As you all know, when David Cook ended up being crowned the Season 7 Miss American Idol, all of my attention went toward feeling bad for cute little David Archuleta. The judges set him up all season to think he was certain to get the crown. When he didn't, you could see that he was blind-sided by the news.
David Cook then went on to dominate the Billboard HOT 100 (for one week at least) with 11 songs debuting in the same week. David Archuleta had to once again settle for being in the shadows, but this week, his time in the spotlight has come! David Archuleta's first original single "Crush" has sold 166,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and opens at #2 on the Billboard HOT 100.
Compared to the chart achievements of the other American Idols, this is pretty amazing. Even David Cook's The Time Of My Life only peaked at #3. The only other Idol single to get up to #2 is Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone from 2005. This is a very promising start to David Archuleta's music career.
Jordin Sparks, meanwhile, is continuing to inch up the Billboard HOT 100 with One Step at a Time which is now up to #21 this week.
The other exciting news to come out involves the Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, releasing a benefit single with some of the other biggest musical divas in the business. She will be joining 14 other superstars on the single to be released on Sept. 2nd that will benefit cancer research. The impressive list includes the biggest hitmakers of recent years, Fergie, Rihanna and Beyonce, and three other divas who share the honor of winning the Grammy for Best New Artist just like Carrie Underwood did. Those other divas are Sheryl Crow, the amazing Leann Rimes and the biggest mega-superstar diva of all time, Mariah Carey.
I will be right there on iTunes the day this song is available to buy it immediately. I haven't even heard it yet, but it's already my favorite song of the year!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
One Step At A Time
Katy Perry is showing the Miss American Idol finalists how it's done. She's now spent her 6th week at #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 singles charts with her provocative dance pop single, I Kissed A Girl. Perhaps the expectation of a squeaky clean image is preventing the Idols from having bigger hits these days. While Katy has achieved huge success announcing to the world that she kissed a girl and she liked it, David Cook and Jordin Sparks are struggling.
While the sales for David's The Time Of My Life have slowed down, it seems like airplay is picking up a bit because it's not dropping as fast as it was off the chart. Jordin's duet with Chris Brown, No Air, is also dropping very slowly of the charts. Chris Brown is doing very well all by himself - his hot dance smash Forever is holding strong at #3 this week. It's one of my favorite songs out right now. It's great to blast really loud while driving.
Remember back when Jordin performed her new single on the American Idol finals when David Cook was crowned the Season 7 Miss American Idol? She sang One Step At A Time and she looked and sounded amazing. This song is very fun and catchy and I am happy to report that it has finally started to get the airplay that it deserves. It's sitting at #34 this week on the Billboard HOT 100.
While Jordin is making her way up the charts one little step at a time, the reigning pop superstar, Rihanna is still topping the charts with everything she puts out. She's still at #2 with her former #1, Take A Bow, and this week her latest release, Disturbia, leaps all the way up to #4. It's not that rare for an artist to have more than one song in the top five in the same week. The biggest megastars like The Beatles and the Bee Gees did it almost every week and a Legendary Diva like Mariah Carey has done it on numerous occasions. It's still a feat that no American Idol has done yet, but it can still happen - one step at a time...
While the sales for David's The Time Of My Life have slowed down, it seems like airplay is picking up a bit because it's not dropping as fast as it was off the chart. Jordin's duet with Chris Brown, No Air, is also dropping very slowly of the charts. Chris Brown is doing very well all by himself - his hot dance smash Forever is holding strong at #3 this week. It's one of my favorite songs out right now. It's great to blast really loud while driving.
Remember back when Jordin performed her new single on the American Idol finals when David Cook was crowned the Season 7 Miss American Idol? She sang One Step At A Time and she looked and sounded amazing. This song is very fun and catchy and I am happy to report that it has finally started to get the airplay that it deserves. It's sitting at #34 this week on the Billboard HOT 100.
While Jordin is making her way up the charts one little step at a time, the reigning pop superstar, Rihanna is still topping the charts with everything she puts out. She's still at #2 with her former #1, Take A Bow, and this week her latest release, Disturbia, leaps all the way up to #4. It's not that rare for an artist to have more than one song in the top five in the same week. The biggest megastars like The Beatles and the Bee Gees did it almost every week and a Legendary Diva like Mariah Carey has done it on numerous occasions. It's still a feat that no American Idol has done yet, but it can still happen - one step at a time...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I'll be Lovin U Long Time
Saturday, July 5, 2008
No Bump Needed
Well, it's been quite a few weeks now since cute little David Archuleta was blindsided in front of millions of viewers when he was revealed to be the Season Seven Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up behind winner David Cook.
There was the initial splash of attention when David Cook dominated the Billboard HOT 100 charts almost as much as the Beatles. While the Fab Four were able to sustain their dominance on the charts from 1964 to 1970, David Cook could only hang on for mere weeks. All of those songs have since dropped in sales and have therefore disappeared from the HOT 100. I don't expect to see either of the Davids show up on the charts again until later in the fall when their debut albums surface.
Overall, the American Idol energy has faded from the public view. Season Six Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks is making a slow decline on the charts with her huge smash No Air, but the follow up single, One Step At A Time, is barely making a ripple. It's too bad, because it really is a fun and catchy song. Maybe there's still a chance for it...
While the Season Four Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, is continuing to dominate on the country charts, she is having more of a struggle in her efforts to cross-over to the mainstream Billboard HOT 100. For a while it looked like her wonderful jam Last Name was going to repeat the success of Before He Cheats, but it seems to have already peaked in the top 20 and now it is on its way down. Just like with Jordin, I am going to keep my fingers crossed on this one - Last Name is an exceptionally good song and I think people are just taking a while to wake up and realize it.
So with the Idols floundering and struggling to make their presence known on the charts that leaves the top spots wide open for other artists who don't need the American Idol Bump at all. There have been some pretty significant chart and sales achievements over the past few weeks. On the Billboard Albums chart Lil' Wayne and Coldplay posted the biggest one week sales with their latest releases. Lil' Wayne managed to sell over a million copies of his album in just one week while Coldplay sold over 700,000.
On the Billboard HOT 100, the same two artists - Lil' Wayne and Coldplay - have been resting comfortably at #1 with their hits Lollipop and Viva La Vida.
So there is still music to be bought even if it doesn't appear on American idol? Who knew...
There was the initial splash of attention when David Cook dominated the Billboard HOT 100 charts almost as much as the Beatles. While the Fab Four were able to sustain their dominance on the charts from 1964 to 1970, David Cook could only hang on for mere weeks. All of those songs have since dropped in sales and have therefore disappeared from the HOT 100. I don't expect to see either of the Davids show up on the charts again until later in the fall when their debut albums surface.
Overall, the American Idol energy has faded from the public view. Season Six Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks is making a slow decline on the charts with her huge smash No Air, but the follow up single, One Step At A Time, is barely making a ripple. It's too bad, because it really is a fun and catchy song. Maybe there's still a chance for it...
While the Season Four Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, is continuing to dominate on the country charts, she is having more of a struggle in her efforts to cross-over to the mainstream Billboard HOT 100. For a while it looked like her wonderful jam Last Name was going to repeat the success of Before He Cheats, but it seems to have already peaked in the top 20 and now it is on its way down. Just like with Jordin, I am going to keep my fingers crossed on this one - Last Name is an exceptionally good song and I think people are just taking a while to wake up and realize it.
So with the Idols floundering and struggling to make their presence known on the charts that leaves the top spots wide open for other artists who don't need the American Idol Bump at all. There have been some pretty significant chart and sales achievements over the past few weeks. On the Billboard Albums chart Lil' Wayne and Coldplay posted the biggest one week sales with their latest releases. Lil' Wayne managed to sell over a million copies of his album in just one week while Coldplay sold over 700,000.
On the Billboard HOT 100, the same two artists - Lil' Wayne and Coldplay - have been resting comfortably at #1 with their hits Lollipop and Viva La Vida.
So there is still music to be bought even if it doesn't appear on American idol? Who knew...
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The American Idol BUMP!
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.
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.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
David Cook strikes it rich while Jordin and Blake were cheated!
