Caleb Johnson - Testify

I think we all owe Candice Glover an apology. A lot was made in February when Glover’s Music Speaks sold a tepid 19K copies in its first week. That was the slimmest first-week sales tally ever for the debut album by an American Idol winner. Glover relinquishes that dubious record this week to this year’s Idol champ, Caleb Johnson, whose Testify sold just 11K copies in its first week.

Testify enters the Billboard 200 at #24, which is also the lowest chart entry position ever for anIdol champ’s first album. (The old record here was Lee DeWyze's Live It Up, which debuted and peaked at #19.)

At this point, it seems obvious that the fault lies not with any individual contestant, but with the agingIdol franchise itself. Idol may have a little more life left in it as a TV show, but it seems to have simply run its course an important album-selling force.

It was nice while it lasted.

The first post-Idol albums by the first five winners each sold 240K or more copies in their first weeks. The first to fall short of that level was Jordin Sparks's Jordin Sparks, which sold 119K in its first week in November 2007. Season 7 winner David Cook got the franchise back on track when David Cook sold 280K in its first week in November 2008.

The first winner to fall short of 100K was Season 8 champ Kris Allen, whose Kris Allen sold 80K in its first week in November 2009. He had to live with that embarrassment for exactly one year, until Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze's Live It Up sold about half as many copies (39K) in its first week in November 2010.

Season 10 champ Scotty McCreery reversed the downward trend (and not a moment too soon!) when Clear As Day sold 197K copies in its first week in October 2011. Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips did nearly as well when The World From the Side of the Moon sold 169K in its first week in November 2012.

But now we’re back in the cellar. Everything runs its course eventually. Glee isn’t the force it once was, either. But the fact that so few people are interested in buying the first album by an Idol winner is amazing. The ratings of the TV show are also down, but not to this degree. Nielsen reported that 10.53 million people watched the Idol finale in May. That’s about one-fourth of the 38.06 million that watched the Season 2 finale in May 2003 (the top-rated Idol finale ever).

A contributing factor, of course, is that album sales are down overall. This isn’t just an Idol problem. But industry-wide sales declines can’t explain a drop-off this steep.

You may be surprised to learn which Idol winner’s debut album sold the most copies in its first week.Kelly Clarkson? Carrie Underwood? Nope. It’s Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard, whose Soulfulsold 417K copies in its first week. That tally, as good as it was, fell short of the first-week sales by Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken, whose Measure of a Man had sold 613K copies just eight weeks earlier.

And the Season 13 Miss American Idol winner is.....

The Season 13 grand finale was jam packed with star studded performers including Lady Antebellum, Jason Mraz, KISS, and John Legend. The only Miss American Idol winner to come back was Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips. While he has become quite successful since his win, the record shows that he was never one of my favorites as I kept hoping he would just get sent home. Tonight I gained an entirely new appreciation of his talent though. He performed his latest single, Raging Fire after Season 13 finalist Sam Woolf made a horrifying attempt at Phillip's hit song Home. It's like this: Sam is so awful he made Phillip Phillips sound good!!!! 

Caleb and Jena shared the stage for one last duet together on It Takes Two. They then both went center stage to have the final results revealed. The Season 13 Miss American Idol winner is.... CALEB JOHNSON!

He sang his debut single As Long As You Love Me, and the glitter fell around him. After three years of trying out for American Idol he finally made it all the way to the top. It was emotionally overwhelming and he sang half of the song because he was too busy hugging people and fighting back his tears of joy.  

2014 Billboard Awards

The 2014 Billboards once again was an opportunity for some of the most successful American Idols to be on TV.

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, was on hand to serve as a presenter. Also there, to give an introduction to her longtime boyfriend, Jason DeRulo, was Season 6 Miss American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.

But the biggest American Idol moments of the evening came from the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood. She gave the most exciting performance of the night performing a brand new song with Miranda Lambert called Something Bad. It's already racing up the itunes sales chart!

In addition, Carrie won the 2014 Milestone Award which recognizes her innovation and success over the past year.

The Top 12 - Results

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, has enjoyed some pretty significant success with his debut album. The two singles, Home and Gone, Gone Gone, are still getting a lot of radio airplay. On tonight's results show he performed the first single from his second album and the wave of success is sure to continue. The single is called Raging Fire and it has already leaped into the Top 10 on itunes.

