Kris Allen returned to television last night with another performance of "Live Like We're Dying," this time on FOX's own So You Think You Can Dance. Watch the performance below:
A huge Idol single continued its ascension on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the chart week of Dec. 19, reaching a new peak and once again surpassing even the wildest expectations for its performance.
That single is of course Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone," which rose one spot to #13 this week. The song is now just one spot away from tying Kelly's last single from her ultra-successful album Breakaway, as "Walk Away" peaked at #12 on the chart back in 2006.
Next up was "Cowboy Casanova" by Carrie Underwood, which dropped another four spots to #28 for the week. Kris Allens "Live Like We're Dying" followed behind at #44, up from #47 the previous week, and Daughtry's second single off Leave This Town, "Life After You," debuted at #66.
Over on the Bubbling Under chart, Adam Lambert's new single "Whataya Want From Me," increased #22-12 and should debut on the main chart next week.
Full chart positions courtesy of bks over on Pulse are posted below:
Hot 100
13 14 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone"
28 24 Carrie Underwood, "Cowboy Casanova"
44 47 Kris Allen, "Live Like We're Dying"
66 -- Daughtry, "Life After You"
Bubbling Under
12 22 Adam Lambert, "Whataya Want From Me"
Although there as not nearly the amount of excitement surrounding fourth-place finalists' albums as there was in last week's collection of feelings on albums from runners-up, the latest edition of IDOL LIVE's poll of the week found that one alum from the former category ran away with the competition.
Daughtry's mega-successful debut album Daughtry was selected by readers as their favorite one by a fourth-place finisher, garnering 45 votes (60%). The only other entry to attract a mentionable tally was Allison Iraheta's brand new disc Just Like You, which claimed 24% of all votes cast, or 18 in all.
In this week's edition of the poll of the week, readers are asked which Idol parent is your favorite. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
'The Dreamer' (Tamyra Gray) 3 (4%)
'Josh Gracin' (Josh Gracin) 3 (4%)
'Love & Life' (LaToya London) 2 (2%)
'Daughtry' (Daughtry) 45 (60%)
'So Glad I'm Me' (LaKisha Jones) 3 (4%)
'Just Like You' (Allison Iraheta) 18 (24%)
Total votes: 74
Sales were down overall for tracks by Idol alums on the most recent edition of Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart.
Although it was down 30% in sales, Kelly Clarkson's consistently selling single "Already Gone" was down only one spot to #24. Its extra 37.5k downloads puts its total to date at 847.1k.
Carrie Underwood's single "Cowboy Casanova" was down a similar 33% but slipped #24-28 with another 34.7k in the bank. It boasts a current total of 644k. Kris Allen's "Live Like We're Dying" was also down in sales by 12%, but actually moved up five ranks on the chart to #38. It sold 27.6k for the week and is now at 214.3k, retaining its distinction as being the highest-selling single of an Idol alum from the most recent season.
And Daughtry's new single "Life After You" was the brightest spot on the chart with a 44% increase to 16.9k downloads. Its #132-81 jump was among the largest of all and the track has now sold 60.6k in all.
Full numbers and chart positions courtesy of bks on Pulse as follows:
024 023 Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone" 37,466 -30% 53,511 847,104
028 024 Carrie Underwood, "Cowboy Casanova" 34,672 -33% 51,733 644,007
038 043 Kris Allen, "Live Like We're Dying" 27,641 -12% 31,327 214,308
081 132 Daughtry, "Life After You" 16,890 44% 11,695 60,563
Total sales are in bold.
There were good drops and bad drops to be had for Idol-related albums on HITS Daily Double's Top 50 building album sales chart.
Carrie Underwood led the pack with Play On, which was down only 34% despite the non-holiday sales week. The album held at #9 and sold an additional 75.7k copies.
Next up was Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment, which suffered the largest decline among entries on the Top 50, surpassing drops experienced by fellow second-week albums Rihanna's Rated R (70%) and Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster (67%). Entertainment was down 18 spots to #21 and sold another 50.7k copies.
Re-entering the chart at #33 was David Archuleta's Christmas From the Heart, selling another 35.6k copies, while Allison Iraheta's Just Like You bowed one spot behind at #34 with 31.8k. My prediction was 35k so it was basically right in the range.
And Kris Allen rounded out Idol representation on the chart with his self-titled album at #47, down from #31 the previous week. It sold 22.7k copies, decreasing 35%.
Full sales numbers and chart positions courtesy of Billboard should be out by the end of the week.
The most high profile Idol-related release this week is David Archuleta's Christmas single "Joy to the World." The song is the first track on David's hit album Christmas From the Heart. The song is being featured as iTunes' holiday single of the week.
Also out today is Michael Sarver's double single "You Are" / "Cinderella Girl." The single is listed in the country genre and actually sounds like something Kris Allen would record.
Links to purchase the aforementioned can be found below:
Singles
David Archuleta, "Joy to the World"
iTunes - (Free) - Buy
Michael Sarver, "You Are" / "Cinderella Girl"
iTunes - ($1.98) - Buy
Michael's singles are courtesy of Dream Records, a label that he was announced to have inked a deal with late last week.
It was as if the clock was turned back to 2005 during FOX's primetime lineup this evening, as Carrie Underwood commanded the stage for a full two hours with her variety special "Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special."
Carrie took to the stage nearly a dozen times to perform songs from her latest album Play On including "Cowboy Casanova," "Temporary Home," "Songs Like This" and "Mama's Song" among others. Watch her perform "O Holy Night" below:
Leah LaBelle was widely considered to be a true contender on the third season of Idol at the outset, as she was selected as a wild card choice by Paula Abdul. Unfortunately, the then-17-year-old faltered on her most important performance when she took on The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" during Top 12 week. Watch the performance below:
FOX has been ramping up the promos for Carrie Underwood's two-hour Christmas variety special called "An All-Star Holiday Specia," which will air on the network tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET. Below is an interview Carrie did with Entertainment Tonight promoting the special:
