It was exactly one year ago this week that Taylor Hicks, the Season Five Miss American Idol, made a hot shot debut at #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 Singles chart with Do I Make You Proud. It was the fifth #1 single on the HOT 100 for an American Idol Finalist.
Kelly Clarkson topped the chart with A Moment Like This. The Season Two Miss American Idol, Ruben Studdard had to settle for #2 because the First Runner-Up, Clay Aiken, had massive sales and stole the #1 position with This Is The Night. Fantasia topped the charts the next year with I Believe and the Season Four Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, had her own #1 smash with Inside Your Heaven.
And here we are, Season Six has barely wrapped and it seems like there's no chance at all for Blake Lewis or our new Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks, to have their place in chart history. I wanted to be optimistic, but looking at it realisticly, the momentum is completely gone. There's going to need to be an entirely new marketting campaign to generate enough sales and airplay for the Season Six Finalists to make a significant impact.
Who knew that when Jordin sang This Is My Now it was going to be a literal interpretation. Back on that winning stage, that was her now. I'm glad she at least won that moment of cheers and glitter.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Life goes on...
Life goes on at the top of the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart without the Season Six Miss American Idol finalists. Rihanna is have a great year - again - and Fergie is still cranking out the hits. Meanwhile....
Daughtry drops from 7 to 11 with Home.
Carrie Underwood drops from 10 to 13 with Before He Cheats.
Kelly Clarkson drops from 11 to 17 with Never Again.
And worst of all, both Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks drop out of the Top 40 completely! Sweet, wonderful, talented teen queen Jordin Sparks was just crowned the Season Six Miss American Idol a few weeks ago and she is already a has-been. Her debut single, This Is My Now, has gotten lost in the shuffle. There is still no opportunity to pre-order the physical single at amazon.com and she's getting no airplay.
It seems like this year the producers of American Idol made an exclusive deal with i-tunes. Music from all 12 of this years top finalists are available for download. It just doesn't make any sense to me. What did Jordin really win this year? Her music is available with all the other 12 contestants. That doesn't seem right. I can understand having some of Blake's songs available since he earned a place in the top 2, but not everyone else. It has become very boring having everyone's music available. In my opinion, Jordin and Blake are being cheated out of the prize this year.
Oh well. Life goes on. We'll see what happens next week. I guess I'm still optimistic this can turn around....
Daughtry drops from 7 to 11 with Home.
Carrie Underwood drops from 10 to 13 with Before He Cheats.
Kelly Clarkson drops from 11 to 17 with Never Again.
And worst of all, both Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks drop out of the Top 40 completely! Sweet, wonderful, talented teen queen Jordin Sparks was just crowned the Season Six Miss American Idol a few weeks ago and she is already a has-been. Her debut single, This Is My Now, has gotten lost in the shuffle. There is still no opportunity to pre-order the physical single at amazon.com and she's getting no airplay.
It seems like this year the producers of American Idol made an exclusive deal with i-tunes. Music from all 12 of this years top finalists are available for download. It just doesn't make any sense to me. What did Jordin really win this year? Her music is available with all the other 12 contestants. That doesn't seem right. I can understand having some of Blake's songs available since he earned a place in the top 2, but not everyone else. It has become very boring having everyone's music available. In my opinion, Jordin and Blake are being cheated out of the prize this year.
Oh well. Life goes on. We'll see what happens next week. I guess I'm still optimistic this can turn around....
Friday, June 8, 2007
Trying to be optimistic...
Well, here we are a week later - a new chart has come out and both Blake and Jordin have dropped from their debut positions of last week. (sigh)
I just looked to see if their physical singles were available for pre-order at amazon.com, but there's still no indication that they are forthcoming. The momentum is dying down. Without the help of airplay, sales is all that there is to give these Idol winners hope of debut chart success. Blake's song has dropped from #18 to #21 while Jordin's slid all the way from #15 to #25. Whoever was in charge of marketting and promotion this year really messed up big time. :(
So I'm trying to remain optimistic. At least some previous Idols are still managing to do well. Season Five Miss American Idol Third Runner-Up, Daughtry, was handed a hit on a silver platter when his, Home, was used each week on the Idol results shows. While it's not nearly as huge as the #1 smash Daniel Powter had last year with Bad Day, it's hanging in there at #7 this week.
Season One Miss American Idol, Kelly Clarkson has been struggling to stay in the top ten with the first single from her upcoming release. This week she slips back again to #11 with Never Again, but I still think it can bounce back again. I have a feeling that sales will remain consistant and it's just taking awhile for airplay to catch up.
