Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Billboard has just posted a list of the 24 top American Idols of all-time based on album sales, track sales and radio play.

You will never guess who checks in at number 21.

Clue 1: His season three audition was one of the show’s all-time most memorable.

Clue 2: He never got a golden ticket.

Clue 3: He covered Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs.”

That’s right. The answer is William Hung.

Idol has 94 former finalists, at least that many former semifinalists, yet he’s 21st among all-time Idols.

Meanwhile, the top of the list is hardly a surprise.

Kelly Clarkson ranks number one, with 10.6 million album sales, 15.9 million track sales and 4.2 million radio plays, according to Billboard.

Right behind Kelly is Carrie Underwood, with 11.5 million album sales, 13.9 million track sales and 2.4 million radio plays.

After that, there’s a pretty big dropoff to number three — Chris Daughtry — with 5.9 million album sales, and an even bigger dropoff to number
four — Jordin Sparks — with 1.3 million (but 9 million track sales).

Other Idol champs checked in as follows: David Cook (5), Ruben Studdard (10), Fantasia (9), Kris Allen (11) and Taylor Hicks (19). Among runners-up, Clay Aiken (6) and David Archuleta (8) cracked the top 10.

The impact of finishing in the top two on Idol is pretty evident from this list. The only contestants to crack the top 12 without a top-two finish:
Daughtry and Kellie Pickler, at number seven.

I won’t give away the entire list. Here’s the link.