Last year at this time I was very annoyed because rather than being able to relish in the American Idol spotlight for a little longer after she was crowned the Season 6 Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks had to watch things fizzle around her. She, sadly, has gone down in history as the only Miss American Idol to have her first single miss out on being a #1 smash on the Billboard HOT 100.
This Is My Now debuted and peaked in the top 20 before quickly disappearing from the chart. The same was true for the first release from the Season 6 Miss American Idol 1st Runner-up, Blake Lewis. He even peaked one spot ahead of Jordin, but also dropped quickly. So here we are a year later - do we have a better understanding of what happened last year? The times, they are a changin. In the first 5 Seasons the Miss American Idol winning singles made it to the top based on sales of a physical CD single.
I must quickly take this moment to review those Billboard #1 Hits:
Season One: Kelly Clarkson - A Moment Like This
Season Two: Clay Aiken - This Is The Night
Season Three: Fantasia - I Believe
Season Four: Carrie Underwood - Inside Your Heaven
Season Five: Taylor Hicks - Do I Make You Proud
But in Season Six the music industry went through a change and physical CD singles were no longer being released. Jordin and Blake ended up being cheated because theirs were the first singles to only be available as an MP3. It's become the norm to buy music in the MP3 format a year later, but it was still kinda new and different for the American Idol music buying fans in 2007. They were used to buying a physical CD single in years past, but they were deprived of that option.
So we've made it to Season Seven and the American Idol fans have been conditioned to now satisfy their music needs with MP3s. We're past the learning curve and the music by the Season 7 Miss American Idol, David Cook has blown up BIG on this week's Billboard HOT 100. He debuted at #3 with The Time Of My Life which sold 236,000 downloads. While that's just a little shy of being a #1 chart topper, he makes up for it with TEN more songs also making it to the HOT 100! His chart success marks the most placements on the list since the Beatles charted 14 songs on the Hot 100 in the week of April 11, 1964. David Cook is almost as big as the BEATLES!!!
The next highest song for David Cook, Dream Big, charts at #15. Season 7 Miss American Idol 1st Runner-Up, David Archuleta also did pretty well this week with three songs hitting the Billboard HOT 100. His cover of Imagine has landed at #36.
This Is My Now debuted and peaked in the top 20 before quickly disappearing from the chart. The same was true for the first release from the Season 6 Miss American Idol 1st Runner-up, Blake Lewis. He even peaked one spot ahead of Jordin, but also dropped quickly. So here we are a year later - do we have a better understanding of what happened last year? The times, they are a changin. In the first 5 Seasons the Miss American Idol winning singles made it to the top based on sales of a physical CD single.
I must quickly take this moment to review those Billboard #1 Hits:
Season One: Kelly Clarkson - A Moment Like This
Season Two: Clay Aiken - This Is The Night
Season Three: Fantasia - I Believe
Season Four: Carrie Underwood - Inside Your Heaven
Season Five: Taylor Hicks - Do I Make You Proud
But in Season Six the music industry went through a change and physical CD singles were no longer being released. Jordin and Blake ended up being cheated because theirs were the first singles to only be available as an MP3. It's become the norm to buy music in the MP3 format a year later, but it was still kinda new and different for the American Idol music buying fans in 2007. They were used to buying a physical CD single in years past, but they were deprived of that option.
So we've made it to Season Seven and the American Idol fans have been conditioned to now satisfy their music needs with MP3s. We're past the learning curve and the music by the Season 7 Miss American Idol, David Cook has blown up BIG on this week's Billboard HOT 100. He debuted at #3 with The Time Of My Life which sold 236,000 downloads. While that's just a little shy of being a #1 chart topper, he makes up for it with TEN more songs also making it to the HOT 100! His chart success marks the most placements on the list since the Beatles charted 14 songs on the Hot 100 in the week of April 11, 1964. David Cook is almost as big as the BEATLES!!!
The next highest song for David Cook, Dream Big, charts at #15. Season 7 Miss American Idol 1st Runner-Up, David Archuleta also did pretty well this week with three songs hitting the Billboard HOT 100. His cover of Imagine has landed at #36.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
And the Season 7 American Idol is....