Season Four Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, is a great example of what can happen when you patiently wait for airplay to finally pick up. Before He Cheats was released as a single at the end of last year and it has taking all this time to get pop airplay. It sits at #10 in the HOT 100 singles chart.
I may be the only person left who's still holding out hope for Jordin and Blake's success on the charts, so I'll just have to wait and see what happens next week....
I just looked to see if their physical singles were available for pre-order at amazon.com, but there's still no indication that they are forthcoming. The momentum is dying down. Without the help of airplay, sales is all that there is to give these Idol winners hope of debut chart success. Blake's song has dropped from #18 to #21 while Jordin's slid all the way from #15 to #25. Whoever was in charge of marketting and promotion this year really messed up big time. :(
So I'm trying to remain optimistic. At least some previous Idols are still managing to do well. Season Five Miss American Idol Third Runner-Up, Daughtry, was handed a hit on a silver platter when his, Home, was used each week on the Idol results shows. While it's not nearly as huge as the #1 smash Daniel Powter had last year with Bad Day, it's hanging in there at #7 this week.
Season One Miss American Idol, Kelly Clarkson has been struggling to stay in the top ten with the first single from her upcoming release. This week she slips back again to #11 with Never Again, but I still think it can bounce back again. I have a feeling that sales will remain consistant and it's just taking awhile for airplay to catch up.
Season Four Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, is a great example of what can happen when you patiently wait for airplay to finally pick up. Before He Cheats was released as a single at the end of last year and it has taking all this time to get pop airplay. It sits at #10 in the HOT 100 singles chart.
I may be the only person left who's still holding out hope for Jordin and Blake's success on the charts, so I'll just have to wait and see what happens next week....
Monday, June 4, 2007
The Answer
I was very pleased that Fred Bronson decided to post my question along with a response. Here's what he had to say:
I don't think we've seen the end of the story yet. While the digital downloads were available immediately after the show, neither Jordin Sparks nor Blake Lewis have their label deals finalized yet, though both will be signed and both will be in the Sony BMG family. I expect announcements any moment, as I know which labels are their intended homes, and the news could be posted even before Chart Beat Chat goes online.While I don't know for certain, I would expect their respective labels to release physical singles, especially given the track record of previous "Idol" winners and runners-up. So Jordin's "This Is My Now" and Blake's "You Give Love a Bad Name" could still sell in the hundreds of thousands, and could still compete for No. 1 on the Hot 100.
I don't think we've seen the end of the story yet. While the digital downloads were available immediately after the show, neither Jordin Sparks nor Blake Lewis have their label deals finalized yet, though both will be signed and both will be in the Sony BMG family. I expect announcements any moment, as I know which labels are their intended homes, and the news could be posted even before Chart Beat Chat goes online.While I don't know for certain, I would expect their respective labels to release physical singles, especially given the track record of previous "Idol" winners and runners-up. So Jordin's "This Is My Now" and Blake's "You Give Love a Bad Name" could still sell in the hundreds of thousands, and could still compete for No. 1 on the Hot 100.
The Question
When I looked at this weeks Billboard HOT 100 singles chart, I was very disappointed to see the less than expected #15 debut for Jordin Sparks, This Is My Now and #18 debut for Blake Lewis, You Give Love A Bad Name. It prompted me to write the following letter to Fred Bronson of ChartBeat Chat at www.billboard.com
Hi Fred, I feel cheated and I would guess that both Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis feel cheated, too. After five seasons of carrying over the "American Idol" finale feeling of energy into the record store to buy the physical singles of the top finalists, we were deprived of it this year. I have no single to add to my collection and wonderful sweet Jordin has to have the distinction of being the "Idol" winner who broke the streak of No. 1 singles. I completely understand that the times they are a changin' and no one buys physical singles any more, but the huge demographic of "American Idol" fans still does. We are music fans, collectors and chart watchers and this choice is very disappointing. I am certain that I am not your only reader who is writing to you about this and I am very interested in hearing your thoughts. Do you think there is any chance that the record company, or whoever makes the decision, will decide to release some physical singles after all?
Hi Fred, I feel cheated and I would guess that both Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis feel cheated, too. After five seasons of carrying over the "American Idol" finale feeling of energy into the record store to buy the physical singles of the top finalists, we were deprived of it this year. I have no single to add to my collection and wonderful sweet Jordin has to have the distinction of being the "Idol" winner who broke the streak of No. 1 singles. I completely understand that the times they are a changin' and no one buys physical singles any more, but the huge demographic of "American Idol" fans still does. We are music fans, collectors and chart watchers and this choice is very disappointing. I am certain that I am not your only reader who is writing to you about this and I am very interested in hearing your thoughts. Do you think there is any chance that the record company, or whoever makes the decision, will decide to release some physical singles after all?
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