Idol Sales: Lauren Alaina's Album Debuts at #5 In The Billboard 200

Last week, I posted the impressive first week numbers of Scotty McCreery's Clear As Day. Now, it's time to see how his runner-up Lauren Alaina did in terms of sales, and I must say that it's not that bad.

Sure, the figures are relatively smaller compared to the other American Idol runners-up (which I will post after the jump), but considering the fact that she doesn't have a single to push her album a little more makes this a solid number. Oh, and just like Scotty, she also has a few achievements under her belt now after selling 69,000 copies on it's debut week:

• Best-selling female country debut since 2006.
• Highest country album debut on the charts this week.
• Youngest female artist to debut this high on the Billboard charts since LeAnn Rimes’ debut 15 years ago.
• Best-selling digital album by a debut country female.
• Highest selling female American Idol finalist since Jordin Sparks. 

As for Scotty's second week sales, he actually outsold Lauren with a solid 88,000 copies landing him at #4 on The Billboard 200. Together, they achieved a couple of things:

• First time since 2008 where both the winner and second-place finisher of American Idol posted Top five-charting albums (or Top 10, for that matter). The last winner and runner-up to do so were Season 7's David Cook and David Archuleta. Their debut albums bowed and peaked at No 3 and 2, respectively.
• First time in country music history that two teenagers are at #1 and #2 on the Country Albums Sales Chart.

Not too shabby after the disappointment that was Season 9, which both Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox got dropped recently by their record labels. Casey James is the only remaining Idol from Season 9 who's actually signed. Let's see if his career will take off.

RANKINGS AFTER THE JUMP!


DEBUT ALBUM - first week of sales [Runner's Up]

1. Clay Aiken - “Measure of a Man” - 612,859 (# 1)
2. Bo Bice - “The Real Thing” - 226,976 (# 4)
3. Adam Lambert – “For Your Entertainment” – 198,466 (#3)
4. David Archuleta - “David Archuleta” - 183,000 (#2)
5. Katharine McPhee - “Katharine McPhee” - 115,761 (# 2)
6. Blake Lewis - “Blake Lewis” - 98,000 (#10)

7. Lauren Alaina - "Wildflower" - 69,000 (#5)

8. Crystal Bowersox - "Farmer's Daughter" - 58K (#28)
9. Justin Guarini - “Justin Guarini” - 57,000 (# 20)
10. Diana Degarmo - “Blue Skies” - 47,000 ( # 52)

DEBUT ALBUM - first week of sales [All]

01. Clay Aiken - “Measure of a Man” - 612,859 (# 1)

02. Ruben Studdard - “Soulful” - 416,569 (# 1)

03. Carrie Underwood - “Some Hearts” - 314,549 (# 2)

04. Daughtry - “Daughtry” - 303,677 (#2)

05. Taylor Hicks - “Taylor Hicks” - 298,199 (# 2)

06. Kelly Clarkson - “Thankful” - 297,000 (# 1)

07. David Cook - “David Cook” - 279,578 (#3)

08. Fantasia Barrino - “Free Yourself” - 239,389 (#8)

09. Bo Bice - “The Real Thing” - 226,976 (# 4)
10. Jennifer Hudson - “Jennifer Hudson” - 217,185 (#2)
11. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment - 198,446 (#3)
12. David Archuleta - “David Archuleta” - 183,000 (#2)

13. Jordin Sparks - “Jordin Sparks” - 119,119 (#10)

14. Katharine McPhee - “Katharine McPhee” - 115,761 (# 2)
15. Blake Lewis - “Blake Lewis” - 98,000 (#10)
16. Elliott Yamin - “Elliott Yamin” - 90,439 (#3)

17. Kris Allen - "Kris Allen" - 80,000 (#11)

18. Kellie Pickler - “Small Town Girl” - 79,133 (#9)
19. Lauren Alaina - "Wildflower" - 69,000 (#5)
20. Danny Gokey - "My Best Days" -  65,000 (#4)
21. Bucky Covington - “Bucky Covington” - 60,814 (#4)
22. Crystal Bowersox - "Farmer's Daughter" - 58K (#28)
23. Josh Gracin - “Joshua Gracin” - 57,048 (#11)
24. Justin Guarini- “Justin Guarini” - 57,000 (# 20)
25. Kimberly Locke - "One Love" - 56,894 (#16)
26. Diana DeGarmo - "Blue Skies" - 47,000 (#52)
27. Tamyra Gray - "Dreamer" - 39,091 (#23)
28. Lee DeWyze - "Live It Up" - 39,000 (#19)
29. Allison Iraheta - "Just Like You" - 32,000 (#31)

Idol Sales: Scotty McCreery's Album Debuts at #1; First Idol Winner In 8 Years To Top The Billboard 200

Wow. While I was expecting this to actually happen, Scotty McCreery proved that Season 9 was obviously a fluke in terms of sales and popularity and that American Idol is still a legitimate talent search after 10 long years.

