Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Chalk up two sorta Idol wins at the Nashville Music Awards earlier this week.

“The Time of My Life” won song of the year honors. That’s the season seven Idol coronation song, of course, performed by David Cook and written by Regie Hamm.

And Taylor Swift was named artist/songwriter of the year. Among her nomination qualifications, penning the hit “Best Days of Your Life” with tour buddy Kellie Pickler.

The Nashville Music Awards were resurrected this year after an eight-year hiatus. Winners were selected by online fan voting.

Now, here’s the hitch, to be eligible an artist or organization must live in Davidson County, Tenn. (home of Nashville), or in one of the surrounding counties. Projects “active on the market” between Jan. 1, 2008, and June 30 of this year were eligible.

So “The Time of My Life” was eligible because Hamm lives in the Nashville area, not because of anything David Cook did.

Still, the song was a major hit for David. It’s one of three Idol coronation songs to sell more than 1 million digital downloads (joining Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood), climbed all the way to number one on the adult contemporary chart and as high as number three on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Meanwhile, “Best Days of Your Life” gave new life to Kellie’s sophomore album, launching it into Billboard’s top 200 albums, a chart it’s been on ever since. It made it all the way to number nine on the country singles chart.

Taylor was the big winner at the Nashville Music Awards. She was also named Artist of the Year and earned country album of the year honors for “Fearless.”

For a complete list of winners, go here.