What is the American Idol bump? It's been happening for years now. It's when an artist appears on American Idol and then the next week they see a huge increase in sales and airplay resulting in an impressive bump on the Billboard charts.
One of the most significant examples happened during season five when Shakira showed up during a results show to perform her latest single Hips Don't Lie. It was somewhat unexpected because she wasn't serving as a mentor and seemed to have no connectioin to the show. The song had been out for a few weeks and wasn't really showing much chart action. Next thing you know, after the American Idol exposure, the song leaped to the #1 position on the Billboard HOT 100.
There were quite a few examples of the American Idol bump this season. Natasha Bedingfield managed to make it into the top 10 with her single Pocketful of Sunshine after performing it on the show. Leona Lewis has extended her stay quite a few extra weeks in the top 5 with her song Bleeding Love after a solid appearance. The most significant bump has to belong to mentor Neil Diamond. After over 40 years in the recording industry his work with the American Idol finalists lead him to have his first #1 Album EVER!
Mariah Carey has also had the best one week sales of any album so far in 2008 for E=MC2 and it just happened to occur the week after her appearance with the Idol contestants.
Meanwhile, this week David Cook's The Time of My Life has dropped from #3 to #9 this week.
