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?
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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
Also, WTF is the reason that ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, ‘Baba O Reilly’, and ‘All I Really Need Is You’ were never released as singles? All three of those songs could be megahits for Cook as well. Is there any chance that Idol will release these as singles as well? Even the raw ‘live’ mp3’s I managed to pull from the internet sound great, but I’d love to have studio (or better quality live versions).
And to think, this is only the beginning , people.
Ala rugi aku tak dapat tengok final AI08 ini. time tu ak kat Ayer Keroh. korang rase2 ade play back lagi x??
Cook fans were in a voting frenzy long before Simon said anything. I had always planned to vote for four hours and so had most other fans. It is an insult to all of us to imply that the only reason that we supported Cook was because of something that Simon said. And David A’s fans were voting too, I am sure. When is everybody going to accept (as David A so graciously has) that Cook won because he had more fans and more votes and he will continue to sell his music (hopefully) to those fans for many years to come? Simon was a very small part of all of this. We saw the talent in Cook and he was judge proof from the third week!
Hai east! 8TV mungkin akan ulang semula American Idol 7 ni mungkin dalam tahun depan… Tapi anda juga boleh tengok di Youtube.com, pasti ada yang dah muat naik video penuh pertandingan akhir AI
I don’t see anything from DC on iTunes at present except for that godawful “winning” single, easily the worst thing he’s sung on Idol to date.
If they were smart, they would have released a studio version of “Hello” or “Always Be My Baby” or “The World I Know” as the first single. He did a version of the latter on Access Hollywood the day after winning (with no sleep, less!) which was simply breathtaking.
I think Idol doesn’t want any competition for the single they are pushing at present – that would look embarassing to them. But since the public chose DC over DA, much to AI’s surprise, shouldn’t we be allowed to determine which song of his we want to plunk down our money for?
I was forced to go to bootleg sites to download all of these – Idol lost money on me, and magnify that by millions of people.
Stupid marketing decision on their part! BTW, I refuse to buy that drecky single.
i find it interesting that Jason Castro is still on the chart this week after being out of the competition for a few weeks. Not mentioned in the article was the comment on AI that the original Hallelujah topped the charts after he sang it IN THE SEMI FINALS! Would love to know total of copies sold…
I’m glad Cook won. I just ordered a cool David Cook shirt from http://www.PantherTees.com. They said not to tell anyone, but here is a 10% discount code, pts10 (it is case sensitive, so copy and paste it). Enjoy!
Yeah, I find it very bizarre that iTunes wiped out the library so quickly. There was more money to be made there. They only released the video of Cookie’s The First Time Ever I Saw Her Face and I just kept waiting on the single until it was too late. Glad I jumped on the finale songs, but I’m bummed not to get the Cook/ZZ Top Sharp Dressed Man.
Attention iTunes, make more money off me, please!
I am with Daniel. AI PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE release David’s old songs again! PLEASE! If they did this well in a week, IMAGINE how much money they would make if you actually let people keep buying them!!!!
I’m all about David Cook. The cat totally rocks. Like many others who have posted here, I always voted for Cook and spent 4 hours voting on the final sing off night. I got in 908 votes for him with DialIdol.com. Simon and his motley fellow judges pimped Arculeta constantly and relentlessly the entire season. I was ready to kick in the TV when Simon dissed Cook on the final competition night. We are too smart to buy into that hype and unfairness. We KNOW who we like and David Cook is definitely the man! American Idol producer Nigel Lithgoe and his “judges” made utter fools of themselves and all I can say is HOORAH! for America who told them where to shove their pimping of Archuleta. I don’t mind the kid at all, but I do have a problem being told who I should vote for when my heart and ears tell me who I WANT to vote for. To H*ll with American Idol judges and producer. David Cook totally deserved to win. He’s da bomb!
it’s logic that Cook is selling better than the other contestants, He is the champ. The one who surprises me is David A, I think he won more new fans after the knock out. We have to recognize that David A is only 17 years old and most of the season sang more unknown songs than Cook.But Archie sells and very well…
Archie’s got talent.He’s always there.
We love u Archie..
and congratulations to both Davids and the other contestants….
This is just so SWEET for those of us who championed Cook from the beginning. And, I mean the beginning – I remember his audition in Omaha & looked for him during Hollywood week & on! I found it humorous that he kept being characterized as no. 2 when I am willing to bet that his vote count started being no. 1 by the Top 7 and probably each week thereafter. He is an amazing talent and a solid individual (an “old soul” perhaps?) who seems to have aged 5 years in 9 months! I’m not surprised his download numbers are so high – if you got all 17 songs, it makes a great album. I am looking forward to great stuff from this artist for years to come. Very cool.
I can’t help equating the manipulation of the AI producers/judges to that of the Bush White House: “There are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq;” “Mission accomplished!;” “We don’t torture;” “There is no recession;” to “DA scored a knockout”; “DA is the one to beat;”etc. Americans are sick of being treated like idiots. I think the biased and dishonest atmosphere of the entire season by the AI team sparked an even bigger backlash against the drudge they were spewing out. Wacky theory? Maybe. But I honestly think the Bush Admin. helped Cookie win! Maybe Lythgoe called Carl Rove for some manipulation tricks to foist on the American public? (JK) The bottom line: The American public is smart enough to not only see through the hype, but rebel against it and vote the way they want to. GO DC!
I’m 81 and became a great fan of David Cook’s right off – I don’t listen to contemporary music, but his prsonality. voice, presence was outstanding. As a mother, his appealing look was like a little boy wakened. I see a great movie career for him if he is interested – Marlon Brando?