unbalanced people and to do that, we have to throw our game plan off-kilter. We have to look crazy to attract crazies!
COMMENT: I would suspect that Clive and company are glad that Archuleta does indeed have some crazy fans.
So, Tom, what I want you to get rid of the release date for the one that likes to scream all those sappy 80s songs (please tell me he isn’t creating another 80s mixed tape? I still have indigestion from the last one. Try to hook him up with somebody from the last decade at least.
COMMENT: Are they talking about Cooks singing the 80s songs?
Diane has a new song you should look at. She keeps muttering about releasing those pictures of me in the toga with the goat so at least give her a call). Everybody knows we’d be morons to release that CD any other week than the one before Black Friday, but if we remove the release date they fans will start thinking the release date could be anything. Maybe even January. As if I’m that stupid. And, whatever you do, don’t give them a single. Haha! Keep them on their toes.
COMMENT: They are talking about Cook fans, aren’t they????? Keep them on their toes about not getting a single from Cook because it keeps them motivated to talk about wondering about it.
Can you leak some story about how we’ve got him recording something from that insane Swedish chick who wrote “My Destiny”? Too much? Okay, I guess there are limits.
COMMENT: Are they talking about McPhee’s My Destiny?
Meanwhile, other Tom, you get those interent book guys to not allow pre-orders at all for that little kid who sings all those “meaning” songs (what’s up with him? Make sure he gets some bubblegum pop.
COMMENT: Are they talking about Archie here? The Internet book guys are Amazon!!!!
I still have that ulcer from Kelly’s last album. I don’t want any meaning songs! Superficial! That’s what sells. Gas is $5 a gallon. Nobody wants reality. Reality sucks. See if Miley has any left-overs we can scoop up. Just remember to change the pronouns this time).
COMMENT: They want Archie to use some of Miley’s left-over songs and just change the pronouns in the lyrics.
The fans will go nuts! They’ll probably chew off their own arms. Then, when we release it for pre-order and it will zoom up to number one and the other kid’s fans will chew off their arms! You’ll be able to tell who the Idol fans are from all the chewed off arms. Oh, what a perfect world! Just make sure that they still have one arm left so they can still hold their credit cards. We don’t want to piss off Walmart.
COMMENT: Archie fans will go nuts with Archie singing Miley’s left over song. Then they release Archie’s CD for pre-order to zoom it up to number 1 which will make Cook’s fans angry and try to beat Archie.
So they want a competition between the two Davids so the crazy fans of both Davids compete with each other on the sales.
Get moving. I want a full scale mental health crisis before the end of the week!
Clive
COMMENT: Basically, Clive are enjoying that Archie’s fans are so crazy and they want Cook’s fans to be as crazy to get the sales war going.
PS Fuller, don’t send me that guy with the long hair to park cars anymore. He keeps doing Marley impersonations and confusing the crap out of the Jonas Brothers.
COMMENT: The Jonas brothers are dumb???
CONCLUSION: It looks like 19E will be playing with the crazy fans of both Davids to make themselves some millions of dollars from the stupid fans. They truly love suckers especially the ones who bulk-buy and are kept on their toes wondering about the album/single! They like it when the crazy fans wants to compete in sales. They want motivated fans- crazy fans!!! Good strategy!!!
I wonder how long this craziness and obssessiveness will last among the fans.
Coming out of lurking for the last 5 months to react to that last post. OMG. Someone else please break the news to tij about that ‘leaked memo’.
I thought Kristen’s posts are the most entertaining. Not until I read tjj’s.
I ain’t got the heart…..
I just spit tea all over my computer screen! The last 4 comments… *dies laughing*
I have a silly question.. sorry guys..
I have Itunes om my home pc and buy all songs through them. I wanted to gift Crush to my niece who does not have Itunes yet or an IPOD so I bought it through Amazon. It is now sitting on my desktop. What is the best way to send this file to her now? Can I just email it to her mom’s computer?
ealbino, yes you can email Amazon mp3 as attachment. It is not protected like itunes.
How weird is it that David is back to no. 4 at Amazon. He only got so up there the day of Crush release. There are still two same versions of Crush for sale, stupid.
Thanks ianamy… I hope my niece (actually my best friend’s daughter but I call her niece.. lol) does not then email all her friends.. I told her if her friends wanted it I would buy it for them. However I’m sure lots of people still get it for free unfortunately.
If her friends have itunes you can still gift them. Now the school is back, hope these little Archies promote Crush among their friends.
GOOD ANALYSIS FOR A TWELVE YEAR OLD POSTER
ahahahah. i am soooo funny. … face it…. the season 7 idols will die out after the tour - all of them will eventually disappear. There are more important things in life than making “people you don’t even know personally” nor “care about you” rich. Only .016% of the world population care about the top 3 idols. No one talks about them anymore in real life but the very few obssessed ones.