IDOL LIVE predix: Top 9 Results

Surprisingly, last night was the best performance episode of the season. That said, this season is till beyond saving. Still, it's nice to have a few alright showings here and there. Things could have been much worse considering the stature of songs the contestants had to choose from, but for the most part they stuck to what they know they can do well.

With that said, read my predictions for how tonight will go below:

Bottom 3
Mike, Andrew, Aaron

Bottom 2
Andrew, Aaron

Eliminated
Aaron

For the first time this season since the finals began, not only will no girl be eliminated, but no girl will make an appearance in the bottom three tonight. Therefore, some might be "shocked...SHOCKED!" when Mike is tonight's third wheel among the Top 9 because the judges way over-hyped him last night (and I think they realize that by now). Fortunately for him, he will not spend much time in the B3.

More deserving of the spot is Andrew, who corned it up last night with a drowned out acoustic guitar spectacle and lousy vocals. True, he showed more personality this week and came across as a genuine guy with a distinct theme and all, but he's been skating around elimination for some time now and tonight will be the closest he comes to that danger to date. But fortunately for Crystal, Andrew will get to try once again to have Danny Gokey babies with Lee.

But then we get to Aaron, whose "Long and Winding Road" was a few pegs lower than that performed by the often compared to David Archuleta two seasons ago. It was probably the weakest showing last night, and considering he went first and was not in the B3 last week, there are many reasons why tonight is Aaron's (or Yoda's) time to say goodnight. As nice of a guy as he is, Aaron has virtually no shot at winning, so it wouldn't cause an uproar for him to leave quietly in 9th place.

In my original predictions I do indeed have Aaron leaving tonight, so it would be pretty cool if that actually happened.

Since the Top 24 I have correctly predicted 5-15 eliminations and since the Top 12 I have correctly predicted 1-3 eliminations.

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HITS estimates: 'Play On' #27 w/ 20.1k

And then there was one - just one Idol alum represented on the most recent edition of HITS Daily Double's Top 50 building album sales chart.

Carrie Underwood's venerable third studio effort Play On actually rose four spots to #27 on a universal wave of positive sales thanks to Easter Sunday, since the Easter Bunny seems to think putting CDs in kids' Easter baskets is a good idea. The album sold 20.1k copies, up 36%.

Full sales data and chart positions courtesy of Billboard will most likely be published later this week.

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IDOL LIVE Blog - Top 9 Perform (4/6/10)

Tonight Teflon Tim and the rest of the Top 9 take the stage to trip over themselves singing songs from the overdone Lennon/McCartney songbook. Will it be a repeat of Season 7's Top 12? Or maybe that season's Top 11? Or maybe it will be worse than both? I'm going with the latter just to be safe. Fortunately for us, "Imagine" isn't eligible since it's solo work by John Lennon.

Please feel free to add your two cents throughout the two-hour blogcast, with coverage starting just prior to 8 p.m. ET.

Tonight's blogcast features the music of David Archuleta, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Kelly Clarkson, Kristy Lee Cook, Lil Rounds, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar and Taylor Hicks.

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'Idol' Hot 100: Adam Lambert's "Whataya Want From Me" #20 (4/10/10)

For the second straight week, Adam Lambert's "Whataya Want From Me" was the top Idol-related entry on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of April 10.

The single rose one spot to #20, marking his first song to reach the coveted spot on the chart. Kris Allen's "Live Like We're Dying," however, regressed one rank to #23.

Daughtry's "Life After You" a kept up with this minuscule movement trend, as it was up #38-37. Maybe this will be another "Already Gone" and will not peak until somewhere in late summer? And Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home" held its ground at #41 for the second week in a row.

Full chart positions courtesy of Billboard are posted below:

Hot 100
20 21 Adam Lambert, "Whataya Want From Me"
23 22 Kris Allen, "Live Like We're Dying"
37 38 Daughtry, "Life After You"
41 41 Carrie Underwood, "Temporary Home"

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Flashback: Jim Verraros's "Easy"

Jim was one of the worst finalists in Idol history, and the greatest evidence of this was his showing during Top 10 week on the show's first season. The only thing that was more surprising than him being the second one to get the boot that night was the fact that he wasn't the first. Watch his performance of "Easy" during Motown Week below:

Jim didn't deserve Paula's non critique, but she was still new at the Idol game back then so she gets a pass. Still, it's somewhat of an honor that he will forever be able to say he was the second finalist to ever be eliminated from the show (and the first 9th-place finisher), right?