The numbers are in and Scotty McCreery debuts at #1 selling 197,000 copies of his debut album, Clear As Day. Not only did he topped the charts this week, but he also broke a couple of records:

• First country act to debut at #1 with their first studio album.
• Youngest male artist to open at the top of the chart with their debut release, at 18 years old.
• First American Idol Winner since Ruben Studdard to debut at #1.
• Highest first-week album sales of any solo country artist in 2011.
• First debut by a new country artist to top 100,000 in first-week sales since Carrie Underwood’s in 2005.

Congratulations, Scotty! To be honest, his genre isn't exactly something I’m into, but I'm all for success especially if it's from American Idol. These are impressive numbers after Lee DeWyze's disappointing sales last year. As for you Simon Cowell, suck it! HAHA. It would be interesting to see how well the winner of X Factor US will do after the show.

As usual, I'll post a ranking of all the winners just for comparison. But keep in mind, the numbers are obviously deteriorating from year-to-year because of so many factors like economic situation of the United States, illegal downloads etc. Oh, and people doesn't seem to be into albums recently. So yes, Scotty's numbers are impressive.

RANKINGS AFTER THE JUMP!

DEBUT ALBUM - first week of sales [Winners]

1. Ruben Studdard - “Soulful” - 416,569 (# 1)
2. Carrie Underwood - “Some Hearts” - 314,549 (# 2)
3. Taylor Hicks - “Taylor Hicks” - 298,199 (# 2)
4. Kelly Clarkson - “Thankful” - 297,000 (# 1)
5. David Cook - “David Cook” - 279,578 (#3)
6. Fantasia Barrino - “Free Yourself” - 239,389 (#8)
7. Scotty McCreery - "Clear As Day" - 196,739 (#1)
8. Jordin Sparks - “Jordin Sparks” - 119,119 (#10)
9. Kris Allen - "Kris Allen" - 80,000 (#11)
10. Lee DeWyze- "Live It Up" - 39,000 (#19)

DEBUT ALBUM - first week of sales [All]

01. Clay Aiken - “Measure of a Man” - 612,859 (# 1)

02. Ruben Studdard - “Soulful” - 416,569 (# 1)

03. Carrie Underwood - “Some Hearts” - 314,549 (# 2)

04. Daughtry - “Daughtry” - 303,677 (#2)

05. Taylor Hicks - “Taylor Hicks” - 298,199 (# 2)

06. Kelly Clarkson - “Thankful” - 297,000 (# 1)

07. David Cook - “David Cook” - 279,578 (#3)

08. Fantasia Barrino - “Free Yourself” - 239,389 (#8)

09. Bo Bice - “The Real Thing” - 226,976 (# 4)
10. Jennifer Hudson - “Jennifer Hudson” - 217,185 (#2)
11. Adam Lambert - "For Your Entertainment" - 198,446 (#3)
12. Scotty McCreery - "Clear As Day" - 196,739 (#1)
13. David Archuleta - “David Archuleta” - 183,000 (#2)

14. Jordin Sparks - “Jordin Sparks” - 119,119 (#10)

15. Katharine McPhee - “Katharine McPhee” - 115,761 (# 2)
16. Blake Lewis - “Blake Lewis” - 98,000 (#10)
17. Elliott Yamin - “Elliott Yamin” - 90,439 (#3)

18. Kris Allen - "Kris Allen" - 80,000 (#11)

19. Kellie Pickler - “Small Town Girl” - 79,133 (#9)
20. Danny Gokey - "My Best Days" -  65,000 (#4)
21. Bucky Covington - “Bucky Covington” - 60,814 (#4)
22. Crystal Bowersox - "Farmer's Daughter" - 58,000 (#28)
23. Josh Gracin - “Joshua Gracin” - 57,048 (#11)
24. Justin Guarini- “Justin Guarini” - 57,000 (# 20)
25. Kimberly Locke - "One Love" - 56,894 (#16)
26. Diana DeGarmo - "Blue Skies" - 47,000 (#52)
27. Tamyra Gray - "Dreamer" - 39,091 (#23)
28. Lee DeWyze - "Live It Up" - 39,000 (#19)
29. Allison Iraheta - "Just Like You" - 32,000 (#31)

Idol Sales: Scotty McCreery's Single Debuts "Big"!