This week I correctly predicted two of the bottom three. I was right about Jena Irene and Emily Piriz. Unfortunately, the very talented and unique MK Nobilette was in the bottom three for the second time. She is very good and I now even more enthusiastic about voting for her next week.

I was also correct in predicting that Emily would be the lowest vote getter. The judges decided not to use their "save".

Idols are Top Earners!

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood tops this year's list of the highest-paid "Idol" alums, pulling in $31 million thanks to platinum-selling "Blown Away," extensive touring and endorsement deals with the likes of Olay. All in all, Underwood has earned $83 million over the past five years, and she's one of many acts continuing to profit from her exposure on the show. 

Kelly Clarkson ranks second with $7 million, banking the bulk of her bucks on the road. She's followed by 2012 winner Phillip Phillips and 2009 runner-up Adam Lambert, who are tied for third with $5 million apiece.

"Adam used the launching pad of 'American Idol' very well to have a successful recording career," says his co-manager Martin Kirkup. "I think the main part of his career still lies ahead of him."

Phillips, meanwhile, has been quick to capitalize on his 2012 "Idol" win. His coronation song, the Mumford-esque "Home," went on to sell more than 4 million copies--the best of any in Idol's history -- and his debut album earned platinum certification. He's been adding to his coffers on the road, playing more than 90 shows in our scoring period.
The show itself, now entering its 13th season, is on a more dubious trajectory.

Ratings have dipped 30 percent each of the past two years, a trend that "Idol"'s brass is trying to stop by revamping the show. There's a new set, new lighting, new theme music and new judges: Harry Connick, Jr. and Jennifer Lopez will join Keith Urban, the lone holdover from last year's trio.

Despite the negative trends, last year's winner Candice Glover should be optimistic: Phillips and Scotty McCreery, who ranks sixth with $3 million, are reversing a trend of recent winners who've gone on to have underwhelming solo careers. Even older victors like Fantasia Barrino (2004) and Taylor Hicks (2006) cracked the list, with $1.5 and $2.5 million in income, respectively.

"The platform of 'American Idol' changed my life," says Hicks, who now owns a restaurant in his native Alabama and recently became the first Idol alum to land a Las Vegas residency. "I am very thankful. ... To have that platform has allowed me to blossom."

Earnings estimates are calculated with the help of data from Pollstar Pro, the RIAA, Nielsen SoundScan as wells industry veterans, the musicians' handlers and some of the artists themselves. These numbers reflect pretax earnings from June 2012 through June 2013.

Older graduates of the show no longer have to worry about handing back the bulk of their bucks to "Idol," but more recent winners must turn over about half of their income -- before paying any remaining agents, managers and attorneys, not to mention Uncle Sam. Last year, McCreery estimated he'd only pocket somewhere around one-fifth of his gross earnings, though he didn't seem to mind too much. "It's depressing when you look at it, but I'm still making a good amount," he said. "I'm not in any way complaining ... I'm doing a lot better than I was a few summers ago, living off the coin jar in my truck."

American Idol Superstars 2013

Even though there are new singing competition shows on that are getting attention, none of them are getting close to the standard that has been set by American Idol. While people might be gossiping about X-Factor and The Voice, the reality is that, they are complete failures at finding or creating new music superstars. In the many seasons that these shows have been on, there hasn't been a single finalist or winner to even make a ripple in the real world.

The American Idol winners and finalists, on the other hand, can be found actually working and thriving in the music business. Many of them have become viable stars on their own apart from their initial American Idol exposure. They are winning awards, appearing on TV shows, starring in movies, getting radio airplay and the public is buying their music! Just look at the impact the American Idol Superstars had in 2013: 

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner Phillip Phillips was all over the radio with his two hit songs Home and Gone Gone Gone. According to the Billboard Year End charts he had the #14 album of the year! He was even nominated as the Favorite New Artist at the American Music Awards.  

The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner Scotty McCreery released his third album and saw it come in at #1 on the Billboard Country albums chart. At the American Country Awards he actually won the award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. 

The Season 8 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Adam Lambert started appearing on the hit TV show Glee where his distinctive singing, dancing and acting style is being put to use every week. 

The Season 5 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Katharine McPhee completed her starring role in the musical drama series Smash. 

The Season 5 Miss American Idol finalist Kellie Pickler is a consistent award nominee for her country music and this year she ended up winning the Mirror Ball trophy on Dancing With The Stars. 