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Happy Easter from IDOL LIVE

On this Easter Sunday, here's to hoping everyone who celebrates the holiday enjoys their time with their families and friends. In honor of Easter, let's watch the seventh season's Top 8 finalists perform "Shout to the Lord" from their "Idol Gives Back" special:

Wow, it's amazing to think the show had this kind of talent just two seasons ago. So again, I hope you all enjoy your day (and go on an Easter egg hunt while you're at it!)

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Ryan Seacrest to host "Coke Zero Countdown" with Daughtry

As the NCAA Men's Final Four begins tonight, Coke Zero is teaming up with Ryan Seacrest to hold a big pep rally called "Coke Zero Countdown" in Indianapolis at the White River State Park (801 West Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204), which will feature the bands and mascots of all four schools participating in the F4.

After the completetion of the pep rally, Darius Rucker and Daughtry will each perform for one hour. For those fans who are not in Indy at the moment, there will be a live stream of the event beginning at 1:45 p.m. ET, and Daughtry is slated to take the stage at 4 p.m. The live stream will be available to view on Coke Zero's Facebook fan page.

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'Idol' odds 'n ends: Jennifer Hudson dishes on weight loss on 'GMA'

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>Jennifer Hudson appeared on ABC's Good Morning America this morning to chat with Robin Roberts about how she slimmed down after giving birth to her son, David Jr. Watch the segment below:

Jennifer treated her TV audience to her "sweetest little baby in the whole wide world" song that she gets David Jr. laughing with and talked about the privilege she has in playing Winnie Mandela in an upcoming biopic.

>Stephanie Edwards, who placed 11th on the sixth season of Idol, was arrested Monday night in Savannah, Ga., for being stupid (and fighting in public). Per RealityTVWorld:

Edwards told police that the woman, Laquilla White, had been harassing her all day with phone calls -- so she decided to travel to her home and confront her, which is when things got physical, Moore said.

Stephanie and the other woman were let out on $1,300 bail. Now she can go back to having a career in music, right? Right...

>Not as funny (but equally as law-related) was the news that Chikezie Eze will be charged with more serious charges after his botched attempt at shoplifting $1,200 worth of cologne at a Neiman Marcus in LA last month. Per EOnline.com:

Now the Los Angeles D.A. is charging him with misdemeanor attempted grand theft and misdemeanor identity theft. Eze's pretrial hearing is set for May 2.

Something tells me Chikezie will have a lot to talk about over the next month. Wonder if he'll find a TV show willing to hear him out?

>TV Guide Network recently profiled Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre in a "Where are they now?" segment, which focuses on their post-Idol activities. Watch the segment below:



It's not surprising that Matt is still fond of how he was the first finalist to ever be saved by the judges. Scott is great at keeping a positive outlook on his career and it's good to see he's still getting noticed for things other than his visual impairment.

>Jason Castro announced his upcoming summer tour in support of his debut self-titled album, kicking off at the Palladium Ballroom on Sat., April 17, in Dallas, Tex. Per the press release:

Castro will kick off his first headlining tour in his home state of Texas with an April 17th show at Dallas's The Loft. The trek will then traverse the US through mid-May (see itinerary below). A further slate of summer tour dates will be announced shortly.

The tour will wrap up at The Note in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sun., May 16. Jason Castro features the single "That's What I'm Here For" and is set for a Tues., April 13 release.

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'Idol' BB 200: 'Play On' #31 (4/10/10)

It was more of the same on the latest edition of the Billboard 200 album sales chart, with only one Idol-related album experiencing positive movement in this chart rotation.

Down three spots to #31 this week was Carrie Underwood's Play On. It came on the heels of a 9% sales drop to 14.9k copies and a total of 1.425 million.

Next up was Danny Gokey with his debut album My Best Days, which declined 33% sales-wise to 9.9k copies. It slid 17 spots to #50 and now boasts a total of 111.8k to date. Adam Lambert was the only alum to see his album increase, as his For Your Entertainment moved ahead #71-65 thanks to a 6% uptick in sales to 8.3k for a total of 577.5k copies.

And Daughtry finished things off with its sophomore effort Leave This Town pulling in 7.7k copies with a 7% sales slide and accompanying right-spot drop to #72. It finally officially passed the platinum mark with 1.002 million in the bank. The band's earlier effort was off nine spots to #196 due to a 9% sales decrease to 2.9k copies for a 4.656 million total.

Full sales figures and full chart positions courtesy of tony of Pulse below:

Billboard 200
031 028 Carrie Underwood - Play On 14,880 16,308 -9% 1,424,826
050 033 Danny Gokey - My Best Days 9,929 14,852 -33% 111,788
065 071 Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment 8,258 7,807 6% 577,526
072 064 Daughtry - Leave This Town 7,652 8,201 -7% 1,001,885
196 187 Daughtry - Daughtry 2,887 3,157 -9% 4,656,154

Total sales are in bold.

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