Digital sales roundup: "Cowboy Casanova" #25 (1/9/09)

Just two-and-a-half days of gift card using by music fans were enough send all tracks by Idol alums on the most recent edition of Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart up in a big way.

Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova" returned to the top spot among songs by alums, as it was up 278% to 124k for a total of 832.8k. On the chart itself it was up #36-25, showing that even amid similar increases from the competition, it was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the post-Christmas download rush.

Next was "Live Like We're Dying" by Kris Allen, which slipped five spots on the chart to #33 but was still up 171% in sales to 109.2k. Its 399.4k total shows it is just about a week away from hitting gold status, which is good news after a somewhat slow start to the single. Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" marked a special milestone this week, as it crossed the platinum mark with 1.005 million in all after a weekly take of 86.9k. Even though it slid backwards #29-41, it experienced an increase of 125%.

Daughtry had two tracks on the chart, kicking things off with current single "Life After You" a 111% sales incline to 51.2k downloads despite a 25-spot drop to #78. The band also saw its previous single "No Surprise" jump back on the chart at #175 thanks to a 227% increase to 23.9k downloads. Totals stand at 156.4k and 976.1k, respectively. The Idol-related track with the biggest sales boost was Jordin Sparks's "Battlefield," as the song was up 448% to 51.2k, accompanied by a 95-spot rocket to #80. The song now boasts a total of 1.245 million.

And Adam Lambert rounded out franchise representation with two tracks, as "Whataya Want From Me" was up 127% to 45.8k while "For Your Entertainment" was up 95% to 29.6k. On the chart side, the songs were down #68-94 and #99-138 and have current totals of 97.5k and 175.1k, respectively.

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

025 036 Carrie Underwood, "Cowboy Casanova" 124,008 278% 32,840 832,774
033 028 Kris Allen, "Live Like We're Dying" 109,200 171% 40,355 399,416
041 029 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone" 86,894 125% 38,575 1,005,181
078 053 Daughtry, "Life After You" 51,212 111% 24,297 156,427
080 175 Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield" 51,154 448% 9,330 1,245,013
094 068 Adam Lambert, "Whataya Want From Me" 45,843 127% 20,207 97,471
138 099 Adam Lambert, "For Your Entertainment" 29,605 95% 15,169 175,124
175 --- Daughtry, "No Surprise" 23,877 227% 7,306 976,091

Total sales are in bold.