The Season 5 Miss American Idol finalist Mandisa has totally dominated the Gospel world with the release of her album Overcomer. She has earned three Grammy nominations for her music this year. 

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner Fantasia released her 4th studio album and has also received impressive critical acclaim including three Grammy nominations. 

The Oscar winner and Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson starred in the movie Winnie Mandela that is now streaming on netflix. 

The Season 2 Miss American Idol winner Ruben Studdard was a contestant on this season of the Biggest Loser and he has already lost over 100 pounds. Even though he has been eliminated, by the end of the season he hopes to lose another 100 pounds. 

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson started out the year by winning her third Grammy (Best Pop Album) and she ended the year with the very successful release of her holiday collection, Wrapped in Red topping the charts and also allowing her the opportunity to have her own Christmas TV special. 

2013 Year End Charts

The #1 album on the Billboard charts for all of 2013 is The 20/20/ Experience by Justin Timbelake.

There were some very strong showings from the Miss American Idol finalists on the 2013 year end charts. The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips has the highest ranking at #14 with his album The World From The Side Of The Moon. The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood comes in at #31 with her album Blown Away. The Greatest Hits album by Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson lands at #42. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, comes in at #98 with his holiday collection Christmas With Scotty McCreery. Side Effects of You from the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner Fantasia is the #104 album of the year. The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson also ends the year at #170 with her holiday collection, Wrapped in Red.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood had the #9 Country Album of the year with Blown Away. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, has two albums on this chart. Christmas with Scotty McCreery is at #25 and he comes in at #47 on this chart with his debut album Clear As Day.

The Top 5 singles for 2012 on the Billboard HOT 100 are: #1 Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, #2 Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, #3 Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, #4 Harlem Shake by Baauer and at #5 Can't Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

The Miss American Idol finalist who makes the highest showing on the year end singles chart is Season 11 Miss American Idol winner Phillip Phillips with Home at #46 as well as Gone Gone Gone at #61. The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson is on the year end chart at #68 with Catch My Breath.

The Miss American Idol winners also had an impressive showing on the Billboard 2013 Top Artists of the Year chart:  The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips ends up at #26 while The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood comes in at #43. The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson lands at #47.

American Music Awards

The 2013 American Music Awards have come and gone and there were no wins for the American Idol alumni association this year. Neither Carrie Underwood nor Phillip Phillips won their nominations in their respective categories, Favorite Country Female Artist and Favorite New Artist of the year. 

The only presence of the American Idols came in the form of presenters. The Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson graced the stage as a presenter. She is currently promoting her new single, I Can't Describe. It's a fun R&B groove that I have been playing in heavy rotation on my playlist, but since it has failed to appear on any charts yet, I could be the only person playing it. 

Season 5 Miss American Idol 3rd runner up, Chris Daughtry, was also there as a presenter. He is promoting the release of his 4th album, Baptized. The album has just made its debut on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at #6 with just over 55,000 units sold. This means that all four of his albums have made it to the Top 10 on this chart. His last album, 2011's "Break the Spell," debuted and peaked at No. 8 off a start of 129,000.

American Idols nominated at the American Music Awards!

The nominations were just announced for the 2013 American Music Awards and the names of a couple of Miss American Idol winners were on the list.

Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, has been able to stay on the airwaves for over a year with his coronation anthem, Home. It was used last year as the theme song for the USA Olympics Women's Gymnastics Team and it seems like almost every insurance company is also using it in their commercials. All of this attention has lead Phillip to be nominated for the American Music Awards New Artist of the Year.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, is nominated for Favorite Female Artist - Country once again this year.

Voting for the American Music Awards is done online by the fans by going to https://ama.votenow.tv/

Fans can vote once a day. The show will air on ABC on Sunday November 24th.

The Results - American Idols

The show may have started with a group performance from the Season 12 Miss American Idol Top 10 finalists just like any other Results show from years past, but there were many fun changes and surprises in store!

The group song was an uplifted, inspirational new song from the upcoming animated film, The Croods. As expected, the girls sounded great, while the boys struggled to get their way through it just like in the performances last night.

Also, the same as usual was the performances to entertain us while we waited to finally hear the results. Tonight we had the chance to see Bon Jovi sing their new single from their forthcoming album, What About Now. We also heard the Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillips Phillips sing his new single, Gone Gone Gone. Lucky for him, this song is going to be the Season 12 "farewell song" that will be played each week at the end of the Results Shows over the montage of the finalist who has been eliminated. That should be some great promotion to help the single get close to being as big as his debut single, Home. That song has been everywhere from insurance company commercials to the theme song for the Gold medal winning US Women's Olympics Gymnastics team. Randy came out on stage to present Phillip with a commemorative picture recognizing that Home has reached sales of over 4 Million!

