For the moment, it’s David Cook’s world and we just live — and download — in it. That would be the conclusion to draw, anyway, from this week’s digital-songs chart, where American Idol-atry has truly reached critical mass. Cook’s TV coronation anthem, “Time of My Life,” debuted atop that chart with 236,000 downloads.
But his success hardly stopped there: “Big” David had a total of 14 songs bow on the digital songs chart. His second-biggest single of the week, “Dream Big,” bowed at No. 6
with 111,000 sold, and he claimed a third
entry in the chart’s top 10, selling 98,000 copies of his cover of U2′s
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (No. 9). Other Cook
entries on the digital-songs chart: his maligned-by-Simon rendition of
Collective Soul’s “World I Know” (No. 14 with 80,000 sold); “I Don’t
Want to Miss a Thing” (No. 21 with 60,000 sold); “Billie Jean” (No. 24
with 56,000 sold); “Always Be My Baby” (No. 29 with 47,000 sold); and
“Hello” (No. 32 with 42,000 sold). It’s a good sign that, when he gets
around to completing an album, Cook should really be able to sell
records — in bulk. (Unlike some other recent Idols.)
But Cook wasn’t alone in the Idol sales bonanza this week. “Little” David Archuleta’s Simon-approved cover of “Imagine” debuted at No. 16 on the digital songs chart with 71,000 sold; his “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” came in at No. 26 with 51,000; “In This Moment” was two spots behind with 49,000; and nine more Archuleta songs appeared in the chart’s top 200. Jason Castro was the biggest winner among Idol phenoms whose name isn’t David, with a No. 81 bow for his “Hallelujah.” Two more Idol contestants broke into the rankings, though low enough to go almost unnoticed: Brooke White had to settle for No. 136 with her version of “Let It Be,” which sold 12,000, and Michael Johns’ “Dream On” sold a modest 9,000 to enter at No. 187. Another Idol beneficiary: Collective Soul, whose original version of “World I
Know” reentered the chart at No. 67 with 23,000 in fresh sales.
Meanwhile, Cook enjoyed the same kind of dominance on Billboard‘s
Hot 100 chart, which combines sales and airplay (and radio has tended to give some Idol contestants trouble in the past). There, he had 11 tunes
debut in one week, breaking Miley Cyrus’ previous record of six. And not since the Beatles had 14 songs on the chart during one week way back in
1964 has any single performer claimed so much Hot 100 real estate. Simon’s last-minute apology is looking smarter by the second, isn’t it?
But Cook wasn’t alone in the Idol sales bonanza this week. "Little" David Archuleta’s Simon-approved cover of "Imagine" debuted at No. 16 on the digital songs chart with 71,000 sold; his "Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me" came in at No. 26 with 51,000; "In This Moment" was two spots behind with 49,000; and nine more Archuleta songs appeared in the chart’s top 200. Jason Castro was the biggest winner among Idol phenoms whose name isn’t David, with a No. 81 bow for his "Hallelujah." Two more Idol contestants broke into the rankings, though low enough to go almost unnoticed: Brooke White had to settle for No. 136 with her version of "Let It Be," which sold 12,000, and Michael Johns’ "Dream On" sold a modest 9,000 to enter at No. 187. Another Idol beneficiary: Collective Soul, whose original version of "World IKnow" reentered the chart at No. 67 with 23,000 in fresh sales.
Meanwhile, Cook enjoyed the same kind of dominance on Billboard‘sHot 100 chart, which combines sales and airplay (and radio has tended to give some Idol contestants trouble in the past). There, he had 11 tunesdebut in one week, breaking Miley Cyrus’ previous record of six. And not since the Beatles had 14 songs on the chart during one week way back in1964 has any single performer claimed so much Hot 100 real estate. Simon’s last-minute apology is looking smarter by the second, isn’t it?
Simon came off like a putz during both finale episodes. I don’t know which was worse: his ignorant and misguided admonition that Cook should have sang “Hello” or “Billie Jean” rather than the Collective Soul number (which still makes me cry), or his lame apology the next evening. Even his apology fell short of complementing Cook individually. Whadda schmuck.
I’ve never bought so much of one artist off of iTunes until Idol. Love the studio and live recordings of songs (espec. DC) EW should do a PopWatch or reader review of the iTunes songs, because some of them are amazing (Carly, Michael and DC in particular)!
I wish I had the money to go see the tour! Oh well, four months til albums come out!
Simon only “apologized” because he knew Cook had won and wanted to save face. He did it with Clay and Ruben.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
emily – i know what you mean. i really didn’t download too much from iTunes (i stress the “from iTunes” part, haha) until AI. but all the songs i’ve bought were worth it (except “I don’t wanna miss a thing” by DC… what was going ON with that arrangement? ick)
anyway archey is my #1 by a landslide, but i also love DC & Castro. i would probably buy michael johns & carly’s CDs too, & probably Syesha’s.
i just think it’s INSANE how Idol has taken the music industry by storm. i mean seriously, they have produced a number of international sensations – underwood, daughtry, clarkson… jordin’s career is still getting started but i think it’s promising. aiken & fantasia are very successful on broadway. & a # of other artists have released successful singles & hopefully more to come. it really is incredible.
i can’t wait for Archey, DC, & Jason to put out their albums… it’s really painful to have to wait….
WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!And people are out there saying he won’t sell any cd’s. I nan’t wait to see them eat their words! ( good for Archie too! COOK ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Next stop the GRAMMYS!!!!!!!( and I don’t mean old ladies! )
david cooks is cool but david archuleta rocks!
david cooks is cool but david archuleta rocks!
Congratulations to both Davids and the other Idol finalists, too. This was a great season after all and David Cook has just started to conquer the world–how exciting that Idol can still find great talent and lead to this kind of success. I never would have believed it at the beginning of the season, but at that time I hadn’t yet seen David Cook.
AWESOMEEEEEE! GO COOKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!
mmmm…. Cok
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You can not buy any of the other idols songs ie., Jason Castro! Why? They do not want competition for the Davids! It ended before the finale! What a coincidence! Oh well, we shall see who goes the farther and for how long.
actually, if you really really think about it, it was all a gynormous setup – with the comment by simon that archy had won by a knockout came the instant result of sending the cook fans into a frenzy and the archy fans into a slumber – that is really ALL that happened – simon knows how it works big time – and his reverse psychology worked beyond likely his wildest dreams … so his apology simply was the added comment cause he knew that he knew he had swung it all around in the direction he really wanted it to go – anyway, he may have even known the vote before it was announced, call me a bit cynical if you want, but even if he didn’t, he had it cased beyond casing … but in the end both guys will end up winning and that is ok with me (tho i am just a little sad that archy is in the shadows, for the moment, but i have no doubt that it will be ok one day arch so not to worry) we are all waiting for the upcoming albums … go guys go
David Cook is awesome! One question: With this amazing success, do you think there is any chance that Idol will make the ‘older’ singles available for purchase again? After Wednesday, the only singles available for purchase are ‘Time of My Life’, ‘Dream Big’, ‘Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ and ‘World I Know’, which means that all of this other singles that charted are only charting based on their sales between Monday and Wednesday of last week (which makes it all the more amazing how well they charted! Imagine what the overall sales numbers for megahits like ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Hello’, and ‘Always Be My Baby’ must be! It doesn’t make sense, with these kind of sales numbers, for Idol to yank them from circulation and I hope they make them available for purchase again (though I already got mine, thank goodness