Jordin underwhelms, but other Idols up in sales - Idol Chatter - USATODAY.com
Jordin underwhelms, but other Idols up in sales
Jordin's 119,000 first-week sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which landed her at No. 10 on the Billboard album chart, are not only the lowest for an Idol winner, but total less than half of the previous low. (Chart after the break, along with non-charting Idol details.) And, it came in a week when overall sales were up nearly 20%, a seasonal event that helped a number of other Idols increase their sales.
Jordin's not even the top Idol on the chart. That honor belongs to Carrie, who rises from No. 9 to No. 7 thanks to a 25% increase in sales to 141,000. That brings her five-week total to 1.07 million.
Daughtry also looks to be a prime gift-giving item, jumping 49-33 and nearly doubling sales to 43,000 for a total of 3.33 million. It was passed, however, by High School Musical 2 (which sold 183,000) and is no longer the No. 1-selling album of calendar year 2007.
Carrie's Some Hearts is also up, 29% in fact, to 20,000, bringing its total to 6.05 million. It moves 72-68 on the chart.
And, Target decided to report sales for its Sounds of the Season series, and Elliott's album of that title appears at No. 170 after selling a bit more than 7,000 copies. Its total is slightly more than 9,000.
> The Idol first-week sales chart (winners' first albums only):
417,000: Ruben (debut at No. 1)
315,000: Carrie (No. 2)
298,000: Taylor (No. 2)
297,000: Kelly (No. 1)
240,000: Fantasia (No. 8)
119,000: Jordin (No. 10)
Clay is the all-time first-week sales champ for an Idol debut album with 613,000 for Measure of a Man.
> Off-chart Idol sales:
Three Idol albums sold enough to make the top 200 chart last week, but this week sales levels rose enough, even at the bottom of the chart, to keep them off. Kellie thus fell off the chart from No. 185 last week despite increasing her sales about 8% to 5,400. Her total is 659,000. Elliott's self-titled album sold 5,000, up from 4,000, to bring its total to 446,000. And Kelly's My December sold 5,000, up from 3,700, to top the 700,000 mark (703,000).
Kelly had a good week in general -- Breakaway jumped from 3,700 to 10,000 to bring her total to 5.90 million, and Thankful was up from 700 to 1,000 and has totaled 2.7 million.
Another major beneficiary of the holiday season was Clay, at least for Merry Christmas With Love, which jumped from 3,000 to 5,000 this week and has sold 1.3 million. Otherwise, A Thousand Different Ways sold 300, up from 200, to total 520,000, and Measure of a Man sold 100 and is just a bit below 2.8 million total.
Bucky was up from 2,000 to 2,600 and is drawing close to 300,000 (298,000 now).
Bo sold 2,400, same as last week, to hit 23,000. (His first album is at 670,000 now.)
Fantasia was up a little, 1,500 from 1,400, with a total of 494,000.
Mandisa chalked up 1,000 this week, up from 900, to total 58,000. Her Christmas EP sold 400 in its second week to bring its total to 800 (although the total might be missing some Christian bookstore sales).
Katharine sold 500, up from 400, reaching 361,000 total.
Kimberley sold 400 of her Christmas album, up from 200, for a total of 700. Her Based on a True Story album is still selling 100, and totals 17,000.
Constantine is up to 300 from 200 and totals 22,000.
Taylor is steady at 200 and is at 697,000.
Ruben sold 100, same as last week, and totals 235,000.
Paris sold 100, same as last week, for a total of 20,000.
Carmen falls under the minimum I'm authorized to report, so we'll drop her for now.
Idols Sales Totals From USA Today