Unlike last year, it looks like this year's American Idol champ, Scotty McCreery, is off to a big start with his coronation single, I Love You This Big. He racks up American Idol's 300th #1 as it begins atop Country Digital Songs. He also has the third best selling iTunes single for the week, the third best selling iTunes album for the week and he has sold 171K units for his coronation single alone.

He also has the record for the best selling debut week for a male country artist download track - recently set by The Voice judge, Blake Shelton’s Honey Bee at 138K. Plus, as per Billboard, this makes him the ninth of the ten winners to launch their debut track at #15 or higher. Scotty's song debuts at #11.

Lauren Alaina didn't do so bad as well. Her coronation single, Like My Mother Does, sold 122K units. This makes her single the second best selling coronation single amongst runner-ups in 10 seasons and the best selling digital runner-up coronation single seller ever - first week numbers. Not too shabby!

Sadly, we don't have the numbers - they didn't release it - for the other songs/finalists unlike the past seasons. I wonder why. Hmm.

Figures after the jump!!

Here is a recap of how each American Idol Winner has fared on the Hot 100 with their coronation singles:

#01 Kelly Clarkson (A Moment Like This)
#02 Ruben Studdard (Flying Without Wings)
#01 Fantasia Barrino (I Believe)
#01 Carrie Underwood (Inside Your Heaven)
#01 Taylor Hicks (Do I Make You Proud)
#15 Jordin Sparks (This Is My Now)
#03 David Cook (Time Of My Life)
#11 Kris Allen (No Boundaries)
#24 Lee DeWyze (Beautiful Day)
#11 Scotty McCreery (I Love You This Big)

Here is a recap of how each American Idol Runner-ups has fared on the Hot 100 with their coronation singles:

N/A Justin Guarini
#01 Clay Aiken (This Is The Night)
#14 Diana DeGarmo (Dreams)
#02 Bo Bice (Inside Your Heaven)
#12 Katharine McPhee (Over The Rainbow)
N/A Blake Lewis
N/A David Archuleta
#72 Adam Lambert (No Boundaries)
#57 Crystal Bowersox (Up To The Mountains)
#20 Lauren Alaina (Like MY Mother Does)

Here are the sales numbers for coronation singles on it's FIRST WEEK:

01. Clay Aiken - This is the Night (393,000)
02. Ruben Studdard - Flying Without Wings (286,000)
03. David Cook - Time of My Life  (236,024)
04. Kelly Clarkson - A Moment Like This  (236,000)
05. Taylor Hicks - Do I Make You Proud (228,418)
06. Scotty McCreery - I Love You This Big (171,000)
07. Carrie Underwood - Inside Your Heaven (170,528)
08. Fantasia - I Believe (142,141)
09. Kris Allen - No Boundaries (134,458)
10. Lauren Alaina - Like My Mother Does (122,000)
10. Bo Bice - Inside Your Heaven (121,423)
10. Lee DeWyze - Beautiful Day  (95,000)
11. Katharine McPhee - Over the Rainbow (74,965)
12. Jordin Sparks - This is My Now (74,303)
13. Diana Degarmo - Dreams (65,000)
14. Crystal Bowersox - Up to the Mountain (49,000)
15. Adam Lambert - No Boundaries (35,984)

• Justin Guarini, Blake Lewis and David Archuleta did not get coronation songs released.
• Katherine McPhee’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow was released as a double A-Side with her coronation single, My Destiny, and since the former outsold the latter on iTunes, sales of the commercial single were all attributed to Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Idol Sales: Lee Dewyze's Singles Off to a Slow Start

After having a the second-lowest Finale ratings in the show's history, this year's 'Idol' champ, Lee Dewyze, and runner-up, Crystal Bowersox, singles are already lagging in terms of sales compared to previous predecessors.

In total, Dewyze and Bowersox sold more than 400,000 downloads last week with 9 tracks ranked among the week's 200 most popular downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Maybe that's a lot, but it's less than half of what Allen and Lambert sold exactly one year ago or even the Davids after Season 7.

Kris Allen and Adam Lambert sold a total of more than 800,000 downloads with 23 tracks on the Top 200. Archuleta and Cook, on the other hand, sold a whopping 1.26M downloads with 29 tracks on the Top 200.