So then, on to the new stuff. This year the producers are giving the fans the chance to vote more finalist into the American Idol Summer Tour. One boy and one girl performed tonight and whoever gets the most votes will be awarded with a spot on the tour. Charlie Askew was the contender for the boys. He sat at the piano and screeched out an original song of his called Sky Blue Diamond. He's an awkward and unstable young man and in no way will he be able to handle the pressures of being on a nationwide tour. The much better contender from the girls was Aubrey Cleland. Aubrey should have been in the top 10 instead of Kree Harrison, so now is America's chance to make an effort to fix things. She sang Out Here On My Own from the 1980 film Fame and she completely nailed it. Aubrey is exceptionally beautiful and she sounded wonderful.

Also new for Season 12 is the fact that the producers are revealing the actual ranking of the finalists for the first time. Here is how the voting went from the most votes to the least:

Angie Miller
Candice Glover
Kree Harrison
4. Lazaro Arbos
5. Amber Holcomb
6. Janelle Arthur
7. Burnell Taylor
8. Paul Jolley
9. Devin Velez
10. Curtis Finch Jr.

The judges once again have a SAVE that they can use if they unanimously agree that it's too soon for the finalist to be eliminated. Curtis once again sang I Believe and once again it was lackluster. The judges decided to let him go.

I correctly predicted two of the bottom three, but this year we can see how close I was to almost getting all three right. I was also correct in predicting that Curtis would be the finalist going home.      

American Idol Superstar - Phillip Phillips

It has only been 7 months since Phillip Phillips was crowned the Season 11 Miss American Idol winner and he has already crossed-over and made a significant impact on the music scene.

He performed the song, Home, on the finale and it has been on the Billboard HOT 100 chart ever since. It is now at #8, after peaking at #7 and it has been on the chart for 25 weeks. Much of this success can be attributed to the fact that the song was used as an anthem/theme song for this year's U.S. Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team. Every time one of the girls was shown winning a gold medal, Phillip's song would be playing in the background.

The success of the single has lead to strong sales for his debut album, The Other Side Of The Moon, which is currently at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in it's fourth week. It is likely that a second single will start to get promoted soon.

2012 was a great year for American Idol Superstar - Phillip Phillips. 

2012 Year End Charts

The #1 album on the Billboard charts for all of 2012 is 21 by Adele. This is quite a significant accomplishment as it was also the #1 album for all of 2011.

There were some very strong showings from the Miss American Idol finalists on the 2012 year end charts. The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood comes in at #14 with her album Blown Away. The fifth album by Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, Stronger, lands at #24. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, comes in at #32 with his debut album Clear As Day. Break The Spell from Season 5 Miss American Idol 3rd Runner Up Chris Daughtry is the #53 album of the year. The Season 8 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Adam Lambert ends the year at #188 with his album Trespassing.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood had the #5 Country Album of the year with Blown Away. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, comes in at #8 on this chart with his debut album Clear As Day and the Season 10 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Lauren Alaina lands at #34 with her debut album Wildflower.

The Top 5 singles for 2012 on the Billboard HOT 100 are: #1 Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye, #2 Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen, #3 We Are Young by fun., #4 Payphone by Maroon 5 and at #5 Lights by Ellie Goulding.

Just missing the top 5 is the Miss American Idol finalist who makes the highest showing on the year end singles chart, Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson is at #7 with Stronger. Also landing in the top 100 songs of the year is the reigning Miss American Idol, Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips with Home at #49. The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood is on the year end chart with two songs - at #66 with Good Girl and at #70 with Blown Away.

The Miss American Idol winners also had an impressive showing on the Billboard 2012 Top Artists of the Year chart: The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson lands at #16 while The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood comes in at #31. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, comes in at #93 and the Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips ends up at #95.

Finally, coming in at #16 on Billboard's list of the Top Soundtracks of 2012 is Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist and Oscar winner, Jennifer Hudson on Think Like A Man while landing at #18 is the Season 5 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up, Katharine McPhee on the Smash soundtrack.