Here we are: Two hours of fun and entertainment until the crowning of the Season 7 Miss American Idol. It all started out with a preview of this year's American Idol tour as the top 12 finalists were reunited in a high energy performance of the top 5 smash from 1970 by Rare Earth, Get Ready. Then those other 10 finalists were dismissed so the fans could see the Davids come together for a great duet. You wouldn't think that their distinct styles would blend well together, but it turned out to be quite harmonious.
Mike Myers has officially crossed the line into being totally weird as his shameless promotion for the Love Guru was just plain creepy. Thankfully it was followed a very cool performance with Seal and this year's second runner up, Syesha Mercado of his hit Waiting For You. As we have come to expect, Syesha looked and sounded great. Then, on the other side of the coin, we were forced to endure Jason Castro mumble his way through Hallelujah again. Honestly, once was enough.
The top 6 girls: Kristy Lee Cook, Amanda Overmyer, Ramiele Malubay, Carly Smithson, Brooke White and Syesha Mercado joined together to bring to life an exciting Donna Summer medley including She Works Hard For The Money and the #1 smash, Hot Stuff. It was fun to see the Queen of Disco herself take the stage and sing her latest release before launching into the Oscar winning Best Original Song, Last Dance.
At the beginning of this season when we first saw the top 24, it is quite likely that many fans selected Carly Smithson and Michael Johns as front-runners to make it here to the finals. It was quite a surprise when they both got sent home way too early. For a a nice little consolation prize these two very talented singers had the chance to sing a duet in front of this huge audience. They gave a bouncy big band arrangement of a song by the Box Tops that spent four weeks at #1 in 1967, The Letter. Just a taste of what could have been....
The top 6 guys: David Hernandez, Chikezie, Michael Johns, Jason Castro and our top finalists, David Cook and David Archuleta joined forces to give us a Bryan Adams medley consisting of Summer of '69 and his #1 hit Heaven. This Canadian rocker came out to sing his latest jam and then wrapped things up with his hit Somebody.
This may come as a surprise to you, but one of the most recognized hits from ZZ Top, Sharp Dressed Man, was never released as a single and therefore, it never hit the Billboard HOT 100. Even so, it was still a nice sizzling opportunity for David Cook to rock out with the bearded guitar heroes. Much less sizzling was Brooke White sitting barefoot and strumming her guitar with Graham Nash. While the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young top 20 hit from 1970, Teach Your Children is a classic song, this duet was just as drab as everything else Brooke gave us all season. The show needed a huge injection of youthful exuberance after this and no one does it better than THE JONAHS BROTHERS!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! They were right there singing their hit SOS!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
One Republic recently peaked at #2 earlier this year with their smooth synth pop song, Apologize. It was the perfect contemporary hit to match with David Archuleta's pure, sweet, sincere and earnest voice. The show is more than half over and there have been no appearances by any former American Idols! How can that be? Just when we thought Ruben's (Season 2 Miss American Idol) song last night was all we were going to get, the reigning queen, Season 6 Miss American Jordin Sparks came out on stage in glittering high heels and a spangled gold dress to sing her newest single, One Step At A Time. Her first single, Tattoo peaked at #8 and her latest, No Air is still in the the top 5 after peaking at #3. Who says the Idols aren't as successful as they used to be!
As if Jordin wasn't enough, the Idol alumni doesn't get any better than the Supreme Miss American Idol from Season Four, Carrie Underwood. She looked absolutely stunning as she belted out her new single, Last Name. Her stylist deserves an award. I mean seriously, her hair, that dress, her legs, her shoes - FLAWLESS! Carrie is just plain HOT! And the song is the catchiest thing ever. It started out, "hey cutie where are you from?" then in turned into - Oh NO what have I done!
The top 12 gave us one last medley of George Michael hits including, Faith, Father Figure and Freedom 90 before George graced the stage to sing his #1 smash that Carrie Underwood did so well on Idol Gives Back, Praying For Time.