Now, Billboard reports that Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox have five (5) combined songs on the Billboard Hot 100:

24. Lee Dewyze - Beautiful Day
44. Lee Dewyze - Hallelujah
57. Crystal Bowersox - Up to the Mountain
66. Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox - Falling Slowly
88. Lee DeWyze - The Boxer

Lee Dewyze’s #24 debut for his winner’s single is 9 spots lower than Jordin Sparks, who had the previous lowest winner’s debut on the Hot 100. Good thing, his coronation song bows atop Billboard's Rock Digital Songs survey. With that, all nine American Idol winners have now tallied at least one No. 1 on a Billboard ranking.

Just for comparison - since it will happen regardless - David Cook's Time of My Life debuted at #3 two years ago with 236,000 downloads on its first week outselling last year's winner, Kris Allen's No Boundaries at #11 with only 134,000 downloads. But Lee Dewyze had a more disappointing numbers. His single, Beautiful Day, debuts at #24 with only 95,000 downloads.

Crystal Bowersox, this year's runner-up, didn't do well either. She sold a total of 112,000 copies for all her charted songs as compared to Adam Lambert and David Archuleta, who sold 390,000 and 323,000 copies respectively. 

Here are the comparative figures:

First Week Total Sold by Season 9:

Lee Dwyze: 274,000
Crystal Bowersox: 112,000
Casey James: 14,000
Michael Lynche: 3,000
Aaron Kelly: 2,000
Siobhan Magnus: 5,000
Tim Urban: 2,000
Katie Stevens: 3,000
Andrew Garcia: 1,000
Didi Benami: 2,000
Paige Miles: less than 1,000
Lacey Brown: 1,000
Lee and Crystal Duet: 44,000
Casey and Michael Duet: 3,000

SEASON 9 TOTAL:  467,000

First Week Total Sold by Season 8:

Kris Allen: 479,000
Adam Lambert: 390,000
Danny Gokey: 25,000
Allison Iraheta: 9,000
Kris and Danny Duet: 11,000
Allison and Adam Duet: 22,000
*no data released for the other contestants

SEASON 8 TOTAL:  936,000

First Week Total Sold by Season 7:

David Cook: 942,000 (60% of S7 downloads, 15.7% of all US downloads).
David Archuleta: 323,000 (21.5% of S7 downloads, 5.4% of all US downloads)
Jason Castro: 64,000
Brooke White: 47,000
Michael Johns: 40,000
Carly Smithson: 33,000
Syesha Mercado: 18,000
Kristy Lee Cook: 10,000
Chikezie Eze: 5,000

SEASON 7 TOTAL:  1,482,000 

First Week Total Sold by Season 6:

Jordin Sparks: 123,000
Blake Lewis: 127,000
*no data released for the other contestants
SEASON 6 TOTAL:  250,000

Got to give props to David Cook, who had a really great final week sales two years ago as well as setting a new record for the most debut entries in a week by any artist in the Nielsen Music era, which began in December 1991. Moreover, Cook's numbers that year were far better than the combined sales of last year and this year's winner. Having said that, it was a good feat for Kris to sell over 134,000 copies of a terrible, terrible song and Lee for selling 95,000 copies in a terrible, terrible season. Haha.

Now, as for the other comparisons, here are the sales numbers for coronation singles on it's first week:

01. Clay Aiken - This is the Night (393,000)
02. Ruben Studdard - Flying Without Wings (286,000)
03. David Cook - Time of My Life  (236,024)
04. Kelly Clarkson - A Moment Like This  (236,000)
05. Taylor Hicks - Do I Make You Proud (228,418)
06. Carrie Underwood - Inside Your Heaven (170,528)
07. Fantasia - I Believe (142,141)
08. Kris Allen - No Boundaries (134,458)
09. Bo Bice - Inside Your Heaven (121,423)
10. Lee DeWyze - Beautiful Day  (95,000)
11. Katharine McPhee - Over the Rainbow (74,965)
12. Jordin Sparks - This is My Now (74,303)
13. Diana Degarmo - Dreams (65,000)
14. Crystal Bowersox - Up to the Mountain (49,000)
15. Adam Lambert - No Boundaries (35,984)

• Justin Guarini, Blake Lewis and David Archuleta did not get coronation songs released.
• Katherine McPhee’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow was released as a double A-Side with her coronation single, My Destiny, and since the former outsold the later on iTunes, sales of the commercial single were all attributed to Somewhere Over The Rainbow.