Christmas Time Is In The Air Again

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner Phillip Phillips sees his first album "The World From the Side of the Moon" debut on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at #4 with sales of 169,000 copies. In addition, his single, Home, has been in the top 10 of the itunes sales chart for many weeks now and it is holding strong at #12 this week on the Billboard HOT 100.

For comparison, the season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, entered at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart in October of last year with his first album, "Clear as Day." It bowed with the more robust figure of 197,000 copies sold.

In other more holiday festive news, Scotty McCreery performed at the Christmas in Rockefeller Center to promote his new collection of holiday songs. He sang Holly Jolly Christmas.

Also performing this Rockefeller Center tree lighting event was the Queen of Christmas and brand new American Idol judge, Mariah Carey. She opened the show with a super fun rendition of her anthem All I Want For Christmas Is You. Then at the end of the night she returned to perform Christmas Time Is In The Air Again from her amazing holiday collection Merry Christmas 2 You. She looked stunning is a long silver gown and her vocals were simply outstanding. I can think of no better way to kick off the holiday season!

Idols at the American Music Awards

The American Idols were once again featured prominently at the American Music Awards.

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner Phillip Phillips was on hand as a presenter. His single, Home, is still going strong in the Top 10 on the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart and his debut album will be in stores tomorrow. With this high profile appearance, it is sure to make an impressive impact on the sales charts.

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, did not win either of the awards she was nominated for, but she did get a chance to perform a great medley of her greatest hits. She started out with Miss Independent, went on to Since U Been Gone, What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger, and ended with her latest single, Catch My Breath.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood, quite literally blew away all of the competition with her outstanding live vocals. She performed the third single from her album Blown Away for the first time. It's called Two Black Cadillacs and it is destined to become yet another smash hit. Carrie also won the award for Favorite Country Album for Blown Away. In a very exceptional bit of trivia, Carrie has now won the Favorite Country Album at the American Music Awards for ALL FOUR of her albums! She won for Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, and now she has won for Blown Away!

Looking ahead, there is the People's Choice Awards coming up on January 9, 2013 and there are three more nominations for Carrie Underwood. She is up for Favorite Female Music Artist, Favorite Country Music Artist and Favorite Album for Blown Away. :)

Phillip Phillips is #10

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, can now claim his first hit on the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart. His single, Home, that he sang during the finale, sold a very impressive 278,000 downloads in it's first week available and it enters the chart all the way up at #10.  

With Phillips' single landing in the Top 10, he ends a three year absence in the upper portion of the chart for the debut single from Miss American Idol winners. The last victory single to reach the Top 10 was The Time Of My Life from Season 7 Miss American Idol winner David Cook that peaked at #3 in 2008.

For the record, the Season 8 Miss American Idol winner, Kris Allen, hit #11 in 2009 with his winning song No Boundaries. The Season 9 Miss American Idol winner, Lee DeWyze, was only able to get to #24 in 2010 with his winning song, Beautiful Day. And last year, the Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, hit #11 with his winning song I Love You This Big.

Incidentally, for the first 5 seasons of American Idol, the show was able to generate a #1 smash hit on the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart starting with A Moment Like This by the Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson. The Season 2 Miss American Idol 1st runner up, Clay Aiken, topped the chart with his single This Is The Night. Fantasia, The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner hit #1 with I Believe. The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, reached #1 with her winning victory single Inside Your Heaven. The last #1 winning single came from the Season 5 Miss American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks and his hit Do I Make You Proud.

Idols on the Charts!

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood leads the pack of 6 albums on in the upper portion of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart this week. Her release Blown Away is holding at #3 for a 2nd week after spending its first two weeks at #1. 

The newly crowned Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips' "Journey to the Finale" album debuts at #11 with 24,000 units sold. The set is exclusively sold via the iTunes Store. 


The Season 8 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up, Adam Lambert is at #12 with his album Trespassing.
 
The Season 10 Miss American Idol 2nd Runner Up, Haley Reinhart starts out at #17 with her debut album Listen Up! with 1st week sales of 20,000 copies.

With 18,000 copies sold, the "American Idol Season 11 - Top 2 Season Finale" EP starts out at #21.  This is a collection of songs by both Phillip Phillips and the Season 11 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up, Jessica Sanchez.

Further down the list at #26 is the debut of the 2nd album the Season 8 Miss American Idol winner, Kris Allen. His collection called Thank You Camellia sold 17,000 copies in its first week. Allen's self-titled debut started at #11 with 80,000 copies sold in 2009.