Digital sales roundup: "Cowboy Casanova" #8 (9/25/09)

Idolrelated activity on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart was much more interesting this week than in recent weeks thanks to the addition of two highly anticipated singles by beloved alums.

For starters, Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova" led things off well with a #8 debut thanks to a weekly sales take of 110.2k downloads, marking her largest opening digital sales week for a lead-off single to date (her cover of "I'll Stand By You" released for the "Idol Gives Back" special in 2007 sold over 124,000 in its debut).

Also having a good week was Kelly Clarkson, whose "Already Gone" once again saw a sales increase, this time by 3%, and advanced six spots to #21. The single sold 47.1k this past week and has now totaled 389.9k. Jordin Sparks, on the other hand, came so close to passing the platinum mark with her "Battlefield" but had to stop 1,583 downloads short. It sold 31k for a total of 998.4k, down 8% in sales and two spots on the chart to #44.

And Kris Allen was the latest Idol alum to be represented on the chart, as his "Live Like We're Dying" sold 15.8k in downloads based on three days of sales, which was enough to earn it a debut at #93 on the sales chart. This total unfortunately (or fortunately for Kris) cannot be compared to debuts from past winners because of the odd release schedule.

Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:

008 --- Carrie Underwood, "Cowboy Casanova" 110,236 999% 0 110,236
021 027 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone" 47,144 3% 45,697 389,872
044 042 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 30,994 -8% 33,738 998,417
093 --- Kris Allen, "Live Like We're Dying" 15,755 999% 0 15,755

Total sales are in bold.