Two hours of great entertainment flew by and it was finally time to give the Season 7 Miss American Idol crown to one of the Davids. The envelope was opened and David Archuleta had to step aside and give congratulations to this years winner - DAVID COOK! The rocker was brought to tears as he thanked his brother for encouraging him to give this a shot. He made it all the way to this night of having the glitter fall around him as he sang The Time Of My Life.
Mike Myers has officially crossed the line into being totally weird as his shameless promotion for the Love Guru was just plain creepy. Thankfully it was followed a very cool performance with Seal and this year's second runner up, Syesha Mercado of his hit Waiting For You. As we have come to expect, Syesha looked and sounded great. Then, on the other side of the coin, we were forced to endure Jason Castro mumble his way through Hallelujah again. Honestly, once was enough.
The top 6 girls: Kristy Lee Cook, Amanda Overmyer, Ramiele Malubay, Carly Smithson, Brooke White and Syesha Mercado joined together to bring to life an exciting Donna Summer medley including She Works Hard For The Money and the #1 smash, Hot Stuff. It was fun to see the Queen of Disco herself take the stage and sing her latest release before launching into the Oscar winning Best Original Song, Last Dance.
At the beginning of this season when we first saw the top 24, it is quite likely that many fans selected Carly Smithson and Michael Johns as front-runners to make it here to the finals. It was quite a surprise when they both got sent home way too early. For a a nice little consolation prize these two very talented singers had the chance to sing a duet in front of this huge audience. They gave a bouncy big band arrangement of a song by the Box Tops that spent four weeks at #1 in 1967, The Letter. Just a taste of what could have been....
The top 6 guys: David Hernandez, Chikezie, Michael Johns, Jason Castro and our top finalists, David Cook and David Archuleta joined forces to give us a Bryan Adams medley consisting of Summer of '69 and his #1 hit Heaven. This Canadian rocker came out to sing his latest jam and then wrapped things up with his hit Somebody.
This may come as a surprise to you, but one of the most recognized hits from ZZ Top, Sharp Dressed Man, was never released as a single and therefore, it never hit the Billboard HOT 100. Even so, it was still a nice sizzling opportunity for David Cook to rock out with the bearded guitar heroes. Much less sizzling was Brooke White sitting barefoot and strumming her guitar with Graham Nash. While the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young top 20 hit from 1970, Teach Your Children is a classic song, this duet was just as drab as everything else Brooke gave us all season. The show needed a huge injection of youthful exuberance after this and no one does it better than THE JONAHS BROTHERS!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! They were right there singing their hit SOS!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
One Republic recently peaked at #2 earlier this year with their smooth synth pop song, Apologize. It was the perfect contemporary hit to match with David Archuleta's pure, sweet, sincere and earnest voice. The show is more than half over and there have been no appearances by any former American Idols! How can that be? Just when we thought Ruben's (Season 2 Miss American Idol) song last night was all we were going to get, the reigning queen, Season 6 Miss American Jordin Sparks came out on stage in glittering high heels and a spangled gold dress to sing her newest single, One Step At A Time. Her first single, Tattoo peaked at #8 and her latest, No Air is still in the the top 5 after peaking at #3. Who says the Idols aren't as successful as they used to be!
As if Jordin wasn't enough, the Idol alumni doesn't get any better than the Supreme Miss American Idol from Season Four, Carrie Underwood. She looked absolutely stunning as she belted out her new single, Last Name. Her stylist deserves an award. I mean seriously, her hair, that dress, her legs, her shoes - FLAWLESS! Carrie is just plain HOT! And the song is the catchiest thing ever. It started out, "hey cutie where are you from?" then in turned into - Oh NO what have I done!
The top 12 gave us one last medley of George Michael hits including, Faith, Father Figure and Freedom 90 before George graced the stage to sing his #1 smash that Carrie Underwood did so well on Idol Gives Back, Praying For Time.
Two hours of great entertainment flew by and it was finally time to give the Season 7 Miss American Idol crown to one of the Davids. The envelope was opened and David Archuleta had to step aside and give congratulations to this years winner - DAVID COOK! The rocker was brought to tears as he thanked his brother for encouraging him to give this a shot. He made it all the way to this night of having the glitter fall around him as he sang The Time Of My Life.
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